Technical writing and software documentation tools help technical writers curate the right content to help get the contextual information correct and easy to understand.
These tools include the writing, editing, drawing, reviewing, and rewriting phase. This is the phase when the information documentation team is at its full strength churning out different types of technical documentation such as guides, manuals, blogs, video demos, and online FAQ pages. Given the variety in the tasks in this phase, the technical writing tools employed are also quite diverse, and innumerable.
Here are the best and most popular technical writing software tools for creating technical documentation in 2023:
1. Whatfix
Whatfix signifies a paradigm shift in the way help documentation is presented online. Static and lengthy web help pages do not catch the user’s attention as effectively as the interactive, pictorial guides presented by Whatfix, popularly called ‘balloons’.
Moreover, online help in today’s world needs to spread across various gadgets – be it PCs, tablets, or smartphones. Whatfix automatically adapts the help content to suit the gadget. And the same help content can be accessed in different forms – as a slideshow, PDF, or video.
2. Notepad++
A very effective beginner’s HTML editor. Most people learn the basics of HTML programming on this technical writing tool. If your software product does not require very heavy online help documentation, for making help files of medium size, this tool is more than sufficient. Its customizable GUI allows for easy editing, supports WYSIWYG for printing, and also has multi-language support options.
3. WordPress
The go-to place if you want to have a technical documentation for your product in the form of blogs. WordPress is an open-source, free, online content management platform. Blogs written on WordPress can either be accessed directly from the WordPress blog URL or can be integrated into your company website.
This article itself is hosted on a WordPress blog. If the goal is to publish online content about your company and associated technologies regularly, then set up a WordPress blog account. Blogs can also capture user responses in the form of comments and likes, which makes it easier to engage with your target audience and sense their appreciation for your product.
4. Microsoft Visio
A popular diagramming tool used in engineering applications design. Technical writers often need to design flowcharts, architectural diagrams, electrical circuit diagrams, software product design, and so on. Visio is a convenient aid for this.
It is an IEEE compliant technical writing tool that conforms to software industry standards such as UML (Unified Modeling Language) and BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation).
5. Adobe Photoshop
One tool that most technical writers across the industry swear by. It is the world’s most popular image editing tool for creating and editing photos and raster (pixel) based artwork. It can also be used to create user interface designs, web pages, banner ads, video graphics, edit pictures for print, manipulate an image, superimpose one image on another, refine a photograph to iron out imperfections, correct lighting issues, and more. Image editing process is reversible and incremental so that changes can be rolled back easily.
6. Microsoft Word
It does feel rather silly to write about the ubiquitous MS Word. But however commonplace it may be in our daily digital lives, it still happens to be the best friend of a technical writer. With easy conversion between PDF and DOC formats, the simple combination of Word and Adobe Acrobat Reader is not to be taken lightly. This article might be about all the fancy technical writing tools in the world, but it is being written using – the humble MS Word.
7. Google Docs
In a world that is increasingly turning to a handy mobile phone to read documents, rather than take the trouble of powering the computer on, Google Docs is slowly gaining prominence. Creating documents from scratch would not be convenient on Google Docs, but collaborative review and editing can be done efficiently through this cloud-based alternative to MS Office.
8. Powtoon
Technical writing is increasingly becoming visual. Animated videos are an excellent way to capture user attention and pass on the message in an engaging way. Powtoon is a good web-based animation tool, sold as a SaaS product. Animated presentations and explainer videos can be created using this tool for free. However, the videos created with the free version would carry a ‘Powtoon’ watermark.
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