Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Documentation

To succeed in technical writing, you need a lot more than just writing ability. Technical Writing 101 details the skills you need as a technical writer, and it explains how to handle the pressures of tight deadlines and ever-changing product specifications. This valuable reference also describes the entire documentation process—planning, writing, editing, indexing, and production.

This updated second edition features the latest information on single sourcing and a new chapter on how trends in structured authoring and Extensible Markup Language (XML) affect technical writers.

Alan S. Pringle is lead technical editor at Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc., and director of its publishing imprint, Scriptorium Press. The company provides technical publishing services to high-tech companies, including outsourced documentation solutions, technical training, and consulting. Since 1990, he has worked as a technical writer and editor on projects ranging from writing user guides for laser printers to editing course material for telecommunications equipment. Alan has also established corporate style guidelines and implemented XML-based structured applications for FrameMaker workflows. He is coauthor of the FrameMaker 7 Workbook Series.

Sarah S. O’Keefe is founder and president of Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc. Sarah is an experienced FrameMaker trainer; she has both Certified Technical Trainer (CTT) and FrameMaker Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) credentials. Her background also includes technical writing, technical editing, production editing, and extensive online help development with various help authoring tools. Sarah is coauthor of FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference. Currently, she works as a consultant to assist companies in implementing publishing solutions, including XML-based structured authoring.