Technical Documentation Offer

• I design and write all parts of your technical documentation in your required formats. All text is written in plain, clear language, well-structured and organised into small modules.
• If you already have product documentation, I review the existing version. I analyse your documentation both from the users' perspective and its creation process. You will receive concrete suggestions for improvement and I will implement the changes for you.
• If you are changing procedures and processes within your company, for example due to the Digital Transformation or COVID-19 related changes, I can work with your teams to create all the necessary documentation for your staff and regulators.
• I create printed or printable user manuals and different types of online help from the same shared text base, such as PDFs, htmlhelp, wiki, etc. If required, I can also produce different versions of the documentation, such as manuals for a standard and a pro version of the same software, I can also create context-sensitive online help and inline tutorials.
• If you would like me to continue writing the documentation for your future releases, I would be happy to do so. If you want to employ a full-time writer for your future releases, I am happy to train them in any system we have selected and configured as well as in the documentation process.
• Offering technical translations at the same time, I am well aware of the constraints and limitations put on documentation that require translation; the need to create documentation with a clear and direct content, avoiding ambiguities, and omitting slang expressions or references that are too specific to one single culture.
• If your documentation is written by non-native English speakers, I can review and improve it. Of course, such an author does know the correct technical terms, but rarely do they have the necessary command of the English language to produce clear and understandable documentation. In this case, I can correct the language in general, remove any ambiguities and colloquialisms and make sure the text is well written and easily understandable in order to deliver a clear and homogeneous message.

Planning: If your product is new and no documentation exists, my first step is usually to develop an individual documentation plan. This plan takes into account the product, the audience, and your budget.

Improvement: If your product is not new and you already have some existing documentation, I analyse it and make specific suggestions for improvement. In addition, I work out recommendations about how you can minimise costs for further development and updates of your documentation.

Consulting: I can provide advice on which workflows and which authoring tools are the most economical ones in your specific case, having worked with the majority of them. I do not receive any commission for recommending specific tools, so I am fully independent and unbiased.

Design: If you do not have any existing layout for the manuals and help files that you want to create, I can develop templates. Clearly structured and designed templates help the reader find, comprehend and memorise the given information. A well thought-out template also helps the authors. Smart style definitions make writing and formatting text efficient and minimise the need to tweak a document or help file before publishing.

Never yet had any context-sensitive online help? Are you interested in providing inline tutorials? Or you want to preview your online help system for possible future localisation? I can help you devise the easiest structure for context-sensitive help calls and to make adding online help in new languages very simple.

Writing: I can create all the content that goes into your documentations. If you already have existing texts, I can edit them, if required, and add the finishing touches.