Technical Writing

You choose designers and engineers for their specific skills and expertise, so it makes sense to choose professional technical authors to produce your technical documentation.

TECHNOCRAFT has proven ability to document and communicate technical concepts and user interfaces to both a technical and a non-technical audience. We also have a good understanding of translation requirements. We use Plain English and design illustrations for economic translation, enabling more efficient use of translation tools and saving translation time, and therefore money.

Which Format:
Deciding which format best suits your needs from the range now available can be a confusing and daunting task.

TECHNOCRAFT keeps abreast of new authoring and distribution techniques and advises you of the most suitable methods to deliver your documentation. Your company can then efficiently take full advantage of the latest developments.

A short description of commonly available formats is given to the right, left and bottom of this page.

Online Help:
On-line Help provides small packets of information to help users where and when they need it, in a logical and structured manner. Users should be able to quickly find useful and relevant information. The most widely used Help formats are WinHelp, HTML Help and WebHelp.

WinHelp - WinHelp is short for Windows Help. It's the original compiled Help format. You can use WinHelp if your audience uses a Microsoft Windows operating system – Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT 4, NT 5 or Windows 2000. Every version of Windows automatically comes with a built-in WinHelp viewer.

HTML Help - Help systems for Windows 98 and Windows NT use the Microsoft HTML Help format. Microsoft HTML Help can be viewed on Windows 95 and NT 4 using Internet Explorer 4 or later. Instead of using the WinHelp viewer, Microsoft HTML Help uses an Internet browser (specifically Internet Explorer 4 or later) as its Help viewer and displays Help in a tri-pane HTML Help window.

WebHelp - WebHelp is a cross-platform Help. This format runs on multiple platforms (Windows, Macintosh, and Unix) and can be viewed using a variety of browsers, including Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer.

JavaHelp - JavaHelp, developed by Sun Microsystems, is a compressed output type designed to work with applications written in the Java programming language. JavaHelp and Java applications run on a variety of platforms (Windows, UNIX, Mac, Linux, etc.).

As technology advances other Help formats are emerging. For example, Windows CE Help is another Help format that runs on palmtop computers and other hand-held electronic devices.

Online Format:
With the easy accessibility and convenience of the Internet and intranets, on-line communication is commonly being used to deliver technical information. The cost of printing is avoided, and amendments /updates are quickly and cheaply distributed.

HTML - is the standard format for creating web pages and is a convenient way of storing and accessing documentation remotely, either over an intranet, or the Internet. Any web browser can be used for viewing HTML pages.

PDF - is a convenient format if you want a guide that can be viewed on-line, or printed, by the end user. The free Adobe PDF reader runs on almost any hardware platform, offers a navigation bookmark system and can include hyperlinks to other documents, or files.

Hardcopy Formats:
Printed documentation is still an important aspect of technical documentation with user guides and manuals playing an important role in communicating information. A useful trend is "print on demand" publishing were small quantities of publications are printed as required saving the cost of large print runs when only a small quantity of manuals is required.

Word - the standard word processor used throughout the World. It is not suitable for large manuals as it becomes unstable the larger a file gets, but it is attractive to many companies as nearly any office anywhere in the World can open a Word file.

FrameMaker - industry standard authoring and publishing tool in either structured, or unstructured formats. Stable, no matter the size of files, it has good support for PDF, SGML, XML and HTML outputs. QuarkXPress - is a powerful layout software with an intuitive, versatile interface that combines writing, editing, and typography with color and pictures. It is widely used by magazines, newspapers, advertising agencies, typesetters, printers, corporate publishers, design firms, catalog houses, book publishers, and form designers. It is also used by businesses with publishing requirements.

Structured Formats:
Structured formats enable documents to be ported easily from one software platform to another, independent of the application used to create them. They define the structure of the document, not its formatting characteristics. Two commonly used methods of creating a structured document are SGML and XML.

SGML - a long established format for creating structured documents, useful for large projects with hundreds of documents and reference material. Content is separated from formatting so authors can concentrate on content and not waste time formatting text. It also enables consistent styles and formatting throughout a whole project through the use of a suitable SGML editor.

XML - is a rapidly developing format that takes advantage of the structure of SGML and the flexibility of HTML. XML is now the standard method of communicating information over the Internet.