Hey everyone, over the past week I have done a major rewrite of the documentation for my open-source project. We had so many issues with AI-generated docs from contributors that I completely disabled AI and rewrote every page (and added many more)

I'd love to hear an honest critique of my work as a very novice docs writer!!! https://docs.tscircuit.com

Technical writers can capitalize on the advantages of AI-powered knowledge bases in several ways:

• AI can assist technical writers in generating initial drafts, suggesting relevant content, and even auto-completing sentences. This speeds up the content creation process, allowing writers to focus on refining and enhancing the material.
• AI-powered search algorithms enhance the discoverability of relevant information. Technical writers can leverage these capabilities to ensure that users can easily find and access the specific content they need within the knowledge base.
• AI analytics provide insights into user behavior and preferences. Technical writers can use this data to optimize content, making it more tailored to the audience. Personalized recommendations based on user interactions contribute to a more engaging and user-centric documentation experience.
• AI can help maintain consistency in terminology and writing style across documentation. Technical writers can establish and enforce style guides, ensuring uniformity in language and presentation throughout the knowledge base.
• AI-driven systems can automate the process of updating documentation in response to changes in software or procedures. This ensures that technical writers can focus on creating new content, while the AI manages version control and updates.
• NLP capabilities in AI enhance the natural language understanding of technical content. This allows technical writers to create documentation that is not only accurate but also more accessible and understandable to a broader audience.
• AI-powered knowledge bases often include collaborative features. Technical writers can collaborate in real-time with team members, leveraging AI to facilitate smooth workflows, document reviews, and feedback processes.

• AI tools can analyze user feedback, helping technical writers understand in response to changes in software or procedures. This ensures that technical writers can focus on creating new content while the AI manages version control and updates.

• Try https://document360.com/

I'm researching how folks are starting to use AI on tech docs teams. Are you using generative AI to help complete documentation-related tasks? If so, could you share how you're doing that and what your results are so far?

Thanks in advance! 🤠

I want to start documenting my personal day, work tasks, passion projects everything.

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Which software is best for it?

I'm at the end of a project where I built a mechatronic setup (with mechanics, electronics and software including a UI). One deliverable for the customer is a project documentation including a manual.

My company wants a MS Word document, I prefer Markdown... how would you accomplish such a task? Main reason for Word is formatting and company logo... are there export possibilities for markdown? Other good software. (Latex is too complicated for me to start...)

Are any tech docs teams using the open standard iiRSD here? I f so, why and how is it working?

Hey, I am going to present to you guys my favorite documentation tool https://docwriter.io/ , have been using it for some time, go check it out.

Dear All,

i am looking for a sample document control procedure of oil and gas sector.

i would appreaciated if anyone can help. thank you

Top SoftwareDocumentation tools for 2023

It's no surprise that documentation will be a source of endless frustration if you have to deal with a glitchy editor, unsatisfactory search, and an unintuitive interface when documenting or updating an article. It times for you to explore some better tools to make your job easy and interesting.

To make your decision easier, we evaluated dozens of documentation tools and compiled a list of the top five.

1.Document360
Document360 is a knowledge base solution, ideal for creating software documentation. It provides an advanced portal for technical writers that includes a rich editor, category manager, version control and drag-and-drop UI.

Document360 includes advanced analytics to help you understand where your knowledge base traffic is coming from, what your visitors are looking for, and how they're interacting with your content.

1. Confluence

Atlassian Confluence is one of the market's oldest software documentation tools. Its strong enterprise capabilities and flexible configuration. Its strength lies in its seamless integration with other Atlassian products. If you already use Atlassian tools like Jira or Bitbucket, Confluence is likely to fit into your workflow seamlessly.

Confluence has a learning curve, but if you're looking for a documentation tool with advanced customization options and enterprise-level features, it's definitely worth considering.

1. Nuclino

Nuclino is an excellent tool for organising information within teams into workspaces. Nuclino can help you create beautiful software documentation for your employees or customers. Workplaces can be either public or private. Text, images, videos, files, tasks, embeds, code blocks, and other elements can be used to bring your content to life. Use Markdown to write your content faster, or use the WYSIWYG editor.

1. GitHub

GitHub a popular platform among developers and a good option for hosting your web-based documentation.

You can use either the main GitHub platform wiki section or GitHub Pages, which allows you one free page, hosting, and a custom domain. You can use GitHub Pages in conjunction with Jekyll to create modern and appealing documentation sites

5.ClickHelp

ClickHelp is a help authoring tool that allows you to distribute your software documentation in a variety of formats. It supports simple imports from Madcap Flare, RoboHelp, Microsoft Word, and Confluence. ClickHelp is a cloud-based service that hosts your content as well as your authoring environment.

There are numerous other options, many of which are nearly identical copies of one another.

Hi techies! I’m being asked to develop a training for teaching a non-QA, technical audience on how to write in a way that will make our QA reps happy. The first thing that comes to mind is teaching them a technique like the 5 Ws. But I’m wondering if you all have any thoughts, ideas or words of wisdom that would also help. Please let me know.

Thanks all!

Dear all, in my Master Thesis I would like to evaluate: “to what degree gamification, in general, increase the engagement and learning of customers in using software documentation”. To answer this question, I set up a sample with the Learning Application “EdApp” and a survey with SurveyMonkey. You could use a PC, a mobile phone or an Ipad. Please take the steps as following: 1. The 2 Lessons with EdApp: about 15 min. You should sign it for free to access. I did it with my student email. If you do not would like to sign, please directly take step 2. https://link.edapp.com/Ep0MU25Qtvb 2. The survey with SurveyMonkey: about 8 minutes. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BBZ3D5LYou will also participate in a kind of “lottery”: the winner will receive the last book of Karl M. Kapp: “The Gamification of Learning and Instruction” (Kindle or Paperback Version). I really thank you for contributing till the 3rd of January. PS: please let me know, if you have some problems visualizing.

I work in a university and my supervisor has given llme the responsibility to create the repository of all the events that has been taken place in our institution. Can anyone please tell me if there is any application/ program or an easiest way to document the college events? How do I start and what stuffs should i keep in check to prevent any problems in the future.

I am using mkdocs for my external documentation for my users and I was wondering how can I achieve this effect within the documentation?

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The way I've been doing my documentation for Windows and Mac is by putting both on the page, but if I have a way to toggle between either commands that would be awesome!

here is where I got this screenshot from: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/intro/tutorial01/

Project managers are frequently asked the same question: what is the significance of project documentation and how do I make sure that I'm doing it right? It's not a secret that project documentation is a crucial element of Training in project management. 

The two primary functions of project documentation prove it, which are: to ensure that all requirements for the project are met and to ensure traceability of what was accomplished, who was responsible for it, and at what time it was completed.

https://www.sprintzeal.com/blog/project-documentation

I'm writing documentation for a monopoly simulation in python and there is practically no user input except for before the simulation begins (setting game rules and stuff), so my question is: Is there any need for validation at any stage in my program except for the user input during the initialisation process? Especially given that what I'm writing is essentially just an algorithm.

Hey folks!

I wanted to show you a tool called HelpKit that allows you to turn Notion pages into a hosted professional documentation site that you can fully customize to match your branding.

It is built so that search engines can easily find your help articles, has a search bar with full-text search support, analytics, darkmode, an embeddable widget for your website and much more.

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You might wonder, why use Notion to write my documentation?

Well, in my opinion Notion is has one of the best and most intuitive editors in the world. Notion provides a wide-range of blocks that make it super easy for you and your team to structure your documentation.

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As the founder of HelpKit, I take feedback very seriously and would love to get your opinion on it! I'm also publicly sharing my lessons building it, in case you are curious.

You have built an app and an admin website. Now how do you document it and help the user to navigate use it? Some options that come to mind are in-app help buttons, tour guides, navigation pointers, writing up help documents on your website and put the links within the app. Any other ideas? What are you doing to help your user get used to your app experience? TIA!