Many technical communicators consider glossaries an unnecessary relic left over from academic writing, and therefore assume that they are a waste of time and effort. Some companies even make a strategic decision not to include glossaries. In many cases, this decision is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and value of product documentation. Let’s take a look at the benefits of glossaries and how we can design them to add value to our documentation.
Do we need glossaries?
Recently, a client told me, “We don’t need to define any terms; users bought the product, so surely they understand all the concepts.”
Yet increasingly, users are abandoning the official product documentation in favor of online searches. They end up trying to understand the product from sources that may not be sanctioned by the manufacturer and may not even be accurate. A quick look at customer feedback reveals how dissatisfied users are with such official documentations.
There are many reasons for this customer dissatisfaction: poor navigation, missing topics, an improper level of writing, bad organization, lack of details, and more. A big contributing factor is assumed knowledge: writers assume that users can find information by searching, but that only works if users already know and understand the product terminology. In other words:
Read more after login
tekom members can log in directly with their "My tekom" access data.
You are not yet a tekom member, but would like to read one or more articles in full? Then you have the opportunity to register on the internet portal of the technical journal 'tcworld' without obligation. Once you have registered, you can select any three specialist articles and view them in full for a period of two months. The selection will then be deleted and you can select three new articles for the next two months.
As a tekom member you benefit from the following advantages::
- Online access to all articles of the trade magazine 'tcworld magazine'
- Exclusive specialist articles from all areas of technical communication
- Regular new articles from over 300 authors
- The technical journal 'tcworld magazine' as a printed edition
- Reduced admission prices to tekom conferences
- Membership fees for tekom publications
- Access to 'my tekom', the web forum with job offers / job requests, appointments, expert advice, service provider file and much more
Login
Registration
Promised: The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' is the best we have. And we don't make the choice easy for ourselves. Every month, the editorial staff of the technical journal 'tcworld magazine' publishes the latest articles by renowned authors. This demanding selection is available exclusively to members of tekom (as usual, including the printed edition).
The trade magazine 'tcworld magazine' stands for intelligently prepared specialist articles, texts written to the point, informative content, surprising insights, international perspectives and communicates technical communication in an understandable, fast, clear and uncomplicated way - exclusively for you.