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Technical documentation needs standardization

Let's start with a white sheet of paper and a pen. Let's jot down some ideas. Let's start writing a manual. Let's do it on the computer with Microsoft Word. Letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence. Let's do it with a group of three, five, ten authors who write one chapter each. Let's move to FrameMaker, InDesign. Let's do XML. Let's use a content management system! What will be the outcome? How will the quality be? What about consistency? Cost? Translatability? Tech writers are expected to deliver a certain quality that cannot be met without standardization. But where do you start standardizing?

Text by Juergen Muthig

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Technical documentation needs standardization

Is it really necessary to standardize when you are working by yourself and know what you are doing? Can't you be consistent and deliver good quality without applying standards? At the end of the day, all that matters is that users, customers and your boss are satisfied. But are they really?

Those writers who stay consistent in their document design and their writing, standardize intuitively possibly without calling it that. I am sure that all writers responsible for a print-ready document care about the layout, typography and the quality of writing. In order to achieve consistency they use formatting features like styles and autotext. Considerate writers will also structure text using headings, short paragraphs, lists and emphasize notes and safety messages. But do they do it consistently even in ONE document? And even more important: Would all writers in a group of five use the same ...

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