How to write technical documentation — with examples
How to write technical documentation — with examples
Tutorials & tips
Tutorials & tips
Tutorials & tips
Writing technical documentation is an essential part of any software development workflow. It doesn’t just help developers and other stakeholders understand what you built — but also why and how you built it.
Here, we’ll explore what technical documentation is and why it’s important. We’ll also explain how to write great technical documentation — with examples and templates to help you get started. Let’s go!
What is technical documentation?
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software. You may write it for people inside and outside your organization, and depending on the reader your tech docs will fulfill different needs.
Ultimately, the most important part of any technical documentation is that it’s clear and to-the-point. That way your reader — whoever they are — can use it to understand your product.
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software.
Technical docs are most common within the software development industry. They’re typically written by technical writers — although developers, product managers, and other members of the team may also contribute.
Who is technical documentation for?
Technical documentation can cover everything from internal knowledge for your team, to public documentation for your customers or users. It can also include product documentation and user manuals that help onboard customers and teach them about the product.
For example, internal developers and other stakeholders may want to understand the code and systems behind your software or product, while end-users want to know how to use it.
That’s why it’s essential to think carefully about your audience before you start writing your technical docs. Consider what your reader needs to know, and what level of knowledge they may have. You might be writing for someone will less technical expertise as you, so keep this in mind while you’re writing.
Likewise, if you’re documenting your process for the rest of your development team and stakeholders, your readers may have a similar level of experience to you. Tailoring your language to your reader will help them find and understand the information they need faster.
Tip: If you’re writing for beginners, consider spelling out acronyms, avoiding technical jargon, and adding a glossary to your documentation. If you need to use an acronym, spell it out the first time you use it, and include the acronym in brackets for future reference.
Why is technical documentation important?
There are plenty of reasons why writing technical documentation is a good idea:
Help users and other team members
First, it helps people use your software or product, or gives them enough information to contribute to it as well. And of course, helping your users understand your product improves their experience — which is always a good thing!
Reduce support requests and help customers self-serve
Great documentation can also save you or your support team time spent answering questions from users or other developers. By giving customers clear, concise information, they can self-serve and troubleshoot themselves. And that saves them writing a frustrated email asking for extra information.
Help future development
This is another big benefit to writing technical documentation — especially if it’s about your code. In 12 months, you may want to make a change or pick up development again, only to realize you can’t remember what you were doing or why.
By writing documentation as you go, you’ll have a great reference that will help you (or your team) pick up where you left off. And at that point, you’ll thank your past self for being so diligent.
Improve communication
With good documentation, your team and stakeholders can save searching emails or Slack to find the information they need. And if you or another contributor leaves your team, they’ll still have the knowledge they need to continue their work.
Different types of technical documentation (with examples)
There are lots of different technical documentation types. But we can break them down into two main groups — process documentation and product documentation.
Process documentation
This type of technical documentation is a key part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It typically is exclusively internal documentation intended for other developers and stakeholders within your team. Instead of focusing on the finished product, it describes the processes you used during development or the rules your team follows.
Let’s take a look at some different examples of technical documentation.
Project plans
When you’re scoping out a new project, it’s essential to map the development process for everyone on the team. And this is the place to do it.
Product requirements documentation (PRD)
This will serve as the reference document for everyone working on a product — from design to features and functionality. This is a really important guide for technical teams and business as they build, launch and market a product to the world.
Product roadmaps
A product roadmap is a shared document that tracks the progress of your product. It explains the vision, direction and progress of a product into the future for everyone on your team. This is especially useful for planning short- and long-term goals for the product, and keeping track of past developments.
Request for Comments (RFCs)
Many teams use RFCs to collaborate and get async feedback on technical ideas and progress within the development process. They’re typically dated and numbered to keep them organized, and use a template to stay consistent. The idea is to encourage multiple people to offer feedback in a single document that’s visible to the wider team.
Technical briefs
A technical brief lists everyone who is working on a project and their responsibilities. It should also detail the tasks involved in the project, who is responsible for each one and different review stages. Finally, your brief should always contain deadlines for each stage of the process, and each review. These documents are useful at the start of a new project and can serve a single source of truth during the development process.
Design system documentation
When you work with a design system, designers and developers need to use the same elements in the same way. This documentation type contains rules on sizes, colors, layouts and more. It may even contain code snippets to help you implement designs faster.
Source code documentation
If you’ve created open source software, this documentation will make sure everyone can easily understand your code. This is especially important when you’re hoping that others will contribute to and maintain your code. Source code documentation will explain specific parts of your code that may not be clear using code comments and snippets.
Product documentation
This type of technical documentation gives users all the information they need to use your product or software. It doesn’t typically explain the development process.
The content of product documentation can be very broad depending on your user base. If you’ve created an API or released some open-source code, you may include a lot of technical information. This will help people get the most from your software and even contribute back to it. If it’s product documentation aimed at customers you can avoid technical language and focus on how to use your product.
Let’s take a look at some technical documentation examples.
Product manuals, user guides, FAQs and wikis
These documents explain everything about your product to a user.
Repair guides
Giving your users clear instructions on how to fix issues will be a huge help to them down the line. And it’ll save you or your support team time.
API documentation
API documentation will explain how to work with your API. It typically features code samples, step-by-step guides, and API blocks.
Image source: Bubble
Release notes
Writing release notes helps keep your users up-to-date with what you’ve added to your product or software. It also gives you a historical record of what changed and when.
How to write technical documentation
Ready to get started, but not sure how to write technical documentation? Don’t worry — simply follow the steps below to get started.
1. Consider your audience
Depending on what you’re documenting, your content and writing style may be different. If you’re writing for a technical audience you can include common technical terms without explanation. You can also leave out some basic knowledge that you know every reader will have.
If you’re writing for users, it’s a good idea to include background information and explain more basic terms. This is especially useful for new users.
2. Do your research
The best technical documentation is thorough, considered and — most importantly — well researched. You might already have all the knowledge and materials you need to jump straight to step 3. But if not, it’s really important to pull all these pieces together before you start writing.
If you don’t have the knowledge yourself, talk to the people who do and involve them in the process. Then ask yourself questions like:
What are my goals with this documentation?
What do we want it to cover?
What information should we include?
Is there any existing information we can expand on or refer to?
3. Choose the best documentation format
You know your audience. You‘ve done the research. Now it’s time to start writing, right?
Well before you start, it’s worth thinking about how you’ll format your technical documentation. Consider the layout and design, then map out the structure of the information you want to get across. After working so hard to research this information, you want it to be well organized and easy to read.
Think about how to break up your product or software into topics and sub-topics. You may also want to consider a documentation platform that supports things like code blocks, API support, and a search function. Most online documentation tools like GitBook off this and more out of the box.
4. Write like you speak
Now it’s time to start writing. Plan a review process with other people involved, then start outlining to get the structure and layout right.
When it comes to writing, keep your audience in mind, and write how you speak. Whether your documentation is for users or developers, you’re writing for other human beings. They will understand you best when you write in natural language.
But in documentation (especially technical documentation), it’s just as important to be direct and get to the point quickly. You don’t want to bury key information three sentences down.
Tip: When you’re writing about a complex topic, stop at the end of each paragraph and read what you wrote aloud. Did you spot an overly complex a word or sentence? Did everything you just read make sense? If so, go back and edit!
Always review your own content before you share with others. During that process, cut unnecessary information and tidy up anything that’s unclear. You should end up with copy that sounds like something you would say to your prospective audience in conversation.
5. Review with your team
This is a key part of the documentation process. Just like in the development process, no documentation should go live without a final review. It doesn’t just make sure your content is grammatically correct and well-written. It also gives more people visibility on your writing. And when technical knowledge may be spread across your team or organization, this is really important.
Ideally, you’ll set a few different points in the process for reviews. Start by asking people to check the structure and flow of your content. Then, after you’ve written another draft or two, you can ask for feedback on finer details, like spelling and grammar.
Make sure you ask the right people on your team. Technical people can review the knowledge, and writers can give you good feedback on your copy. Ask your reviewers to run through guides and test code themselves to make sure everything works as expected.
6. Publish and track
Now that your content is ready to go, it’s time to publish it to the world. You might consider using a tool like GitBook, an online app for sharing knowledge, that has all the features for internal and public documentation.
However, once your content is live, your work isn’t done. Regularly check your content's analytics and insights to see which pages are doing well and which ones need improvement. Tools like GitBook typically have built-in page analytics that help you see this data instantly.
7. Review and refresh
Now that you know which pages are doing well and which aren’t performing, it’s time to revisit your work. Look at underperforming pages and think about how you can improve them to make them more useful to customers.
And don’t forget — documentation is always evolving. When your product changes or improves, make sure to update your documentation with the latest technical information.
GitBook’s free technical documentation templates
Online knowledge sharing tools like GitBook include a few free templates that you can use with a click. Depending on what you’re writing, you can use the product docs template or the API docs template as a starting point.
Product documentation template
This simple docs template includes tables, images and video embeds. Plus it’s already organized into sections like product guides and use cases. It’s a great platform to build on.
API documentation template
The API docs template offers a basic structure for your documentation. The pages already include hint blocks, as well as tabbed code blocks that will help you write demo code for different languages.
Technical documentation best practices
This quick list of best practices for technical docs will help you give users and customers exactly what they need.
Plan it out – Before you start writing, come up with a structure and a plan for your documentation. All the best writing starts with a plan.
Write for your audience – Think about who will be reading your content and make sure your writing has the right level of detail for them.
Write like you speak – Great written content sounds like something you would say out loud. If in doubt, read your documentation aloud and edit any parts that trip you up.
Keep it simple and clear – If you’re writing about complex topics, make your content as simple as possible to find and digest. It shows you value your readers’ time.
Make it accessible – Choose a platform that will make your content look great across different devices. And if you add images, make sure you add alt text for screen readers.
Start with a template – Don’t worry about the blank page. Kick off with a template that can at least act as inspiration for your work.
Think carefully about your page structure – Organize your information into pages and sub-pages. Then think about the best ways to communicate information on each page, including code blocks, images and tables.
Update your content regularly – Your documentation is never really ‘done’ — make sure you update it regularly. This shows your users that you’re actively maintaining your product or code, or addressing common questions.
Let’s get started!
Ready to get started on your technical documentation? Great! You can keep this guide as a reference to come back to later, or just dive straight in. if you’re looking for the perfect platform, give GitBook a try. It’s free to get started.
Want to see some great samples of technical documentation? Visit our Library — it’s packed with great docs for you to read.
→ Try GitBook for your documentation
→ Quick tips to improve your technical writing workflow in GitBook
Writing technical documentation is an essential part of any software development workflow. It doesn’t just help developers and other stakeholders understand what you built — but also why and how you built it.
Here, we’ll explore what technical documentation is and why it’s important. We’ll also explain how to write great technical documentation — with examples and templates to help you get started. Let’s go!
What is technical documentation?
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software. You may write it for people inside and outside your organization, and depending on the reader your tech docs will fulfill different needs.
Ultimately, the most important part of any technical documentation is that it’s clear and to-the-point. That way your reader — whoever they are — can use it to understand your product.
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software.
Technical docs are most common within the software development industry. They’re typically written by technical writers — although developers, product managers, and other members of the team may also contribute.
Who is technical documentation for?
Technical documentation can cover everything from internal knowledge for your team, to public documentation for your customers or users. It can also include product documentation and user manuals that help onboard customers and teach them about the product.
For example, internal developers and other stakeholders may want to understand the code and systems behind your software or product, while end-users want to know how to use it.
That’s why it’s essential to think carefully about your audience before you start writing your technical docs. Consider what your reader needs to know, and what level of knowledge they may have. You might be writing for someone will less technical expertise as you, so keep this in mind while you’re writing.
Likewise, if you’re documenting your process for the rest of your development team and stakeholders, your readers may have a similar level of experience to you. Tailoring your language to your reader will help them find and understand the information they need faster.
Tip: If you’re writing for beginners, consider spelling out acronyms, avoiding technical jargon, and adding a glossary to your documentation. If you need to use an acronym, spell it out the first time you use it, and include the acronym in brackets for future reference.
Why is technical documentation important?
There are plenty of reasons why writing technical documentation is a good idea:
Help users and other team members
First, it helps people use your software or product, or gives them enough information to contribute to it as well. And of course, helping your users understand your product improves their experience — which is always a good thing!
Reduce support requests and help customers self-serve
Great documentation can also save you or your support team time spent answering questions from users or other developers. By giving customers clear, concise information, they can self-serve and troubleshoot themselves. And that saves them writing a frustrated email asking for extra information.
Help future development
This is another big benefit to writing technical documentation — especially if it’s about your code. In 12 months, you may want to make a change or pick up development again, only to realize you can’t remember what you were doing or why.
By writing documentation as you go, you’ll have a great reference that will help you (or your team) pick up where you left off. And at that point, you’ll thank your past self for being so diligent.
Improve communication
With good documentation, your team and stakeholders can save searching emails or Slack to find the information they need. And if you or another contributor leaves your team, they’ll still have the knowledge they need to continue their work.
Different types of technical documentation (with examples)
There are lots of different technical documentation types. But we can break them down into two main groups — process documentation and product documentation.
Process documentation
This type of technical documentation is a key part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It typically is exclusively internal documentation intended for other developers and stakeholders within your team. Instead of focusing on the finished product, it describes the processes you used during development or the rules your team follows.
Let’s take a look at some different examples of technical documentation.
Project plans
When you’re scoping out a new project, it’s essential to map the development process for everyone on the team. And this is the place to do it.
Product requirements documentation (PRD)
This will serve as the reference document for everyone working on a product — from design to features and functionality. This is a really important guide for technical teams and business as they build, launch and market a product to the world.
Product roadmaps
A product roadmap is a shared document that tracks the progress of your product. It explains the vision, direction and progress of a product into the future for everyone on your team. This is especially useful for planning short- and long-term goals for the product, and keeping track of past developments.
Request for Comments (RFCs)
Many teams use RFCs to collaborate and get async feedback on technical ideas and progress within the development process. They’re typically dated and numbered to keep them organized, and use a template to stay consistent. The idea is to encourage multiple people to offer feedback in a single document that’s visible to the wider team.
Technical briefs
A technical brief lists everyone who is working on a project and their responsibilities. It should also detail the tasks involved in the project, who is responsible for each one and different review stages. Finally, your brief should always contain deadlines for each stage of the process, and each review. These documents are useful at the start of a new project and can serve a single source of truth during the development process.
Design system documentation
When you work with a design system, designers and developers need to use the same elements in the same way. This documentation type contains rules on sizes, colors, layouts and more. It may even contain code snippets to help you implement designs faster.
Source code documentation
If you’ve created open source software, this documentation will make sure everyone can easily understand your code. This is especially important when you’re hoping that others will contribute to and maintain your code. Source code documentation will explain specific parts of your code that may not be clear using code comments and snippets.
Product documentation
This type of technical documentation gives users all the information they need to use your product or software. It doesn’t typically explain the development process.
The content of product documentation can be very broad depending on your user base. If you’ve created an API or released some open-source code, you may include a lot of technical information. This will help people get the most from your software and even contribute back to it. If it’s product documentation aimed at customers you can avoid technical language and focus on how to use your product.
Let’s take a look at some technical documentation examples.
Product manuals, user guides, FAQs and wikis
These documents explain everything about your product to a user.
Repair guides
Giving your users clear instructions on how to fix issues will be a huge help to them down the line. And it’ll save you or your support team time.
API documentation
API documentation will explain how to work with your API. It typically features code samples, step-by-step guides, and API blocks.
Image source: Bubble
Release notes
Writing release notes helps keep your users up-to-date with what you’ve added to your product or software. It also gives you a historical record of what changed and when.
How to write technical documentation
Ready to get started, but not sure how to write technical documentation? Don’t worry — simply follow the steps below to get started.
1. Consider your audience
Depending on what you’re documenting, your content and writing style may be different. If you’re writing for a technical audience you can include common technical terms without explanation. You can also leave out some basic knowledge that you know every reader will have.
If you’re writing for users, it’s a good idea to include background information and explain more basic terms. This is especially useful for new users.
2. Do your research
The best technical documentation is thorough, considered and — most importantly — well researched. You might already have all the knowledge and materials you need to jump straight to step 3. But if not, it’s really important to pull all these pieces together before you start writing.
If you don’t have the knowledge yourself, talk to the people who do and involve them in the process. Then ask yourself questions like:
What are my goals with this documentation?
What do we want it to cover?
What information should we include?
Is there any existing information we can expand on or refer to?
3. Choose the best documentation format
You know your audience. You‘ve done the research. Now it’s time to start writing, right?
Well before you start, it’s worth thinking about how you’ll format your technical documentation. Consider the layout and design, then map out the structure of the information you want to get across. After working so hard to research this information, you want it to be well organized and easy to read.
Think about how to break up your product or software into topics and sub-topics. You may also want to consider a documentation platform that supports things like code blocks, API support, and a search function. Most online documentation tools like GitBook off this and more out of the box.
4. Write like you speak
Now it’s time to start writing. Plan a review process with other people involved, then start outlining to get the structure and layout right.
When it comes to writing, keep your audience in mind, and write how you speak. Whether your documentation is for users or developers, you’re writing for other human beings. They will understand you best when you write in natural language.
But in documentation (especially technical documentation), it’s just as important to be direct and get to the point quickly. You don’t want to bury key information three sentences down.
Tip: When you’re writing about a complex topic, stop at the end of each paragraph and read what you wrote aloud. Did you spot an overly complex a word or sentence? Did everything you just read make sense? If so, go back and edit!
Always review your own content before you share with others. During that process, cut unnecessary information and tidy up anything that’s unclear. You should end up with copy that sounds like something you would say to your prospective audience in conversation.
5. Review with your team
This is a key part of the documentation process. Just like in the development process, no documentation should go live without a final review. It doesn’t just make sure your content is grammatically correct and well-written. It also gives more people visibility on your writing. And when technical knowledge may be spread across your team or organization, this is really important.
Ideally, you’ll set a few different points in the process for reviews. Start by asking people to check the structure and flow of your content. Then, after you’ve written another draft or two, you can ask for feedback on finer details, like spelling and grammar.
Make sure you ask the right people on your team. Technical people can review the knowledge, and writers can give you good feedback on your copy. Ask your reviewers to run through guides and test code themselves to make sure everything works as expected.
6. Publish and track
Now that your content is ready to go, it’s time to publish it to the world. You might consider using a tool like GitBook, an online app for sharing knowledge, that has all the features for internal and public documentation.
However, once your content is live, your work isn’t done. Regularly check your content's analytics and insights to see which pages are doing well and which ones need improvement. Tools like GitBook typically have built-in page analytics that help you see this data instantly.
7. Review and refresh
Now that you know which pages are doing well and which aren’t performing, it’s time to revisit your work. Look at underperforming pages and think about how you can improve them to make them more useful to customers.
And don’t forget — documentation is always evolving. When your product changes or improves, make sure to update your documentation with the latest technical information.
GitBook’s free technical documentation templates
Online knowledge sharing tools like GitBook include a few free templates that you can use with a click. Depending on what you’re writing, you can use the product docs template or the API docs template as a starting point.
Product documentation template
This simple docs template includes tables, images and video embeds. Plus it’s already organized into sections like product guides and use cases. It’s a great platform to build on.
API documentation template
The API docs template offers a basic structure for your documentation. The pages already include hint blocks, as well as tabbed code blocks that will help you write demo code for different languages.
Technical documentation best practices
This quick list of best practices for technical docs will help you give users and customers exactly what they need.
Plan it out – Before you start writing, come up with a structure and a plan for your documentation. All the best writing starts with a plan.
Write for your audience – Think about who will be reading your content and make sure your writing has the right level of detail for them.
Write like you speak – Great written content sounds like something you would say out loud. If in doubt, read your documentation aloud and edit any parts that trip you up.
Keep it simple and clear – If you’re writing about complex topics, make your content as simple as possible to find and digest. It shows you value your readers’ time.
Make it accessible – Choose a platform that will make your content look great across different devices. And if you add images, make sure you add alt text for screen readers.
Start with a template – Don’t worry about the blank page. Kick off with a template that can at least act as inspiration for your work.
Think carefully about your page structure – Organize your information into pages and sub-pages. Then think about the best ways to communicate information on each page, including code blocks, images and tables.
Update your content regularly – Your documentation is never really ‘done’ — make sure you update it regularly. This shows your users that you’re actively maintaining your product or code, or addressing common questions.
Let’s get started!
Ready to get started on your technical documentation? Great! You can keep this guide as a reference to come back to later, or just dive straight in. if you’re looking for the perfect platform, give GitBook a try. It’s free to get started.
Want to see some great samples of technical documentation? Visit our Library — it’s packed with great docs for you to read.
→ Try GitBook for your documentation
→ Quick tips to improve your technical writing workflow in GitBook
Writing technical documentation is an essential part of any software development workflow. It doesn’t just help developers and other stakeholders understand what you built — but also why and how you built it.
Here, we’ll explore what technical documentation is and why it’s important. We’ll also explain how to write great technical documentation — with examples and templates to help you get started. Let’s go!
What is technical documentation?
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software. You may write it for people inside and outside your organization, and depending on the reader your tech docs will fulfill different needs.
Ultimately, the most important part of any technical documentation is that it’s clear and to-the-point. That way your reader — whoever they are — can use it to understand your product.
Technical documentation explains everything related to your product or software.
Technical docs are most common within the software development industry. They’re typically written by technical writers — although developers, product managers, and other members of the team may also contribute.
Who is technical documentation for?
Technical documentation can cover everything from internal knowledge for your team, to public documentation for your customers or users. It can also include product documentation and user manuals that help onboard customers and teach them about the product.
For example, internal developers and other stakeholders may want to understand the code and systems behind your software or product, while end-users want to know how to use it.
That’s why it’s essential to think carefully about your audience before you start writing your technical docs. Consider what your reader needs to know, and what level of knowledge they may have. You might be writing for someone will less technical expertise as you, so keep this in mind while you’re writing.
Likewise, if you’re documenting your process for the rest of your development team and stakeholders, your readers may have a similar level of experience to you. Tailoring your language to your reader will help them find and understand the information they need faster.
Tip: If you’re writing for beginners, consider spelling out acronyms, avoiding technical jargon, and adding a glossary to your documentation. If you need to use an acronym, spell it out the first time you use it, and include the acronym in brackets for future reference.
Why is technical documentation important?
There are plenty of reasons why writing technical documentation is a good idea:
Help users and other team members
First, it helps people use your software or product, or gives them enough information to contribute to it as well. And of course, helping your users understand your product improves their experience — which is always a good thing!
Reduce support requests and help customers self-serve
Great documentation can also save you or your support team time spent answering questions from users or other developers. By giving customers clear, concise information, they can self-serve and troubleshoot themselves. And that saves them writing a frustrated email asking for extra information.
Help future development
This is another big benefit to writing technical documentation — especially if it’s about your code. In 12 months, you may want to make a change or pick up development again, only to realize you can’t remember what you were doing or why.
By writing documentation as you go, you’ll have a great reference that will help you (or your team) pick up where you left off. And at that point, you’ll thank your past self for being so diligent.
Improve communication
With good documentation, your team and stakeholders can save searching emails or Slack to find the information they need. And if you or another contributor leaves your team, they’ll still have the knowledge they need to continue their work.
Different types of technical documentation (with examples)
There are lots of different technical documentation types. But we can break them down into two main groups — process documentation and product documentation.
Process documentation
This type of technical documentation is a key part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It typically is exclusively internal documentation intended for other developers and stakeholders within your team. Instead of focusing on the finished product, it describes the processes you used during development or the rules your team follows.
Let’s take a look at some different examples of technical documentation.
Project plans
When you’re scoping out a new project, it’s essential to map the development process for everyone on the team. And this is the place to do it.
Product requirements documentation (PRD)
This will serve as the reference document for everyone working on a product — from design to features and functionality. This is a really important guide for technical teams and business as they build, launch and market a product to the world.
Product roadmaps
A product roadmap is a shared document that tracks the progress of your product. It explains the vision, direction and progress of a product into the future for everyone on your team. This is especially useful for planning short- and long-term goals for the product, and keeping track of past developments.
Request for Comments (RFCs)
Many teams use RFCs to collaborate and get async feedback on technical ideas and progress within the development process. They’re typically dated and numbered to keep them organized, and use a template to stay consistent. The idea is to encourage multiple people to offer feedback in a single document that’s visible to the wider team.
Technical briefs
A technical brief lists everyone who is working on a project and their responsibilities. It should also detail the tasks involved in the project, who is responsible for each one and different review stages. Finally, your brief should always contain deadlines for each stage of the process, and each review. These documents are useful at the start of a new project and can serve a single source of truth during the development process.
Design system documentation
When you work with a design system, designers and developers need to use the same elements in the same way. This documentation type contains rules on sizes, colors, layouts and more. It may even contain code snippets to help you implement designs faster.
Source code documentation
If you’ve created open source software, this documentation will make sure everyone can easily understand your code. This is especially important when you’re hoping that others will contribute to and maintain your code. Source code documentation will explain specific parts of your code that may not be clear using code comments and snippets.
Product documentation
This type of technical documentation gives users all the information they need to use your product or software. It doesn’t typically explain the development process.
The content of product documentation can be very broad depending on your user base. If you’ve created an API or released some open-source code, you may include a lot of technical information. This will help people get the most from your software and even contribute back to it. If it’s product documentation aimed at customers you can avoid technical language and focus on how to use your product.
Let’s take a look at some technical documentation examples.
Product manuals, user guides, FAQs and wikis
These documents explain everything about your product to a user.
Repair guides
Giving your users clear instructions on how to fix issues will be a huge help to them down the line. And it’ll save you or your support team time.
API documentation
API documentation will explain how to work with your API. It typically features code samples, step-by-step guides, and API blocks.
Image source: Bubble
Release notes
Writing release notes helps keep your users up-to-date with what you’ve added to your product or software. It also gives you a historical record of what changed and when.
How to write technical documentation
Ready to get started, but not sure how to write technical documentation? Don’t worry — simply follow the steps below to get started.
1. Consider your audience
Depending on what you’re documenting, your content and writing style may be different. If you’re writing for a technical audience you can include common technical terms without explanation. You can also leave out some basic knowledge that you know every reader will have.
If you’re writing for users, it’s a good idea to include background information and explain more basic terms. This is especially useful for new users.
2. Do your research
The best technical documentation is thorough, considered and — most importantly — well researched. You might already have all the knowledge and materials you need to jump straight to step 3. But if not, it’s really important to pull all these pieces together before you start writing.
If you don’t have the knowledge yourself, talk to the people who do and involve them in the process. Then ask yourself questions like:
What are my goals with this documentation?
What do we want it to cover?
What information should we include?
Is there any existing information we can expand on or refer to?
3. Choose the best documentation format
You know your audience. You‘ve done the research. Now it’s time to start writing, right?
Well before you start, it’s worth thinking about how you’ll format your technical documentation. Consider the layout and design, then map out the structure of the information you want to get across. After working so hard to research this information, you want it to be well organized and easy to read.
Think about how to break up your product or software into topics and sub-topics. You may also want to consider a documentation platform that supports things like code blocks, API support, and a search function. Most online documentation tools like GitBook off this and more out of the box.
4. Write like you speak
Now it’s time to start writing. Plan a review process with other people involved, then start outlining to get the structure and layout right.
When it comes to writing, keep your audience in mind, and write how you speak. Whether your documentation is for users or developers, you’re writing for other human beings. They will understand you best when you write in natural language.
But in documentation (especially technical documentation), it’s just as important to be direct and get to the point quickly. You don’t want to bury key information three sentences down.
Tip: When you’re writing about a complex topic, stop at the end of each paragraph and read what you wrote aloud. Did you spot an overly complex a word or sentence? Did everything you just read make sense? If so, go back and edit!
Always review your own content before you share with others. During that process, cut unnecessary information and tidy up anything that’s unclear. You should end up with copy that sounds like something you would say to your prospective audience in conversation.
5. Review with your team
This is a key part of the documentation process. Just like in the development process, no documentation should go live without a final review. It doesn’t just make sure your content is grammatically correct and well-written. It also gives more people visibility on your writing. And when technical knowledge may be spread across your team or organization, this is really important.
Ideally, you’ll set a few different points in the process for reviews. Start by asking people to check the structure and flow of your content. Then, after you’ve written another draft or two, you can ask for feedback on finer details, like spelling and grammar.
Make sure you ask the right people on your team. Technical people can review the knowledge, and writers can give you good feedback on your copy. Ask your reviewers to run through guides and test code themselves to make sure everything works as expected.
6. Publish and track
Now that your content is ready to go, it’s time to publish it to the world. You might consider using a tool like GitBook, an online app for sharing knowledge, that has all the features for internal and public documentation.
However, once your content is live, your work isn’t done. Regularly check your content's analytics and insights to see which pages are doing well and which ones need improvement. Tools like GitBook typically have built-in page analytics that help you see this data instantly.
7. Review and refresh
Now that you know which pages are doing well and which aren’t performing, it’s time to revisit your work. Look at underperforming pages and think about how you can improve them to make them more useful to customers.
And don’t forget — documentation is always evolving. When your product changes or improves, make sure to update your documentation with the latest technical information.
GitBook’s free technical documentation templates
Online knowledge sharing tools like GitBook include a few free templates that you can use with a click. Depending on what you’re writing, you can use the product docs template or the API docs template as a starting point.
Product documentation template
This simple docs template includes tables, images and video embeds. Plus it’s already organized into sections like product guides and use cases. It’s a great platform to build on.
API documentation template
The API docs template offers a basic structure for your documentation. The pages already include hint blocks, as well as tabbed code blocks that will help you write demo code for different languages.
Technical documentation best practices
This quick list of best practices for technical docs will help you give users and customers exactly what they need.
Plan it out – Before you start writing, come up with a structure and a plan for your documentation. All the best writing starts with a plan.
Write for your audience – Think about who will be reading your content and make sure your writing has the right level of detail for them.
Write like you speak – Great written content sounds like something you would say out loud. If in doubt, read your documentation aloud and edit any parts that trip you up.
Keep it simple and clear – If you’re writing about complex topics, make your content as simple as possible to find and digest. It shows you value your readers’ time.
Make it accessible – Choose a platform that will make your content look great across different devices. And if you add images, make sure you add alt text for screen readers.
Start with a template – Don’t worry about the blank page. Kick off with a template that can at least act as inspiration for your work.
Think carefully about your page structure – Organize your information into pages and sub-pages. Then think about the best ways to communicate information on each page, including code blocks, images and tables.
Update your content regularly – Your documentation is never really ‘done’ — make sure you update it regularly. This shows your users that you’re actively maintaining your product or code, or addressing common questions.
Let’s get started!
Ready to get started on your technical documentation? Great! You can keep this guide as a reference to come back to later, or just dive straight in. if you’re looking for the perfect platform, give GitBook a try. It’s free to get started.
Want to see some great samples of technical documentation? Visit our Library — it’s packed with great docs for you to read.
→ Try GitBook for your documentation
→ Quick tips to improve your technical writing workflow in GitBook
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Play around with GitBook and set up your docs for free. Add your team and pay when you’re ready.
