Write Docs Devs Love: Ten Tricks To Level Up Your Tech Writing - presented by Mason Egger
Channel: EuroPython Conference
Date: 02/11/2022

EuroPython 2022 - Write Docs Devs Love: Ten Tricks To Level Up Your Tech Writing - presented by Mason Egger

[Wicklow Hall 1 on 2022-07-15]


Think of that feeling you get when you follow an online tutorial or documentation and the code works on the first run. Now think of all the hours spent wasted following broken, outdated, or incomplete documentation. From our favorite tutorials to bad product docs we all consume technical writing. Tutorials, blog posts, and product docs help developers learn new things, build projects, and debug issues. But what makes one tutorial better than another? In this talk I'll discuss how you can write the documentation that developers love and I’ll share 10 tips and tricks to improve your technical writing.

Outline

* Introduction (1 min)

* Why is Technical Writing Important? (4 min)

* My Top 10 Tips to improve your Technical Writing (20 min)
 * # 10 - Make Your End Goal Clear
 * # 9 - Don’t Be Overly Verbose
 * # 8 - Inclusive Language
  * Avoid words like Simple, Easy
 * # 7 - Avoid Technical Jargon
 * # 6 - Define ALL Acronyms
 * # 5 - Avoid Memes/Colloquialisms
 * # 4 - Use Meaningful Code Samples and Variable Names
 * # 3 - Don’t Make Your Reader Leave Your Article
 * # 2 - Make it Easy for the Reader to Find a Single Piece of Information
 * # 1 - Verify Your Instructions! Test, Test, Test!
 * # 0 Bonus! - Practice, Practice, Practice

* How You Can Get Started in Technical Writing (3 min)

* Conclusion & Questions (2 min)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/