With my dissertation, I aim to provide a state-of-the-art set of answers to the overarching question of what would be best practices for API documentation. To find answers, I wanted to review the body of knowledge from technical communication as well as software documentation. I wanted to identify studies that could provide reliable answers. So,… Continue reading Finding the best research method to answer your research question(s)
Category: On API docs
Trends in API documentation
Recently, tech writer Tom Johnson gave a webinar on trends in the field of API documentation, which I attended because this topic is relevant for my dissertation. Click here to access the slides and the recording of the webinar. The trends he found resulted from an online survey he conducted over the last two months.… Continue reading Trends in API documentation
Git & Unix cheat sheet
It's time for the Git cheat sheet for writers! Read why General command structure: command -o --option argument "another argument, containing blank spaces" Note that Git commands always start with the prefix git whereas Unix commands do not carry a prefix. Unix commandDescriptionpwdPrint working directory = tell me which folder I am inlsList all items… Continue reading Git & Unix cheat sheet
How I learned Git, forgot it, and re-learned it
Part 1: Why you need to learn Git for Docs as Code Docs as Code. What? In the software industry, technical writers work close to developers, especially when writing developer documentation, that is, documents that have other developers as target users. The idea of Docs as Code is to employ the same workflows for the… Continue reading How I learned Git, forgot it, and re-learned it
Usability (testing) for complex information systems
Educating students on how to conduct usability tests is part of the MA programme I currently study (click here to enlarge the module map shown above). The product I decided to test was a developer portal, that is, a website aimed at developers and offering further information about microservices and their APIs. When shaping the… Continue reading Usability (testing) for complex information systems
API docs: Writing for developers
What technical communicators do Technical communicators typically produce documents that enable people to use a specific technical product or technology. (Documents in this context are any media communicating technical information.) Technical communicators shape documents according to their target audience's needs. For example, in the IT sector, target audiences for technical communication documents can be end-users… Continue reading API docs: Writing for developers
API docs and me 