Technical writing – what is it and where can I find it?

Living in the XXI century, you’ve definitely come across technical writing at some point. But, you may have been unaware of it. So, what is technical writing in today’s world? Let’s take a brief look at its types and examples.

Types of technical writing

Technical writing has a long history, stretching back to ancient Greek and Roman nautical handbooks, medieval technical manuscripts such as Al-Jazari’s Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206), and early American figures like Benjamin Franklin, who combined printing, science, and public communication in their works. The scope of technical writing has always evolved with the technologies it described, yet the core mission remained the same: to transfer knowledge and make people’s lives easier.

Where do you find technical writing today? We could spend days listing different types of technical writing and their examples, so let’s focus on the most popular ones.

Websites

How does technical writing help users online? These days, when people face technical problems, they often google the solution or ask AI chatbots for help. Technical writing ensures that the right information reaches them, often through company or government websites. Examples include:

• Product help portals like this Volvo portal
• Government web portals for official tools
• Help sections in nearly every Internet service:
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Cooking software

User manuals

User manuals provide guidance for appliances, machinery, software, and other tools. They’re not meant to be read like books, but to deliver the right information at the right time. Those technical writing examples are all around us, and include:

• Laundry machine user guides and car quick start guides
• Music pedal guidebooks and graphic design software user guides
• Agricultural equipment manuals and military tools handbooks

The popular opinion may be that nobody reads user manuals, but in fact, they’re not meant to be read and enjoyed like books or magazines. They’re meant to help, by bringing the right information to the right people, exactly when they need it.

Software documentation

What role does software documentation play in technical writing? With the mind-blowing rise of information technology, software documentation is probably one of the fastest-growing branches of technical writing. The term describes both user documentation and information for software developers or system designers.

• User documentation performs a function similar to traditional user manuals. It explains how to use an application from the user’s perspective. Examples include documents about using camera software on a PC, or quick start guides for academic research programs.
• Developer-focused documentation conveys professional, highly specialized knowledge aimed at a specific audience. For example, a topic like x86: Adding Kernel Arguments by Editing the GRUB Menu at Boot Time is not meant for general understanding—only specialists working with the Oracle Solaris operating system, or even a specific system version, would use it. Without such documentation, their work would be much more painful—or even impossible.

A subcategory of software-related technical writing is API documentation. API writers provide developers with the information they need to make different applications work together.

Knowledge bases

Probably most of today’s technical information is stored in knowledge bases of all sorts. For example, think of a large company producing compact radios. People who work in the factory need a lot of information to keep up production standards, fix things quickly, have something to refer to on a daily basis, and train new employees. The information they need comprises thousands of documents of different sorts: manuals, procedures, drawings, instructional videos, forms, and many others.

One way of keeping this knowledge would be to scatter it across thousands of email boxes, web portals, and personal computers. Another way is to keep it all in one, easily accessible place, where the right people can always find it. That’s why these days you’ll find lots of technical writing stored in company-specific, scalable knowledge bases.

Technical writing is everywhere

OK, that statement may be a little exaggeration. But it’s not far from the truth. In a world driven by applied science, every piece of technology out there has tons of documentation behind it, around it and in front of it. The chances are that without technical writing you wouldn’t be able to see this website right now. Keep your eyes open!