Services

Are you looking for an expert in the field of technical documentation and technical communication based in Europe? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

As a technical documentation consultant and freelance technical writer I assist my clients in creating high-quality user manuals, online help, and other forms of user assistance. Most of my clients are software companies and makers of software-controlled products.

Often, I design and write the complete technical documentation for a product. Other companies have their own staff who write the documents. In this case I provide consulting on choosing the best authoring tools and training on structuring and writing clear, user-friendly documents. Documentation that is simple to read is not that simple to write.

When creating user documentation, the most frequently made mistakes are:

The documentation reflects the technical way of thinking of the product’s developers rather than the questions of the product’s users.

The documentation describes what users can see anyway on the product. But the documentation lacks explanations of what users can’t see.

Authors try to impress their readers with long, complex sentences. Texts are full of technical terms and abbreviations. Nothing makes a technical text more difficult to read.

I can help you to avoid these and many other mistakes. Using most products is difficult enough. So at least the products’ technical documentation should be clear and simple.

In particular, my services are:

Improvement of Existing Documentation

Are you no longer fully satisfied with the quality of your existing technical documentation? I can analyse your documents and work out suggestions for improvement.

Creation of New Documentation

Have you developed a new product or new software? Do you need some user documentation, such as user manuals or online help? Based on a detailed user analysis, I can develop a user-friendly and cost-efficient documentation solution.

Printed Manuals and Online Help

Don’t you only need some good ideas but also a technical writer who actually writes your documents? As an experienced technical writer I can create all parts of your technical documentation in the required formats. By the way: With the help of the right authoring tools, we can generate printed user manuals and online help from the same, shared text base. So texts don’t need to be written twice, updated twice, and maybe translated multipe times. The same applies if you need different variants of a document, such as a manual for a “Lite Version” of your product and a manual for a “Pro Version”, or manuals for different brandings. This approach is called single source publishing or single sourcing.

Writing Style Guides and Structures

Do you need some instructions on how to write good instructions―a guide for the members of your team for producing consistent, high-quality documents, no matter who writes them? I can analyze your specific requirements and set up the corresponding structures and rules for your documents. By the way: This writing style guide will be clear and simple enough so that all members of the team are actually going to use this guide.

Document Templates

Do you need a professional template (style sheet) for a printed user manual or for online help? I can create individual templates for you that go well beyond just looking good: The templates are also user-friendly both for the reader and for the autor. For the reader, user friendlyness of a document template means: The visual design of the pages makes finding and memorizing particular information easy. For the author, user friendliness of a document template means: The styles are set and structured in a way so that they can easily be assigned and so that the layout process is automated as much as possible.

Assistance in Choosing Authoring Tools

Are you looking for a suitable tool that helps you to create and update your technical documentation efficiently? Based on my longterm experience in the industry I can help you with your selection. I can show you which systems meet your requirements, I can explain the systems’ specific advantages to you, and I can also point out the specific disadvantages that the systems’ vendors often conceal. I advise you objectively, free of any sales motives for a specific tool. This gives you a well-founded basis for your decision and you can save lots of time compared to selecting tools on your own.

Trainings, Workshops, Mentoring

Do you need some fresh ideas, some feedback, or some individual support for yourself or for your team? I’ll teach you everything that you need to know to create clear, high-quality, user-friendly technical documentation. The trainings are organized as a workshop based on your particular documentation needs and based on your own documents. In case you already have some practical experience, I can support you precisely where you want to improve. I also provide special trainings for working with the help authoring tools “MadCap Flare” and “Help & Manual”.

Additional Services

In addition to creating technical documentation, I can also help you with the following:
■ create consistent, clear, helpful, and thus user-friendly texts for the user interface (UI / GUI) of your software
■ write texts for web sites and brochures
■ create training materials
■ design and create software videos (screencasts)

When writing software documentation, it's usually not necessary to work permanently onsite within the rooms of my clients. Most tasks can well be accomplished within my own office. To do the required research and to discuss the project, I usually visit my clients a limited number of times. Also we can use email, Skype, and the telephone.

As I use my own hardware and software (e.g. Madcap Flare, Help & Manual, Doc-To-Help, RoboHelp, Confluence, FrameMaker, Microsoft Word, Captivate, Camtasia, DemoBuilder), my clients don't have to provide a workplace and the only costs involved are those for my hourly fee.

Technical Documentation Consultant

Freelance Technical Writer

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