Wise Words - What does a technical author need?

		What does a technical author need?

What does a technical author need?

What if you can't afford a technical author?

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This section may not concern you if your technical author is providing all the resources.

However, if you require the work to be done on your site, please bear in mind that what the technical author requires to do the job properly may be very different from what a software developer needs, and is often more demanding on computer processing power.

Here are some things that I may use on a typical project:

The prototype application
The software tools that the developers are using (for example, Visual Basic or Visual C++)
Access to the client's network
The word-processor and/or publishing program specified for the deliverable
A text-editing program
A selection of graphics programs for creating and editing illustrations for the documentation
Programs for searching for text strings in a set of documents
A web browser (in many cases): the World-Wide Web is an invaluable resource for instant information and software
Other software for specific requirements

I may be using a selection of these at one time. In my own office, I work on two computers, usually one for editing and one for the application software being documented. These computers are connected by a network, for easy exchange of data.

Please also bear in mind that a technical author spends more time talking to a computer than talking to people. A quiet environment is essential for productivity.

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This is version 2, November 2002.