5 ms·
Completely disagree that this is a form of virtue signaling; everything the article outlines is reflected in the major documentation style guides (e.g., MMoS or
by spondylosaurus 4y ago
Completely disagree that this is a form of virtue signaling; everything the article outlines is reflected in the major documentation style guides (e.g., MMoS or the Google developer documentation style guide).
- Don't make unsubstantiated claims about your product.
- Don't discuss upcoming features or refer to existing features as "new" outside of announcements/release notes.
- Don't make promises about uptime or other things that belong in an SLA—this can have nasty legal implications down the line.
- Don't waste time with marketing-speak; your reader is either already using your product or is on the verge of using your product (and consulting the quality of your docs before they decide to move forward).
- Don't use ambiguous language or cultural idioms that may confuse ESL readers.
- Don't preface instructions with how easy it is to do something; every reader has a different level of experience and background knowledge. Also, if you say that your product is easy to use and then it actually isn't, it makes you look like an idiot. Or disingenuous. Or both.
- ulizzle 4y agoIf you completely disagree, keep in mind “completely” is also an adverb. Some frameworks sell simplicity (setup, maintenance) as a feature, so that adverb would be fitting. But this is just infantilizing and a lot of people (maybe a universal trait) are annoyed by that.
- spondylosaurus 4y agoWhat? Adverbs are fine; there's no industry-wide dictum against adverbs. I think you might be mad at something different than the principles I'm outlining here. These are accepted standards of technical documentation.
- ulizzle 4y agoThis is basic English grammar, something you should have learned in grade school.
- spondylosaurus 4y agoYour grade school taught you that adverbs are a form of virtue signaling?
- ulizzle 4y agoNo one will fall apart and burst into tears because of an adverb they read in the mountain of documentation we have to read to get the job done. Navel-gazing of the highest order.
- spondylosaurus 4y agoYou lost me there again, my friend. Technical writing stylebooks draw no correlation between adverbs and nervous breakdowns. You seem to be tilting at an entirely different windmill than the one I'm tending to.
- TheCoelacanth 4y agoThat's fine, but put your marketing copy in your marketing, not in your docs.