What software do you need to create the body of online documentation for your product? There is a wide array of professional tools that cater to the needs of this specific task. Clickhelp.com is an example of such software (and even more, of a full-fledged environment) you need to create online documentation with ease.
Coworking Environment
It’s enough to install OpenOffice.org or one of its numerous free alternatives to create documents alone on your local machine. But when it comes to a huge body of technical documentation for a large project, it requires much more. Even if you handle just one project, first of all, there are multiple writers and designers responsible for various parts of the documents. Second, there are reviewers and editors who oversee the writers’ work. Third, there are developers of the software itself that need to stay connected with the documentation department. If the project is multilingual (which is logical for a global product), translators are needed too. Finally, there are managers who control the processes.
All of them should feel comfortable in a unified cloud environment. There are various features that can turn a cloud service with storage and an editor into this sort of environment:
- A built-in messenger. Everybody should stay connected. With such a messenger, you can send internal links, screenshots, events in the corporate calendar, and so on. The data you send remains secure.
- Scheduling tools. You need to appoint events, assign tasks, monitor their status, set deadlines, reassign tasks to other specialists (if necessary), check how busy they are, and so on.
- Customizable workflow. There can be different tasks that require different teams and diverse approaches.
It’s also important to make this service cross-platform, especially in our lockdown era when everything goes remote. Not only do the employees now bring their own devices: they work from home on whatever they have or consider necessary. So the online tools need to be accessible through all the most popular browsers for Windows, Mac, or Linux. There can be a mobile app that combines a messenger, a calendar, a customizable editor, and whatever is necessary.
Configurable Editors
When it comes to online documentation for software, the guidelines inevitably emerge that define the result. Some of them are dictated by pure usability, others come from the software specific features, and sometimes it’s a requirement to keep the docs designed in your corporate style. In order to make your documentation easier and faster, you can only opt for the tools that you need to make it.
What can you jettison from editors? Some formatting options and fonts may be superfluous. The most necessary features can be put in front of the others, so they are the easiest to access. The fonts appear in order of frequency, so the most demanded ones come first. You may need to switch it to code view or feel good with a purely visual editor. Finally, you can create various versions of the editor, depending on the position. Technical writers, say, only access the basic version, while editors and managers can redact pages with a larger pool of tools.
Templates
You may consider designing documents from scratch the only way. Nevertheless, templates can save thousands of hours with the very fact they exist. A good template may need very few changes to fit your requirements and look like you want it to. Of course, documentation is primarily functional, with little space for designers’ experiments. Still, there are enough degrees of freedom.
Not only can there be templates for documentation portal pages. There can be editor configurations, workflow templates, and so on. Everything customizable is better with a couple of examples.
Templates, in fact, are just a part of a multilevel structure. If you want to create your documentation quickly, you must be able to do it in minutes with templates, import tools, and quick editors. But if you want to customize it deeper, you might need more professional tools, allowing you to edit and adjust both the content and the usability.
Final Usability
It’s important to make creating documentation easy. But it’s crucial to make the ready documentation easy to use by customers. So, the software (or rather the service) you use should support features that enhance usability. They can include:
- Hosting for your documentation. Needless to say, it should provide enough space and comfortable integration into your main website.
- Live chat. If a customer has a question to ask, they should be able to ask it right from the page where it emerged or from the most relevant one.
- Alerts. When the new version arrives, you should notify the customers about it.
- Exportability. Online documentation is great, but if your customer wants to have a local copy, they should be able to download a CHM version, a PDF file, or a Web Help to host on your own server.
- Third-party services integration. If you plan to sell your product globally, you can integrate automatic translation. If comments are foreseen, you can add Disqus or other third-party comment platforms.
Pricing
Hardly can there be anything better fitting the SaaS model than software for creating online documentation. Cloud-based by definition, it offers more than just document-creating tools. With the editors come perks like a built-in messenger, management tools, cloud storage for documents, and stuff. No wonder its maintenance makes subscription the most logical option.
Still, there are various payment options, not only in amounts but also in flexibility. You can save more if you only subscribe to the features you need indeed.
Docs
Online documentation is more efficient than local static docs, but it requires more effort to create and maintain. No wonder tools for it are special as well. But the clearer you picture the image of your future documentation portal, the easier it will be for you to find the proper software to develop and maintain it as your product evolves. In the entire variety of documentation creating software, there is a tool for you.
