Recommendation for a book about writing documentation

Hello, I am looking for a book about documentation writing (computer application documentation). I looked in my local bookstore but didn't find anything. I searched amazon but all the titles I have look at have none or very poor explanation as to what given book contains. I am sure many people here read many good books about the art of writing good application documentations. I would be grateful if these people would share with me their book recommendations. TK

At 11:03 6/1/2004 -0400, you wrote: ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more ----- What kind of docs: manuals, requirement docs, inline documentation?

I am looking for something about writing both requirement documentation as well as user manulas. Mostly requirement documentation, the manual writing tips would be a nice bonus in a book. I can also always get 2. TK   At 11:03 6/1/2004 -0400, you wrote:   >Hello,   >   >I am looking for a book about documentation writing (computer application   >documentation). I looked in my local bookstore but didn't find anything. I   >searched amazon but all the titles I have look at have none or very poor   >explanation as to what given book contains. I am sure many people here read   >many good books about the art of writing good application documentations. I   >would be grateful if these people would share with me their book   >recommendations.   What kind of docs: manuals, requirement docs, inline documentation?

What your asking for falls under the category of "Technical Writing".  When I was studying programming in school, the Technical Writing class was required.  It covered a number of points like knowing who the target audience is, how to present step by step instructions, etc. A quick google search for "technical writing" returns 7,090,000 results (http://www.google.ca/search?q=technical+writing&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=). There should be enough in there to get you started or at least help you narrow down your search. HTH Shawn I am looking for something about writing both requirement documentation as well as user manulas. Mostly requirement documentation, the manual writing tips would be a nice bonus in a book. I can also always get 2. TK   At 11:03 6/1/2004 -0400, you wrote:   >Hello,   >   >I am looking for a book about documentation writing (computer application   >documentation). I looked in my local bookstore but didn't find anything. I   >searched amazon but all the titles I have look at have none or very poor   >explanation as to what given book contains. I am sure many people here read   >many good books about the art of writing good application documentations. I   >would be grateful if these people would share with me their book   >recommendations.   What kind of docs: manuals, requirement docs, inline documentation?

At 10:51 6/1/2004 -0600, you wrote: ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more ----- The de facto standard in the OOP world for user requirement documentation is UML or more specifically Use Cases. Since this is a CF list I'm going to assume that you mean requirement docs for a CF app. Building Web Applications with UML by Jim Conallen is the book I read that is specifically targeted for Web Applications. There are some other books about UML from the AW library but none of the others are specifically targeted for web applications. The Use Cases should translate easily into a user manual as all the actors (login types) and actions should are already defined before the system is built out. On a personal note, I strongly urge you to consider the time vs reward aspect. While I recognize the need for some type of documentation, I question the value of UML for small to medium sites especially if there is a learning curve associated.

UML is only a small part of requirements specifications. A good book on UML is: Fundamentals of Object-Oriented Design in UML (Page-Jones) A good book on requirements specifications, as well as software process and documentation in general is: Software Engineering: A Practioner's Approach (Pressman) Cutter W ----- Excess quoted text cut - see Original Post for more -----