Documentation Usability Tips

Hi, You will find tips here on how to write a good document. This blog will show you 10 good documentation usability tips.

Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. Usability can also refer to the methods of measuring usability and the study of the principles behind an object's perceived efficiency or elegance.

In human-computer interaction and computer science, usability usually refers to the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a document is designed. The term is also used often in the context of products like consumer electronics, or in the areas of communication, and knowledge transfer objects (such as a cookbook, a document or online help). It can also refer to the efficient design of mechanical objects such as a door handle or a hammer



== 10 Documentation Usability Tips for Good Writing in case of usability issue.==


Tip 1. Write your document with relevant content

It may be tempting to write a good documentation usability about your brother's dog, but if it doesn't relate to your document, leave it out. Web readers want information, and unless the document is information about said dog, they really won't care, even if it is a good metaphor for what you're trying to say."There has always been talk about how content is king on the internet. That, quite naturally, is true."

"Document's Relevant Content is critical metric of usability to achieving effective Internet marketing strategies and is the key to the implementation of organic search engine optimization. Content of your document should always be Unique and focused directly on the product or services that are being promoted."

Website content development and management can improve the quality of your website and increase its online value. Well-optimized content with good keyword density and other site marketing techniques can also help increase your site's rankings in search engines.


Tip 2. Put the important details at the beginning

Think of an inverted pyramid when you write. Get to the point in the first paragraph of the document, and then expand upon it."Start the document by telling the reader the conclusion, followed by the most important supporting information, and end by giving the background. This style is known as the inverted pyramid for the simple reason that it turns the traditional pyramid style around. Inverted-pyramid writing is usability for newspapers because readers can stop at any time and will still get the most important parts of the article."

"Since Web users typically scan all of document, it is important to position main points at the beginning of the article, and then go into more detail as needed."

"The inverted pyramid style of writing. It will help you to get your message across faster."


Tip 3. Write only one idea per paragraph

Good usable document need to be concise and to-the-point. People don't read all document's pages; they scan them, so having short, meaty paragraphs is better than long rambling ones."To guarantee that people can comprehend the whole paragraph, give them the main point right away. It serves as a framework for the rest of the content. Users understand better."

"Each paragraph should contain one main idea; use a second paragraph for a second idea, since users tend to skip any second point as they scan over the paragraph"

"One idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)."


Tip 4. Use action words

Tell your readers what to do. Avoid the passive voice. Keep the flow of your document moving."Finding the right "action words" can instantly add verve to your writing style, as well as score you extra points with search engines."

"Another problem with passive voice is that it comes across as vague; it is often the language of politics."
"Use action words in short, clearly written phrases. Use the minimum number of words necessary to convey accurately what you wish to say."


Tip 5. Use lists instead of paragraphs

Lists are easier to scan than paragraphs, especially if you keep them short. Studies have shown that people can only reliably remember 7-10 things at a time. By keeping your list items short, it helps your readers remember them."You can make parallel points clear and easy to remember by using tabulation or a dropped list. Each item in the list is preceded by a bullet or a number. Bullets or numbers draw the reader's attention and separate the items better than dashes."

"Readers don't like to read long document. Readers hate articles that are just one long paragraph. Why? Because in order to get information out of that article, they have to read the whole thing. Writing articles in one long paragraphs will not only make your readers angry, but your article will not do very good in it's market. It's true. Add bullet points."

"When readers see a list of bulleted text, they expect congruent and related information."


Tip 6. Emphasise Key Concepts

Help your readers scan for key concepts by emphasising important information. You can emphasise by using bold or colored text, or by highlighting the text with a different background color. However, Italics can be hard to read on screen. Do not underline as this indicates a link."Use punctuation and textual emphasis to clarify meaning."

"Help your readers scan for key concepts by emphasizing important information. You can emphasize by using bold or colored text, or by highlighting the text with a different background color. But don't use italics for emphasis because italics are difficult to read on a computer monitor. There are just not enough pixels to render italics clearly."

"Use Bold and italics to draw attention to important words. This helps improve the 'scanability' of your content by ensuring the user is drawn to important words."


Tip 7. Write short sentences

Sentences should be as concise as you can make them. Use only the words you need to get the essential information across."In general, people don't really 'read' all your document, they 'scan'. Web readers are impatient - they want quick and easy access to the information they are looking for. Write succinct paragraphs and use bullet points and lists to break your content into scannable chunks."

"Combining these three changes into a single site that was concise, scannable, and objective at the same time resulted in 124% higher measured usability."

"Avoid complex sentence structures - Try to include just one idea or concept per sentence."


Tip 8. Include internal sub-headings

Sub-headings make the text more scannable. Your readers will move to the section of the document that is most useful for them, and internal cues make it easier for them to do this.

"Structure articles with two or even three levels of headlines (a general document heading plus subheads - and sub-sub-heads when appropriate). Nested headings also facilitate access for blind users with screen readers."

"Breaking up text with descriptive sub-headings allows site visitors to easily see what each section of the page is about. The main heading on the page provides a brief overall view of what page is about, and the opening paragraph gives a brief conclusion of the page (because you've front-loaded the page content). Within the page though, there are various sub-themes which can be quickly put across with sub-headings."

"There's no hard and fast rule for how frequently to use sub-headings, but you should probably be roughly aiming for one sub-heading every two to four paragraphs. More importantly though, the sub-headings should group on-page content into logical groups, to allow site visitors to easily access the information that they're after."


Tip 9. Use Links

Links are another way Web readers scan pages. They stand out from normal text, and provide more cues as to what the page is about. Break your content into distinct, stand-alone chunks, on separate pages

"In the same way that bold text stands out to screen-scanning web users, so does link text. Link text such as 'click here' makes no sense whatsoever out of context so is useless to site visitors scanning web pages. To find out the destination of the link, site visitors have to hunt through the text both before and after the link text."

"Links and anchors are an integral part of web writing. Links give the reader the ability to interact with a web page. This can be as a link to a 'named anchor' on the same page (for example, the menu at the top of this article links to the sub-headings, and the 'Top' button takes you back again). Links could also be to another page on the same site or to an external site."

"Structure your text into blocks and use hyperlinks to present different but related topics on separate pages. This enables users to drill deeper for information if they want to, or to ignore material they don't find relevant."


Tip 10. Proofread your work

The most important documentation usability tips are typos and spelling errors will send people away from your pages. Make sure you proofread everything you post to the Web."Proofreading is one of the most important things you can do. Since you probably do most of your writing on a computer, you have access to automated spelling and grammar checkers."

"Proofreading is primarily about searching your writing for errors, both grammatical and typographical, before submitting your paper for an audience (a teacher, a publisher, etc.). Use this resource to help you find and fix common errors."

"One of the surest ways to look unprofessional and miss out on writing opportunities is to forget to proofread your work."