Write the Docs Podcast episode 30: Documentation templates, with Juan Lara
Documentation templates refer to established patterns we follow for common documentation types, such as quickstarts, how-to guides, concepts, tutorials, reference, troubleshooting, release notes, FAQs, or other information types that have similar, predictable patterns.
Templates can be helpful in orienting new writers, but they can also help ensure consistency among larger groups of experienced writers too. Our discussion in this episode ranges from observations about when templates are right for users versus writers, and how templates fit into an overall content strategy and information architecture.
Beyond templates, your user’s goals and journeys will influence the shape of your help content.
Resources mentioned during the show:
- Google’s Technical Writing Courses
- Cloud Spanner documentation
- The Good Docs Project: Templates to make good docs.
You can see the original post here: WTD Episode 30: Documentation templates, with Juan Lara.
See also the Conceptual topics in API docs in my API docs course for a list of best practices about overviews, getting started tutorials, quick references, glossaries, and other common topic types more specific to API documentation.
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About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
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Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.