Yesterday released version 0.1.0 of #cff2pages. Integrated references into pages. https://pypi.org/project/cff2pages/ #softwareDocumentation #cff #rse

#AI #TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #APIdocumentation #ShellScripting: "AI tools empower technical writers with scripting capabilities, whether it be shell scripts, Python scripts, CLIs available at your work, or more. In particular, shell scripting can help you automate parts of your build process that are tedious, making it easier to push docs through advanced build and publish processes. In a world of doc ops, where continuous builds and publishing are becoming the norm, tech writers need as much automation as possible with these processes."

https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/ai-tools-build-publish-api-docs.html

When you get the integration documentation from the 3rd party and everything seems fine on first glance. Upon the 2nd, however...

#APIs #softwareDocumentation #technicalDocumentation #developerHumor #programmerHumor
https://social.treehouse.systems/@hugo/110698141725636359

#TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #Documentation #4doc #Diataxis: "4doc is much better than 5para: I’ve never read a halfway-decent 5-paragraph essay but I’ve read plenty of good 4doc pages. Even so, it still leads to the same kind of “this is the only way” thinking. People use the model even when it’s not the right choice and they don’t vary up the format even when they should.

My specific issue is that the model is not universal and it’s not comprehensive."

https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/problems-with-the-4doc-model/

#TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #Documentation: "In short, documentation, like teaching (which it is), is a skill, and may require dedicated skilled people. They can and should be supported by the practitioners (developers), and should be open to contributions from the audience (user base), but the primary responsibility does not fall on the audience to document for themselves. Even then, the practitioners still have a responsibility to be good enough communicators that they can convey the necessary information to the technical writers.

And if, even then, it's still hard to explain, document, or has lots of edge cases that make the written description and examples highly complicated? Then, yes, it is too complicated and it needs to be redesigned to be less complicated. If you cannot explain it, it's too complicated."

https://peakd.com/documentation/@crell/good-technical-writing-is-hard

#AI #TechnicalWriting #GenerativeAI #LLMs #SoftwareDocumentation: "Based on the survey responses, I feel inclined to take the impending AI disruption seriously. It seems poised to bring about the transformative changes that many people anticipate and fear. I want to explore content strategy and information architecture as potential areas of specialization while also learning more about training large language models (LLMs) for documentation purposes, including prompt engineering.

However, as one respondent noted, if companies become convinced they can replace technical writers with subject matter experts (SMEs) using AI to generate documentation—then regardless of the mediocre output from such methods—there might be little we can do to overturn that perception. I can only hope that new professions will emerge from the AI rubble, offering fresh opportunities for growth and adaptation. Alternatively, I hear there’s a great gig for a cat-sitter/farmer/homesteader."

https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/survey-analysis-tech-writers-on-ai/

Intro to #API documentation - Tom Johnson (Idratherbewriting, Recording from API documentation workshop given in Los Angeles on Jan 23, 2020) #APIs #APIDocumentation #TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew3_sdRcEA0&t=1105s

#AI #TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation: "The following is a short survey on the impact of AI on tech comm, specifically on technical writing and producing documentation. Many speculate that AI tools might soon automate many tech writing tasks, and there's growing concern that major disruption is imminent. Is that future dystopian, or will it unlock new opportunities? This survey seeks to take the pulse of tech comm, gathering the thoughts and feelings that tech writers have about AI and whether it will transform the practice of documentation."

https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/survey-ai-impact-on-tech-comm/

#TechnicalWriting #SoftwareDocumentation #Documentation #DocsAsEcosystem #OpenSource: "Investing in engineering documentation (Docs) means investing in community user experience. This book teaches how mastering the proposed docs-as-ecosystem model empowers communities to understand better their favorite products and Open-Source (OSS) technologies.

Quetzalli believes that "docs-as-ecosystem" represents a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to documentation development than "docs-as-code" because it recognizes that documentation is more than just code. Docs involve technical writing, design, community feedback, community management, accessibility, SEO, UX, and today… even Artificial Intelligence tools! The word ecosystem promotes a paradigm where documentation is treated as a complex and dynamic system that must be managed and nurtured.

In this book, you'll acquire practical skills such as creating public style guides, incorporating responsive and accessible design, designing user flows and information architecture, retrieving user feedback, and setting up Docs analytics. You'll learn to identify the difference in work processes between maintaining Docs for a product versus an OSS technology. You'll discover the secrets to managing technical writers and OSS contributions, all while building a thriving Docs community. To end on a futuristic note, you'll discover why technical writers who harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (i.e., ChatGPT) need not fear a robot uprising anytime soon."

https://docsasecosystem.com/

#TechnicalWriting #API #APIDocumentation #SoftwareDocumentation #TechnicalWriter: "As you know from our other videos on technical documentation, writing docs is an extremely important part of creating software that users will love. But what if developers are the users? Let’s talk about API documentation and why it matters"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Tt1IkLiQQ&t=223s

Referenced link: https://hackernoon.com/beware-of-documentation-management-a-techleads-hell-loop
Originally posted by HackerNoon / @hackernoon@twitter.com: https://twitter.com/hackernoon/status/1523628877393842178#m

"Beware of Documentation Management. A Techlead's Hell Loop." https://hackernoon.com/beware-of-documentation-management-a-techleads-hell-loop #documentation #softwaredocumentation