Writing Software Documentation: A Task-Oriented Approach (Part Of The Allyn & Bacon Series In Technical Communication) (2nd Edition) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Part of the Allyn & Bacon series in technical communication, Writing Software Documentation features a step-by-step strategy to writing and describing procedures. This task-oriented book is designed to support both college students taking a course and professionals working in the field. Teaching apparatus includes complete programs for students to work on and a full set of project tracking forms, as well as a broad range of examples including Windows-style pages and screens and award-winning examples from STC competitions.
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Pearson; 2 edition (October 11, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0321103289
ISBN-13: 978-0321103284
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #354,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #176 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Technical #4590 in Books > Reference > Foreign Language Study & Reference #4851 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming
This is *the* book a new technical writer should read. Barker really knows his stuff--and he presents it in truly usable form. I especially liked his 3-category approach: writing to teach (for eager learners), to guide (for reluctant users of the product), or to provide a reference (for experts who need only occasional support).
I was required to read this book for a technical writing class. I was amazed that a book that boasts it can teach technical documentation could have so many glaring errors in grammar and spelling. (Maybe that's why so many people don't read manuals.)While the book does well as a step-by-step approach, most of the information is in other books. I would not recommend this book.
Given the price I paid for the book, I expected something better than a Docutech print-out of hard copy. The least they could have done was run the electronic files through the Docutech (a high-end copier) so that the screen captures showed up a little better than fuzzy.The other problem I had was the lack of anything approaching a professional touch in the layout and design of the book. The person or persons who laid out the book did a poor to mediocre job of it at best. Given the subject matter -- writing software documentation -- I would have expected the author and publisher to put even *some* effort into creating a useful visual language. As it is, there may well be useful, important information in the text, but the design of the book is so poor, I'll be damned if I can track it down.
This book was required for my Technical Communications Computer Documentation course. I found the book to be filled with great information and organized in an easy-to-read and understand "user-based" format. The steps provided in each process were clearly stated and when put into practice worked great. And the information was formatted to make it easy to serve as a "quick reference" guide when you just want to learn a few key concepts for a specific application. Highly recommend.
I got this book through an online cetification class for writing user manuals and reference guides. I never would have found this book had it not been for that class. This book is great in that it takes you through the 7 steps of documentation. I'd recommend this book for those getting started in the technical writing field and those who are senior members. The author also chunks the information in a way that is easily understandable. Great book!
This book is an excellent academic approach to software documentation. It is an excellent manual on writing documentation and includes all of the academic steps to reach that goal. However, it gets a slight bit heavy on details and strays from the actual performance. In other words, you may have to ignore or not use much of what is contained in the book because of individual practices and peculiarities in the various industries. I do recommend it as an overall view of the process and will be useful for beginners to the profession.
If you are starting a career in documentation for a software company then pick up this book. Every chapter is full of incredibly useful information which can easily be applied to technical communication.I've enjoyed learning about the different approaches to software documenting, and how to decide which is best to use for your purposes. The examples in the book have been great, and at the end of each chapter is a useful checklist that can be flicked back to as a guideline when you are developing your material.
I rented this book for a University class. The material was great very well written. The book fell apart almost immediately. I am hoping I don't get charged what this book actually cost $127.00 Called and mentioned it to lets see if RentalU that rents textbooks honors this report. It is definitely 12 years old to say the least.
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