Wikipedia on Technical Writing

Sometimes technical communication specialists are asked: “What is your profession?” And the answer “technical writer” puts many people in a dead end. They dont know anything about technical writing, documentation authoring, and of course about online technical writing and documentation tools like ClickHelp product.

We discussed this question with colleagues during a break. Many of us suggested Wikipedia as the resource to get a strict definition of the basic terms in our field. So, what exactly does Wikipedia say about those terms? Let’s take a look…

Technical writing

“Technical writing is a form of technical communication used in a variety of technical and occupational fields, such as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics and astronautics, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology.” – see the full article here.

Technical writer

“A technical writer (also called a technical communicator) is a professional writer who engages in technical writing and produces technical documentation.” – see the full article here.

Online help

“Online help is topic-oriented, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software. It is a form of user assistance.” – see the full article here.

Technical communication tools

“Technical communicators use a variety of tools to create usable information. Often referred to as a “tool set”, there is no defined list of tools that are used by all technical writers.” – see the full article here.

Help authoring tool

“A Help Authoring Tool or HAT is a software program used by technical writers to create online help systems.” – see the full article here.

Hopefully, these definitions put together on one page will help you find a better answer to the question asked in the beginning of the post 🙂

ClickHelp Team