What are the best tools for creating product documentation?

For collaborative documentation efforts, version control is essential and cloud storage necessary to handle bandwidth and file size. Google Docs or Google Workspace provides a simple but good platform for a lightweight yet powerful text editor and meets the standards for cloud and auto versioning. Microsoft 365, complete with Teams and connected to SharePoint, is more typical in an office environment. Office 365 provides way more functionality in a text editor. I much prefer using Office when building templates and working on documents because of its capabilities. There are some occasional performance hiccups when using it in conjuntion to SharePoint and Teams.

Consider your client and their needs then look at required preferences, the complexity of the documentation, and any integration requirements when choosing the best tool for your project. Several tools are popular for creating product documentation, depending on your specific needs and preferences: Confluence, GitHub Pages, ReadTheDocs, Google Docs, Adobe FrameMaker, MadCap Flare and Docusaurus are a named few.

The main feature I would say is a better UI for the end users, than instead of a page full of criss cross lines and texts in the case of an xml editor. It should have features like version control, indications like a document is being edited by another user when two personnel try to work on the same document.

Categories of product documentation range from software Application Programming Interface (API) code comments, to machinery instruction handbooks, passing through knowledge bases, help systems and interface tips. Hire a technical writer to guide you through! An experienced technical writer will have views on the process and tools that you can use to communicate what you need to with your audience. This is called content strategy. After you know your audience and know the best places to communicate with them, for most uses you would benefit from a specific content management system. All of these have compromises that you’ll have to live with but if you can get hold of an expert, Author-it Cloud is my recommendation.

Indeed, a versatile text editor is indispensable for effective documentation. It should provide essential features such as syntax highlighting to enhance readability and version control integration for seamless collaboration and tracking changes. Additionally, support for multiple markup languages ensures flexibility in documenting diverse content types. Lightweight yet robust performance is essential for handling large documents efficiently, ensuring smooth workflow even with extensive documentation projects. Collaboration capabilities further enhance productivity by enabling real-time editing and feedback exchange among team members, promoting coherence and expediting the documentation process.

They offer intuitive syntax for styling text, creating tables, and embedding images, enhancing readability and comprehension for users. Supporting popular formats like Markdown or reStructuredText ensures compatibility with various platforms and simplifies the conversion process to widely-used formats such as HTML or PDF. This versatility enables seamless access to documentation across different devices and environments, catering to diverse user needs and preferences.

I agree. A mark up tool is an essential piece to have in your documentation kit. I always gravitate towards softwares that allow me to write content and use it across many platforms—write once and reuse as much as possible. This also helps to keep updates manageable.

I would recommend VS Code (Visual Studio Code). Of course it is more than just a markup editor. For example, it allows you to create, read and update both files in TXT and MD formats, and files in JS and PY formats.

You will enjoy working with Markup tools. The concept of docs-as-code helps the organization to save costs for authoring tools. This also helps the developers to contribute more towards documentation. Markdown or AsciiDoc are good tools to start.

You should as much as possible use whatever version control system your development department uses. Docs as Code is the wave of the future, and aligning tools like this helps you keep your docs aligned with your code.

Version control features are being basic across all the tools in the market, an advanced one I have used is when you edit the document after it is freezed and approved, it will automatically places change markers which reduces manual process. This helps effective capture if changes to the document.

By tracking changes and maintaining a history of edits, they provide a reliable audit trail that allows teams to collaborate confidently without the fear of losing important information. Additionally, version control systems enable efficient collaboration by allowing multiple contributors to work on the documentation simultaneously while ensuring that changes are properly managed and documented. This safety net is essential for maintaining the quality and consistency of documentation throughout the product lifecycle, ultimately enhancing the user experience and product reliability.

A lot of my work is done across teams, and it is imperative to have an effective communication platform as well as project tracker. This keeps everyone on the same page and moving forward.

Collaboration platforms indeed play a crucial role in streamlining the documentation process and facilitating effective teamwork. By providing real-time communication channels, task management tools, and progress tracking features, these platforms enable seamless coordination among team members, regardless of their locations or time zones. They allow for easy sharing of documents, gathering of feedback, and resolving of issues, thereby enhancing productivity and ensuring that documentation projects progress smoothly.

Incorporating visual elements in documentation enhances clarity and comprehension. Aids like diagrams and flowcharts can simplify explanations and illustrate step-by-step procedures, helping users understand and retain information, which is crucial for improving user experience. Some of my favorite diagramming software are Lucidchart and Draw.io.

Visual aids such as diagrams and flowcharts are indeed invaluable tools for enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of product documentation, particularly for complex products. Diagramming software offers a wide range of features and templates that enable you to create visually appealing and informative diagrams with ease. Whether it's illustrating system architectures, user workflows, data relationships, or process flows, visual aids can significantly enhance the understanding of complex concepts and make your documentation more accessible to users. By incorporating visual elements into your documentation, you can improve comprehension, facilitate troubleshooting, and enhance overall user experience.

For system architecture diagrams, draw.io is a very good tool. This application is a standalone app as well as integrated with confluence. It stores the image in .svg format which is very lightweight and made for use in HTML. You can edit the image at any point of time. For screenshots, snagIT is the best tool. The orgs, who uses Adobe suit for authoring, Photoshop is the best of all image editing tools.

A well-crafted API documentation should be precise, comprehensive, and easily navigable, offering clear explanations, usage examples, and detailed references for each endpoint or function. Additionally, incorporating features such as automatic generation from source code, interactive explorers, and live testing environments can greatly enhance the usability and accessibility of your API documentation. These tools streamline the documentation process, reduce manual effort, and help ensure accuracy and consistency across different versions of your API.

Swagger and Postman takes care of the documentation very well. Swagger UI allows you to visualize and interact with the API’s resources without having any of the implementation logic in place. Postman allows you to create and publish beautiful API documentation, automatically generated from your API collections. Also if you want to do with Markdown supported tool, Docusaurus is static site generator that is highly customizable and well-suited.

Mind maps are a good way to plan. Google doc is a good way to write, edit and revise. Pdf is a good rendition. If you have to post it on a portal, always wiki portals are better to keep the documentation up-to-date.

I think using all the tools MadCap Flare has with Swagger or DocFX. I like the ability to add scripting and code to documentation on websites. The great thing about MadCap Flare is that you can use the same information in different places with tagging and its export capabilities.