How can you balance technical accuracy with simplicity in product documentation?

2 Use plain language

One of the most important principles of writing simple documentation is to use plain language. Plain language is clear, concise, and easy to understand by your audience. It avoids unnecessary jargon, acronyms, technical terms, or complex sentences. Instead, it uses common words, active voice, short sentences, and simple structures. For example, instead of writing "The system will generate an API key upon successful authentication", you can write "When you log in, you get an API key".

3 Provide examples and visuals

Another way to simplify your documentation is to provide examples and visuals that illustrate your points. Examples and visuals can help users grasp concepts, follow instructions, or troubleshoot problems more easily. They can also make your documentation more engaging and appealing. You can use different types of examples and visuals, such as screenshots, diagrams, videos, code blocks, or tables, depending on your topic and format. However, make sure that your examples and visuals are relevant, accurate, and consistent with your text.

4 Organize your content

A well-organized content structure can also help you balance technical accuracy with simplicity in product documentation. A good content structure helps users find what they need quickly and easily, without getting overwhelmed or confused by too much information. You can use different techniques to organize your content, such as headings, subheadings, lists, tables of contents, navigation menus, or labels. You can also use different formats, such as articles, tutorials, FAQs, or videos, to suit different purposes and preferences.

5 Test and revise your documentation

Finally, you need to test and revise your documentation regularly to ensure that it is accurate, simple, and useful for your users. You can test your documentation by using it yourself, asking for feedback from your colleagues, customers, or experts, or using tools such as readability checkers, grammar checkers, or spell checkers. You can revise your documentation by correcting errors, updating information, adding details, removing redundancies, or improving clarity. You can also use metrics such as page views, ratings, comments, or support tickets to measure the effectiveness of your documentation and identify areas for improvement.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?