Optimising Technical Documentation Through Information Architecture

In website design, we often see a strong emphasis on organising content for e-commerce sites. However, the same attention to detail falls short for websites packed with information, like technical documents. Finding and searching for relevant documents isn't given the same priority as it is for products.

Consider the hard work put in by technical writers in product companies. They invest significant time crafting API documentation, support guides, installation instructions, FAQs, training materials, troubleshooting guides, and more. If a company offers multiple products, this effort multiplies. But how are these documents arranged for easy access?

While it is exciting to create content and put it out on the web, investing the time to apply a few essential principles of Information Architecture will help sort and organise these documents for maximum usage.

User-centred technique:

• Card sorting: Though user-centricity is used extensively in UI/UX designs, technical documentation teams tend to interact less with users. However, involving even a small group of users in activities like card sorting can significantly improve content organisation based on their specific needs.Card sorting is a technique used mainly in UI-UX designs. Simply put, here, users group the documents according to their preferences. This helps fine-tune how the various documents are arranged. )
• Web Analytics: While tools like Google Analytics are primarily used for SEO and marketing, leveraging them to track the usage of technical documents can greatly assist in creating user-friendly content.

User Personas:

User personas are fictional users of the content with different goals, needs, and behaviours. Create a few user personas to answer questions such as what information is important to users? What is their preferred mode of finding information – search or navigate? This helps designers make informed decisions rather than simply assume what the users want.

Taxonomy:

Establishing a clear hierarchy among all available documents will aid content managers in determining the most appropriate placement for each document.

Reuse of content:

Consider using a markup language like DITA (XML) for maintaining uniform documentation. While it might take some time to get the hang of XML, employing tools like Oxygen for writing in this format offers significant advantages. You can easily recycle content, fine-tune information for different purposes, and generate output in various formats. This proves especially beneficial when multiple writers collaborate on creating content.

In conclusion, renowned product companies like HP and technology platforms like PayPal, have an overwhelming number of technical documents on their websites. However, their seamless navigation proves that order and clarity can prevail even in the vast sea of information. Take PayPal, for instance, with its extensive collection of resources, from API to SDK documentation. Without a well-organised structure, users could easily be lost and frustrated, flooding customer support with questions.

Here's the key insight: It's not just the big players who can offer this level of user-friendly organisation. Regardless of a company's size, dedicating time and effort to streamline documentation before diving into content creation will yield a user-friendly website with helpful content.