DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Partner Zones
AWS Cloud
by AWS Developer Relations

Maybe Our Documentation ''Best Practices'' Aren't Really Best Practices

So-called best practices may not always make sense in the wild.

Paul Kinlan user avatar by
Paul Kinlan
·
Dec. 10, 18 · Opinion
Like (4)
Save
Tweet
Share
16.48K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

Kayce Basques, an awesome tech writer on our team, wrote up a pretty amazing article about his experiences measuring how well existing documentation best practices work for explaining technical material. "Best practices," in this sense, can be well-known industry standards for technical writing, or they could refer to your own company's writing style guide.

Recently I discovered that a supposed documentation “best practice” may not actually stand up to scrutiny when measured in the wild. I’m now on a mission to get a “was this page helpful?” feedback widget on every documentation page on the web. It’s not the end-all be-all solution, but it’s a start toward a more rigorous understanding of what actually makes our docs more helpful.

Read full post.

While I am not a tech writer, my role involves a huge amount of engagement with our tech writing team as well as publishing a lot of "best practices" for developers myself. I was amazed by how much depth and research Kayce has done on the art of writing modern docs through the lens of our team's content. I fully encourage you to read Kayce's article in-depth — I learned a lot. Thank you Kayce!

Documentation

Published at DZone with permission of Paul Kinlan, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • What Are the Benefits of Java Module With Example
  • A Beginner's Guide to Infrastructure as Code
  • Keep Your Application Secrets Secret
  • 19 Most Common OpenSSL Commands for 2023

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: