Technical
Writing
:
Hard
Skills
C O N T EN T S
01
Content
Architecture
&
Strategy
02
Authoring
Languages
&
Markup
03
API
&
Developer
Documentation
04
Tooling
,
Build
&
Publishing
05
Version
Control
&
Collaboration
06
Structured
Content
&
Localization
07
Visual
&
Technical
Communication
08
Quality
,
Standards
&
Compliance
09
Domain
&
Platform
Fluency
01
Content
Architecture
&
Strategy
02
Authoring
Languages
&
Markup
03
API
&
Developer
Documentation
04
Tooling
,
Build
&
Publishing
Information
architecture
—
building
IA
trees
,
navigation
models
,
and
content
taxonomies
that
hold
up
past
1,000
pages
1
Content
modelling
—
defining
reusable
content
types
,
attributes
,
and
relationships
before
authoring
starts
2
Content
audit
&
gap
analysis
—
inventorying
existing
documentation
and
mapping
coverage
against
the
shipped
product
surface
3
Audience
and
task
analysis
—
segmenting
readers
into
end
user
,
administrator
,
and
integrator
paths
and
writing
to
each
4
Style
guide
authoring
—
writing
and
maintaining
a
house
style
guide
with
rules
that
can
be
enforced
automatically
5
Markdown
—
CommonMark
and
GitHub
Flavored
Markdown
,
including
tables
,
admonitions
,
and
MDX
components
6
reStructuredText
—
Sphinx
roles
,
directives
,
and
cross
-
reference
syntax
across
multi
-
project
docsets
7
AsciiDoc
—
Asciidoctor
attributes
,
include
directives
,
and
conditional
preprocessor
blocks
8
DITA
XML
—
topic
types
,
ditamaps
,
specialisation
,
and
conref
/
keyref
reuse
patterns
9
DocBook
XML
—
DocBook
5
element
structure
,
profiling
attributes
,
and
stylesheet
transformation
10
HTML
5
and
semantic
markup
—
hand
-
editing
structure
,
ARIA
roles
,
accessible
tables
,
and
in
-
product
help
embeds
11
YAML
and
JSON
—
front
matter
,
configuration
schemas
,
and
OpenAPI
document
authoring
12
LaTeX
—
typesetting
math
-
heavy
,
print
-
first
,
and
academic
documentation
with
custom
templates
13
OpenAPI
Specification
—
authoring
,
linting
,
and
generating
reference
documentation
from
3.0
and
3.1
definitions
14
AsyncAPI
—
documenting
event
-
driven
,
pub
/
sub
,
and
message
-
based
interfaces
15
Protocol
literacy
—
REST
conventions
,
GraphQL
schemas
and
queries
,
and
gRPC
/
protobuf
service
contracts
16
Authentication
and
authorization
—
OAuth
2.0
flows
,
API
keys
,
JWT
claims
,
scopes
,
and
token
lifetimes
17
Runnable
code
samples
—
writing
and
continuously
testing
examples
in
curl
,
Python
,
and
JavaScript
against
a
live
sandbox
18
Error
and
status
catalogues
—
documenting
failure
modes
,
retry
semantics
,
pagination
,
and
rate
-
limit
behaviour
19
Static
site
generators
—
Docusaurus
,
MkDocs
Material
,
Sphinx
,
Hugo
,
and
Antora
for
maintainable
doc
portals
20
Docs
-
as
-
code
pipelines
—
GitHub
Actions
and
GitLab
CI
builds
,
preview
environments
,
and
deploy
gates
21
Build
environments
—
Node
/
npm
,
Python
virtual
environments
,
and
Docker
containers
for
reproducible
builds
22
Single
-
sourcing
—
producing
HTML
,
PDF
,
and
in
-
product
help
from
one
source
with
conditional
publishing
23
Search
implementation
—
Algolia
DocSearch
,
Lucene
index
tuning
,
synonyms
,
and
result
relevance
testing
24
Content
analytics
—
GA
4,
Plausible
,
and
search
-
term
analysis
used
to
find
and
close
documentation
gaps
25
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05
Version
Control
&
Collaboration
06
Structured
Content
&
Localization
07
Visual
&
Technical
Communication
08
Quality
,
Standards
&
Compliance
09
Domain
&
Platform
Fluency
Git
—
branching
strategies
,
rebasing
,
cherry
-
picking
,
and
conflict
resolution
in
large
docs
repositories
26
Pull
-
request
review
—
reviewing
documentation
diffs
against
style
,
technical
accuracy
,
and
release
scope
27
Issue
tracking
—
Jira
,
Linear
,
and
GitHub
Issues
used
for
docs
backlogs
and
release
planning
28
Automated
linting
—
Vale
,
markdownlint
,
and
custom
rule
sets
wired
into
continuous
integration
29
SME
review
cycles
—
running
technically
accurate
review
with
engineers
under
fixed
release
deadlines
30
Topic
-
based
authoring
—
writing
self
-
contained
units
typed
as
concept
,
task
,
reference
,
or
troubleshooting
31
Minimalism
—
applying
the
minimalism
principle
so
each
page
carries
only
what
the
reader
needs
at
that
moment
32
Reuse
mechanisms
—
variables
,
snippets
,
conrefs
,
and
single
-
source
content
libraries
across
products
33
Metadata
and
tagging
—
driving
faceted
search
,
audience
filtering
,
and
product
-
version
variants
34
Localization
readiness
—
XLIFF
exchange
,
translation
memory
hygiene
,
and
writing
that
survives
translation
35
Diagram
authoring
—
Mermaid
,
PlantUML
,
and
draw
.
io
for
architecture
,
sequence
,
and
process
diagrams
36
SVG
production
—
creating
and
optimising
vector
illustrations
that
stay
sharp
in
browser
and
PDF
output
37
Screenshot
production
—
capture
,
annotation
,
redaction
of
sensitive
data
,
and
keeping
images
current
across
releases
38
Information
design
—
choosing
the
right
chart
,
table
,
or
callout
for
the
shape
of
the
content
39
Wireframes
and
UI
annotation
—
mapping
interface
flows
so
descriptive
diagrams
can
replace
fragile
screenshots
40
Plain
-
language
editing
—
active
voice
,
sentence
-
length
control
,
and
stripping
nominalisations
from
technical
prose
41
Controlled
language
—
ASD
-
STE
100
Simplified
Technical
English
for
aerospace
,
defence
,
and
regulated
industries
42
Accessibility
—
WCAG
2.2
and
PDF
/
UA
requirements
applied
to
headings
,
tables
,
diagrams
,
and
alt
text
43
Usability
testing
of
documentation
—
task
-
based
testing
,
comprehension
checks
,
and
card
sorting
to
validate
IA
decisions
44
Regulatory
and
legal
documentation
—
CE
marking
,
safety
notices
,
hazard
communication
,
and
data
-
protection
disclosures
45
Terminology
management
—
termbases
,
glossaries
,
and
consistent
product
naming
across
markets
and
versions
46
Code
reading
—
reading
Python
,
JavaScript
/
TypeScript
,
and
Java
well
enough
to
verify
documented
behaviour
47
Command
-
line
proficiency
—
bash
and
PowerShell
for
reproducing
and
validating
every
documented
procedure
48
Cloud
platforms
—
AWS
,
Azure
,
or
GCP
core
services
,
IAM
concepts
,
and
console
workflows
49
Networking
fundamentals
—
HTTP
/
HTTPS
,
DNS
,
TLS
,
proxies
,
and
request
/
response
status
semantics
50
Databases
and
query
basics
—
reading
SQL
,
interpreting
schemas
,
and
documenting
data
shapes
and
relationships
51
Release
communication
—
versioned
release
notes
,
deprecation
notices
,
and
step
-
by
-
step
migration
guides
52
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