@jackson96reeves
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We are all Tech Writers Now: Three Steps to Clear Writing for the net Take some tips from technical writing that may make your ideas clear and persuasive in the new reading environment of the web. Print media puts the reader in the passenger's seat. What if you do not want a character to die? What if you don't like the direction the story has taken? Traditional reading is linear--you start at chapter one and you go to the end, without detours in between. Instruction manuals have always been different. Who reads instruction manuals from starting to end? Instead you dip into it, try something, and when that doesn't appear to work, flip a few pages backward or forward and try again. Now write for us technology has become a huge manual where the reader can move around at will--technology has stolen authorial control. You should expect your readers to jump around. To be successful, whatever you write for the web has to follow the same three rules that technical writers use: Write in Chunks Readers pick and choose. Understand that your audience isn't expecting a story--they have specific goals. Points must be self-contained and clearly marked to greatly help them find what they're looking for and move on. Respect your reader's time--don't make sure they are eat the sundae when all they want is the cherry. Follow a Structure You can structure your content by category, rank, location--but there has to be a structure. By organizing your details you're giving your reader an instrument that lets them find what they're searching for and skip what they don't really need. If you cannot look for a structure that works, you need to define your points more clearly. Connect it Together You can't force your reader to check out the road you've set for them, but you can give them access to information that supports your message. Don't be afraid to link, both to resources outside your document also to pages in it. Your role would be to help them achieve their goals; point them towards resources that help them do that. Like technical writing, the internet is about helping people find information. Adopt a number of the principals of technical writing is likely to work to create it get results.
Website: https://techvig.net/write-for-us-technology/
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