Using Technical Writing Tools

Technical writing is a field that requires clarity, and efficiency in communication. Writers rely on various tools and software applications to produce effective technical documentation.

What are technical writing tools? Technical writing tools are used in creating, editing, formatting, and managing technical content. These tools aid writing and save time.

There are different writing tools to assist technical writers in increasing productivity, correcting grammar errors, and designing images.

Types of Technical Writing Tools#

This lesson will cover the most popular tools for technical writing that every writer should use to make the most while curating content.

• Grammar tools
• Authoring tools
• Publishing tools
• Screen Capture tools
• Image Editing tools
• Plagiarism
• Integrated Development Environments (IDE)
• Portfolio Websites
• Documentation sites
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Productivity
• Highlighting
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
• Video editing tools

Grammar#

Grammar tools are software applications that identify and fix spelling, punctuation, syntax, and usage mistakes in your writing.

They can assist you in making your write-up clear, accurate, and consistent.

1. Grammarly#

Grammarly is an AI application that provides writing advice in real-time. Grammarly is the most popular grammar tool. It offers tips and suggestions.

Grammarly fixes mistakes and reduces time spent proofreading. It helps to increase writing quality and boost your confidence in writing.

2. Quillbot#

Quillbot is a grammar checker, paraphraser, and summarizer tool that helps improve writing quality. Quillbot is very useful for reducing plagiarism. Quillbot provides writing suggestions; however, it is only sometimes accurate.

Plagiarism#

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.

Plagiarism tools are used to check if you presented ideas from another source as your own, and it’s prohibited in all types of writing, including technical writing.

Some plagiarism tools are Duplichecker, Quetext, and Plagiarism Detector.

1. Duplichecker#

Duplichecker is a free tool used to identify plagiarized content. It is an essential and efficient tool for writers to identify text and documents that have been plagiarized.

Duplichecker provides the links to the source text that has been plagiarized. Duplicker offers the free version and premium version. Duplicker’s free plan allows you to check plagiarized content for 1000 words.

2. Quetext#

Quetext is a plagiarism detector used by academics, professionals, and writers. It allows 500 words for the free version and 100,000 words per month for Premium and Enterprise users.

The QueText checker is capable of processing languages beyond English. It can do plagiarism searches in multiple languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Arabic, and Russian.

3. Plagiarism Detector#

Plagiarism Detector is an accurate and free online plagiarism detector. All you have to do is copy and paste text to identify plagiarized content. Plagiarism Detector offers the free version and the Pro version.

The free version works for 1000 words for the free plan and $8 monthly for the premium version.

Authoring tools#

Authoring tools are used to write text, add images, and compile your content in one place. Authoring tools are Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Notepad, and Evernote.

1. Google Docs#

Google Docs is a cloud-based app for creating and editing documents. Google Docs is a part of Google Suite and is accessible to anyone with a Gmail account.

An advantage of using Google Docs is easy access to documents on any device anywhere. Google Docs works on the web and as a mobile app for Android and iOS devices.

2. Microsoft Word#

Microsoft Word is a web, mobile, and desktop application built by Microsoft to create and edit documents. It can be accessed using Windows or a Mac.

Microsoft Word is a vast tool for creating and formatting technical documents. It offers capabilities like styles, templates, and a flexibility that help maintain document consistency and structure.

3. Evernote#

Evernote is a user-friendly app for writers who want to jot down many ideas. Evernote is an excellent software for writers, and it is available for Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac.

Evernote allows users to create notes from images and photos.

Image Tools#

Image tools are used to edit and create images for your write-up and social media posts. Photoshop, Annotely, Canva, Microsoft Designer, and Adobe Illustrator are useful image tools.

1. Photoshop#

Adobe Photoshop is a graphics design and photo editing software for images. Adobe Photoshop is a great fit for one who has experience with complex design tools.

With Photoshop, you can design pictures from scratch or use templates. Images and graphics are essential to make the readers and audience understand the writing process.

2. Annotely#

Annotely is a free and easy tool to add comments and explain images. It is handy for you to add arrows and pointers to pictures for further emphasis.

3. Canva#

Canva is an online graphic design tool for creating designs across social media platforms. Canva has free and Pro versions to access templates.

It helps design images for your write-ups, like cover photos, banners, Instagram posts, and YouTube covers. Canva has built-in templates for editing and creating graphics and images.

4. Microsoft Designer#

Microsoft Designer is an AI tool for graphics and pictures to create designs based on the prompts.

Microsoft Designer creates images by using prompts and written descriptions. It can be used to make posters, logos, and postings for social networking platforms.

Microsoft Designer is available as a mobile app and web app.

Integrated development environment (IDE)#

Integrated development environments (IDEs) are software applications for software development used to write codes. Some IDEs are Visual Studio code, Markdown Editor, Notepad++, Sublime Text, and Eclipse.

1. Visual Studio Code (VSCode)#

VSCode is a code editor built by Microsoft and is suitable for web and desktop applications.

It is a robust platform that offers extensions and integrations to other platforms. VSCode has an extension marketplace to add and integrate apps and software.

2. Notepad++#

Notepad++ is a simple source code editor for Windows. It supports various programming languages, including Markdown. You can use Notepad++ to write codes to add to your write-up.

3. Sublime Text#

Sublime Text is a sophisticated Windows, MacOS, and Linux code editor. Sublime Text supports many programming languages with text, html, javascript, and markdown extensions.

Screen capture#

Screen capture tools capture images and videos to add to the writeups for better understanding. Technical writing requires using user-interactive videos, GIFs, and pictures.

To enhance and increase user engagement, these tools are exceptionally efficient and enable you to capture visually stunning images and videos are essential.

Screen capture tools are

• SnipIt
• SnagIt
• Loom

1. Snipping Tool#

Snipping tool is a Windows tool that allows you to effectively capture your screen for images and videos as you work. The snipping tool is free, and easy to use.

2. SnagIt#

SnagIt is a software application designed to capture and record screen activity on Windows and MacOS operating systems.

SnagIt is an excellent tool for creating content and writing technical documentation. SnagIt is a paid tool for businesses, organizations, teams, and individuals.

3. Loom#

Loom is a screen capture tool to record, edit, annotate, and share videos with anybody.

With Loom, anyone can easily make and distribute videos for social media, interact with online communities, and promptly send almost any professional message.

Video tools#

Video tools are useful for social media posting and increasing engagements to capture your writeups.

Some video tools are

• InShot
• CapCut
• Premier Pro

1. InShot#

Inshot is a photo and video editing tool available for mobile devices. Creating videos for social media engagements and write-ups with Inshot is made easy.

2.CapCut#

CapCut is a video editing tool for browsers, Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. CapCut is an extensive tool for creating videos for social media.

3. Premier Pro#

Premier Pro is a professional, powerful video editing tool designed by Adobe.

Premier Pro is a suitable tool for individuals who can work with complex video tools.

Publishing sites#

Publishing sites are essential for posting your writing samples, documents, solutions, and articles.

1. WordPress#

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows users to build websites. These websites can be used as blogs and sites to publish content.

2. Madcap Flare#

Madcap Flare is a writing tool for publishing documentation, knowledge bases, user guides, and user manuals.

With Madcap Flare, you can write once and publish for printing, web, desktop, and learning management systems.

3. Medium#

Medium is a free platform for publishing and sharing content. Medium is a powerful platform for writers to share ideas, engage with content, learn from other writers, and earn money through their partner programs.

Portfolio Websites#

Portfolio websites are tools used to showcase your work to get writing gigs or jobs. Some portfolio websites are Linktree, Clippings, Wix, Concentre, and Disha.

1. LinkTree#

LinkTree is a platform that serves as a landing page for social media handles and resumes. LinkTree is an incredible tool to showcase your writing samples.

You can add links to your social media handles, such as LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. You can link your resume using Google Docs.

2. Wix#

Wix is a Content management system (CMS) that allows users to build portfolio websites and showcase their works.

Building a Wix website as a portfolio is a professional way of showcasing your write-ups. You can build your website with Wix without having coding experience.

3. Clippings#

Clippings is a software that allows you to add writing samples as a link for your portfolio. You can add links to your Medium, Hashnode, and LinkedIn articles.

4. Concentre#

Concentre is a writing portfolio that allows you to link writing samples to platforms like Medium and Hashnode.

Concentre works as a browser extension, enabling users to take notes and manage portfolios. Concentre integrates with WordPress, HashNode, DevTo, Strapi, Medium, and Notion. Concentre is free to use.

Static Site Generators#

Static Site Generators (SSGs) are tools that automate the creation of websites by generating pre-built HTML pages from content written in plain text formats like Markdown, reStructuredText, or AsciiDoc.

These generated pages are then hosted on a web server, eliminating the need for a complex backend database or server-side scripting.

1. Hugo#

Hugo is a static site generator used for optimizing web pages within seconds. It is written in Go (also known as Golang).

Hugo’s offers integration with Google Analytics. Hosting can be done on Gitlab and Github.

Features:

• Cross-Platform
• Great Themes
• Fast Build Times
• Integration with Google Analytics

2. Sphinx#

Sphinx is used to create documentation. It is optimized for text formats to HTML. Sphinx is a popular Python documentation tool.

Features:

• Knowledge Base
• Built-In Extensions

3. Gatsby#

Gatsby is a Progressive Web App (PWA) static generator. It is used to load react.js components. It is optimized to load HTML, CSS, and Javascript codes for the site to load quickly.

Features:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Speed
• Security

4. MkDocs#

Mkdocs supports building HTML pages. Mkdocs is a Python package used to develop and load web pages. A recent version of Python and Python Package Manager (pip) is required to install Mkdocs. Mkdocs is free to access and geared towards speed and simplicity.

Features:

• Uses Python for quick setup.
• Free to use.
• Supports Markdown.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)#

SEO Tools help you boost your website’s ranking on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

It involves using keywords in your technical content. Keywords come in three main types - Head, Medium Tail, and Long Tail.

SEO also has three categories - Technical, On-Page, and Off-Page.

• On-page SEO ensures your web pages are relevant and useful relative to the phrases people are searching for.

• According to Semrush, off-page SEO shows Google that your website and pages are authoritative and trustworthy.

• Technical SEO ensures your site is organized well, accessible to Google, and loads quickly.

1. SemRush#

Semrush is a powerful, extensive tool for search engine optimization. Semrush provides analysis tools for websites and businesses.

They offer features to analyze competitors’ traffic, organic research, and domain overviews. Semrush has a keyword research tool to give insights on keyword overview, managing keywords, and organic traffic insights.

2. Keyword Surfer#

Keyword Surfer provides content and keyword research for search engine optimization. SurferSEO created it to generate Google-ranking keywords.

Its primary purpose is to assist users in optimizing published articles or content for search engines, including Google and Yahoo.

Keyword Surfer calculates the anticipated monthly traffic for a domain in a specific geographical region in response to a query on Google involving a word or sentence.

It provides the precise frequency of occurrence for each phrase mentioned in the article and the word count of the article. Side by side, Keyword Surfer displays the overlap and volume of keyword suggestions.

3. Google Analytics#

Google Analytics is a web analytics service that, among other things, can be used for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing objectives.

It provides statistics and basic analytical tools. Google Analytics is a platform that, when connected to your websites and mobile apps, will collect data and compile it into reports that offer insights into businesses and companies.

Productivity#

Productivity Tools are useful for keeping track of ideas and increasing efficiency. They help save time, set tasks, streamline workflows, and increase overall writing performance.

1. Notion#

Notion is a web application built by Notion Labs Inc. It is a free tool for taking notes. It provides organizing capabilities such as task management, project tracking, to-do lists, and bookmarking, among other things. Notion is a tool that is useful for storing and organizing ideas.

2. StayFocusd#

StayFocusd is a time management application. Writers encounter challenges such as procrastination, distractions from social media platforms, and an inability to concentrate.

StayFocusd is a Chrome extension designed to assist you in managing your time, blocking unwanted websites, and enhancing productivity.

This way, you can focus on researching and writing instead of mindlessly scrolling on social media apps and websites.

3. Google Calendar#

Google Calendar helps you to plan your writing schedule. With the calendar, you can set reminders to write. One significant aspect of writing is having an outline.

With Google Calendar, you can break down the different aspects of a writing project in weeks or days. Schedule your writing within your working hours on Google Calendar.

This will significantly improve productivity.

4. Microsoft To-Do#

Microsoft To-Do is a cloud-based app for planning tasks. Microsoft To-Do is compatible with smartphones, tablets, and computers. Microsoft To-Do is a free Windows, Mac, and Android application. It helps users to stay organized and productive.

Highlighting#

Imagine researching a topic on a website and finding multiple critical points to add to your write-up. You may need help with taking notes of everything.

This is where highlighting tools come in. They help you highlight text on websites and PDFs so you can easily refer back to them.

1. Glasp#

Glasp is an online highlighter for the web. Glasp stands for “Greatest Legacy Accumulated as Shared Proof.”

With Glasp, users worldwide can highlight content on various websites and PDFs. Glasp is a mobile app for Android and iOS and an extension for web browsers.

With Glasp, you can see what other users highlighted on your profile page. Glasp offers an extension to highlight and copy transcripts of YouTube videos. Glasp is useful in highlighting online articles or videos. It helps organize thoughts and find online references.

2. Weava#

Weava is a tool utilized to highlight PDFs and web documents. In contrast to Glasp, this application cannot highlight transcripts of YouTube videos. Weava is accessible through mobile applications on iOS devices.

3. Liner#

Liner offers the option to highlight YouTube videos, articles, and PDFs with a timestamp. Liner offers three tiers of subscription services: pro, premium, and free.

Liner is compatible with desktop and mobile applications (iOS and Android). Unlike Glasp, Liner does not support importing highlights into Kindle.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools#

The digital world is evolving with Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI tools can help with suggesting writing patterns and thought processes.

1. ChatGPT#

OpenAI developed ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an excellent writing and AI software that helps you write outlines and articles based on the topics and prompts you give.

2. Bard#

Google developed Bard, an AI tool to provide writing materials and resources. Bard references websites based on the content it offers for accuracy.

3. GrammarlyGO#

Grammarly Go is an AI tool integrated with Grammarly to help you quickly write content for clients’ emails, articles, and websites. It helps writers overcome writer’s block and generate sentences based on prompts.

How to use tech writing tools to create and edit technical documentation#

Now, let’s talk about how to use technical writing tools to create and edit technical documentation.

Technical Writing Tools are important to save time, increase productivity, and reduce errors.

In this section, you will learn how to use tools such as Grammarly, Duplichecker, Keyword Surfer, Snipping Tool and Annotely.

Grammarly#

Grammarly works as a web app, a keyboard on mobile devices, and an extension for web browsers.

To use Grammarly for web browsers, follow these steps.

• Add Grammarly as a Chrome extension.
• Open Google Chrome and go to the Chrome Extensions Store.
• Click “Add to Chrome” to start the download.
• With the extension, you can confidently write. When writing online, the Grammarly extension can be added to check grammar, style, tone, and syntax mistakes.

Grammarly for mobile works as a keyboard and integrates across all applications. It is compatible with Android and iOS devices.

Sign up to Grammarly using grammarly.com with your Gmail to use the Grammarly web app. This automatically adds your account to Grammarly.

You can upload your files to Grammarly on the web app. Login to Grammarly’s website to use the web app, and upload the document to check for corrections.

Editing Content on Grammarly#

To edit content on Grammarly,

1. Upload the document saved on your PC, or click on “New” to paste the text.

Duplichecker#

Duplichecker works on the web to check plagiarism.

To use Duplichecker, follow these steps.

• Copy and paste the text in the box on the website.
• Check the Captcha, “I am not a robot,”
• Click “Check for plagiarism.”

• It takes a few minutes to load.
• Once it is complete, it shows the percentage of plagiarism.

If a part of the text is plagiarized, it highlights the text and cites the source of the words. Using the free version shows a lot of ads on the page.

Annotely#

Annotely is very easy to use. Annotely does not require a sign-up with email.

• Open your web browser, and visit Annotely’s website. Select “Start Annotating now.”

• Drag or drop the image from your device.

• Annotely has arrows, blur, and text options to add to the photos.

• Download the image once you’re done.
  

Snipping Tool:#

How do you use the snipping tool on Windows? Follow the instructions to use the tool.

• On your start bar, search for “snipping tool.”

• Select new and snip the page.

• Save it on your PC.

Keyword Surfer#

Keyword Surfer works as an extension on the web. To use Keyword Surfer, follow these steps.

• Download it from the Chrome extensions store.

• Select “Add to Chrome.”

• Once it is added, it automatically starts working on the web browser.

• Search for any keyword, and Keyword Surfer will provide the keywords required.

Glasp#

Glasp can be downloaded on Windows and Mac OS desktops. It is currently available for Android and iOS. Glasp is a browser extension.

Pages can be highlighted in browsers with the addon. To install Glasp, go to Glasp website and register with your email. After signing up, click “Add to Chrome.” Add the extension via a pop-up. Glasp is free. It works on desktop PCs with Chrome, Safari, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera.

To start highlighting with Glasp, follow these steps:

• Open your desired article or PDF
• Choose words to highlight and select the highlight colour. Choose from four colours. Pink, yellow, green, and blue.
• Once the colour is selected, the text is highlighted.
• You can access the text highlighted on your profile page on Glasp Website.

Exercise#

In this exercise, you will write an article covering everything about Google Docs and how to use it.

Do the following:

• Generate the table of content.
• Choose a suitable title.
• Write in Markdown.
• Watch this video to learn how to write in Markdown -

• Create a repo on GitHub.
• Create a new markdown file that will contain your assignment.
• Use VSCode to write and test your markdown (Send a screenshot of your vscode containing your assignment)
• Submit your Github repo URL.

This article should have the following.

• Arrange the order of the content.
• Attention to details.
• Work on the information architecture.
• It should be over 1000 words.
• No plagiarism.
• Don’t use AI-generated content.
• Your audience is a novice.
• Proper citation .
• No grammatical or spelling error.
• No repetitive and filler words.
• Must have necessary images.
• Use the Google Writing style guide.

After review, tag @TechnicalWriti6 on Twitter to the link to your article.

Answer the following questions.