It’s no secret that technical writing is important for most companies. How do you know which authoring and publishing tools are the best fit for your business? Ask 10 technical writing professionals this question and you’ll receive 10 different answers that are dependent on factors like the type of project, available budget and personal preference.

From DITA to structured content management, creating effective technical content and documentation that improves your organization requires an arsenal of tools and skills. Keep reading for a helpful overview of how to select the best program(s) as well as popular options currently available for your technical writing project.

Before You Begin: Analyze Your Technical Writing Needs

The first step in any successful product search is to take a step back and evaluate the needs of your organization. There is no such thing as a single “best” technical writing program, but there is a best program for your company; each business will need different tools to maximize their productivity.

Ask yourself questions such as:

• What type of projects are we looking to create? Documentation projects require different tools based on the phase of the project. You may need authoring tools, screen capture tools, imagine editing tools, publishing tools, spell check tools and more! Ask yourself what type of content you want produced; from there you can begin to determine how you’ll need to create the documentation and the technical writing tools you will need for the project.
• What volume of work are we expecting to deliver? With a clear picture of how much documentation you need you can select the best fit for your business’ needs. Make sure you consider factors like:
  • The number of pages or topics
  • The complexity of the topic and target audience
  • Whether or not you’re starting from scratch (rather than updating current content)
  • Whether or not you need to create or revise a template
  • If there are any graphics you plan to include
  • How the project needs to be delivered
  • How in-depth you’ll need to review the finished product
• What is our budget? There are documentation tools for any budget. While a larger budget can grant access to more advanced programs, there are options out there for technical writing projects with fewer resources.
• Who is our target audience? Some products are better for consumers, others are better for B2B publications, etc. Consider what format your target audience will prefer when it comes to using documentation. Will they want something a little simpler and easier to understand or more in-depth and technical?

Once you have a clear picture of your needs, you can start searching for your ideal program.

Don’t Believe Every Single Technical Writing Program Review

Another important thing to keep in mind while evaluating your ideal technical writing program is to take online reviews with a grain of salt. Many vendors are quick to recommend their own products and some consultants promote tools that they have a vested interest in without disclosing their financial relationship with the product. Be aware these posts aren’t providing an objective perspective.

You may also come across posts from consumers who have experience with a specific product. Analyze them within the context of the forum. Positive reviews come from work environments where the tool was implemented well and the office was provided with support to make the program work; negative reviews can sometimes be attributed to user error rather than the product itself.

Though online reviews can be a valuable resource in your hunt for the perfect technical writing program, don’t place all your trust in the hands of anonymous internet users. Use your best judgment when reading reviews.

Popular Technical Writing Tools

Here are some of the most popular technical writing tools on the market.

• Adobe FrameMaker: This workspace is designed for beginners and experts. Thanks to its all-new file opening and parsing engine, it can handle XML files quickly and smoothly. The latest update includes a 64-bit architecture, which boosts performance by providing better memory management and larger memory space for both complex XML and non-XML documents. In fact, it allows you to publish up to 65 percent faster to PDF and Responsive HTML5.
• Adobe XML Documentation Solution: Another Adobe product, this content management system is designed to help you create and manage technical content, standardize content to a single DITA standard, help teams of multiple authors contribute and collaborate more effectively and more. It also integrates seamlessly with Adobe FrameMaker.
• Astoria Software: This program features an incredibly fast XML content engine, which makes creation, management and assembly of complex documentation even more effective.
• Componize: This DITA content management solution allows teams a secure way to create and collaborate on technical writing projects such as documentation, training content and contracts. With an open architecture, Componize adheres to strict standards, never modifying your company’s XML.
• DitaExchange: This structured content management program helps companies define, “A single source of truth for all content developed within the organization.” It structures technical writing into topics or pieces that can be re-used quickly and easily across all the business’ documentation.
• DITAToo: A content management system that:
  • Automates and facilitates daily tasks
  • Simplifies team collaboration (regardless of where they’re located)
  • Manages content’s translation, workflow and release
  • Automates assemply of relevant content
• DITAweb: This program offers a personalized customer experience that effectively leverages your DITA content. Through DITAweb, you can publish and index both DITA and non DITA content directly from CCMS, SharePoint, Git and other programs. Its custom landing pages and collections allow users flexibility to personalize their experience, in addition to increasing efficiency by reusing content effectively, leveraging multi-channel publishing, cost-effective cloud-hosting solutions and more.
• DITAworks: This enterprise-grade content management system is designed to author, manage and publish DITA content. It can be used for structured content and complex documentation or documentation arrays with a unified content reuse mechanism. Its combines state-of-the-art technology with hands-on experience, providing flexibility should your organization’s needs change.
• DocZone: This tool creates, edits, publishes and prints to HTML, EPUB, and more. It stands out from competitors by providing, “an ‘on-demand’ solution for authoring, managing, reusing, localizing, and publishing content to any output format, in any language.” Users can:
  • Publish DITA technical documents with both existing and personalized templates
  • Translate documents to more than 300 languages
  • Automate page composition and ePub creation
  • And more
• easyDITA: This technical writing tool provides everything you need to create, manage and publish DITA XML content. Its structured content can be published everywhere, from websites and ebooks to chatbots and apps. EasyDITA helps writers by:
  • Creating many variations from a single source
  • Automating tasks such as publishing, output formatting, data exchange and workflow
  • Producing content rendered for your specific audiences based on who they are, what they do and where they are
• GitHub: This development platform supports users’ workflow through features such as:
  • Built-in code review tools
  • Project management tools (big picture organization, task management, etc.)
  • A marketplace of apps and tools that seamlessly integrate with the project
  • Team management and support
  • Quality, well-maintained documentation
• MadCap Software: This suite of technical writing tools provide authoring, multi-channel publishing and content management solutions alongside certified training programs, technical support and other resources to use their software effectively.
• Oxygen XML: This content solution offers a suite of services to provide authoring, development and collaboration for your technical writing needs.
  • Oxygen XML Editor offers authoring and development tools for a large number of uses, whether they’re beginners to experts.
  • Oxygen XML Author introduces innovative, user-friendly authoring features with an easy-to-use interface.
  • Oxygen XML Web Author brings XML editing and reviewing to any modern web browser. This allows users to collaborate with other members and modify content from anywhere on desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
  • Oxygen XML Developer includes everything necessary for creating XML schemas and transformation pipelines. It specializes in XML source editing and schema design, and comes with powerful debuggers and performance profilers.
  • Oxygen XML WebHelp allows users to publish their DITA and DocBook technical writing content on the web in a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate interface. It makes your technical accessible, interactive and convenient.
• SDL Tridion Docs: Formerly SDL Knowledge Center, this structured content management solution simplifies the complexity of creating, managing and distributing in-depth product content and technical documentation. With this tool, users are able to:
  • Build searchable content with product release tracking, XML authoring, automated publishing and content variation support.
  • Adopt DITA standards to manage standalone and reusable topics, which can be shared across publications and delivered to any number of formats and languages.
  • Lower cost and time to market with single-click translation management.
  • Easily deliver dynamically generated, targeted content based on customer data and preferences.
  • Improve content effectiveness by delivering relevant multimedia across digital documentation.
  • Easily generate high-quality output in virtually any format with SDL XPP.
  • Ensure high quality structured content with user friendly XML editing integrated into your content management system.
• Simply XML’s Content Mapper: This easy-to-use authoring tool allows you to generate reusable XML content right from Microsoft Word. It lets authors create original or template driven documents, reuse existing content, add metadata, and publish to a variety of media.
• XMetaL: This structured authoring editor brings structure and automation to managing high volumes of valuable content. Used standalone, or integrated with any of several leading content management and publishing systems, this technical writing tool can be used by writers and reviewers, even without XML knowledge.

When it comes to technical writing, it’s important to choose the best program for your needs; the right program can drastically transform your documentation. Choosing the correct tool for your company will help you generate quality content that will help users for years to come.

Are you planning a documentation project for your company? Contact us if you’d like help! We can provide highly specialized, top-notch technical writers in a wide variety of areas including XML and DITA conversion, localization strategy, video production and more.

Trilyon, Inc. is proud to provide exceptional documentation consulting services tailored to your business’ specific needs. We specialize in documentation and content writing. Contact us today with any questions you have and to learn more about how we can help your business reach its fullest potential.