What are the key principles of SW?
The main principles of structured writing are:
• Segmentation: Break down information into small, “bite-sized” blocks.
• Labelling: Give each information block a clear, informative title.
• Coherence: Put information together that belongs together.
• Consistency: Make your terminology, your phrasing, but also the structure of your topics consistent.
• Illustration: Use illustrations or video clips at appropriate places in your text.
• Information models: Use ready-made information models, laid down in templates by an information architect.
• Information types: Keep different types of information (task descriptions, concepts, technical data…) separate from each other.
• User-oriented writing: Take into account the knowledge level of your user.
• Minimalism: Determine how much information your user needs to perform a task correctly or to understand a concept.
• Translation-friendly writing: Ensure that your text is easily translatable.
Which specific problems does SW solve? Why is SW so important?
Using structured writing:
• your users can more easily find relevant information
• you can more easily reuse your information for different purposes
• you can more easily keep your technical documentation up-to-date
• you can save considerably on your translation costs
• you can manage your content better
• you can automate your publishing processes
