4 Documentation Formatting Examples I Use to Improve Readability

The most important aspect of technical documentation is its formatting. The format differs based on your industry and organization, as well as the type of documentation. Writers can format documentation according to industry standards, examples, or templates.

The best way to go about it is to use templates. However, every company works slightly differently and has different products. That’s why it’s best to use existing templates and documentation formatting examples to custom-format your technical documentation.

This article will go over technical documentation formatting best practices and provide examples and tips you can use.

Let’s dive right in.

Technical Documentation Formatting Best Practices

Depending on who is writing the technical documentation, the best practices may differ. That’s because a subject matter expert will talk about the product as they usually do. However, someone who’s been trained to translate complex concepts can convert complex information into easy-to-understand documentation.

In any case, following a 5-step process is usually the best way to write technical documentation, regardless of the format.

Begin with subject matter research and documentation planning. A technical writer starts by gathering information and developing a documentation plan. This plan often includes project goals, applicable style guides, a content outline, available resources, tools, documentation software, and defined deliverables.
Define the structure and design of the documentation. Once the plan is in place, the writer determines the overall structure and sets up the page layout and document flow. Templates are useful here, helping to establish a consistent navigation system and formatting style.
Develop and draft the documentation content. With a clear structure in place, the technical writer begins drafting the content. It’s helpful to write in a conversational tone that feels natural and easy to follow. Some writers use the 30/90 rule to gather early feedback, but peer reviews are equally important for refining and revising the draft.
Deliver and test the documentation for usability. Once the draft is complete, it’s time to validate the documentation. The technical writer or a senior reviewer tests it for accuracy, clarity, safety, and user experience. This step ensures the content works as intended in real-world use.
Create a maintenance schedule and update plan. After publishing, the technical writer establishes a system for ongoing maintenance. This includes setting timelines for regular reviews and updating the content to reflect new features, tools, or user feedback.

The formatting of your technical documentation should always maximize efficiency while providing up-to-date information. More importantly, there is a need for a consistent design and structure to maximize its accessibility worldwide.

4 Formatting Examples for Your Own Technical Documentation Reference

Technical writing includes many types of documentation, each with its own formatting. For example, students can write journal essays in MLA or APA style. Furthermore, they have specific requirements for the header, footer, line spacing, filename, indents, page numbers, commas, capitalization, using asterisks, using parentheses, quotation marks, and more.

Similarly, writing API documentation would have different rules for using italics, underlines, checkboxes, table of contents, and more. There’s also a slight change depending on the organization and your industry.

However, the typical documentation formats tend to remain the same for most. The following four documentation formatting examples are usually the industry standard.

1. DOC

One of the most widely known formats is Doc — an abbreviation of “document.” It’s a filename extension for all Word documents.

It started as an extension to indicate documentation that contained only plain text. However, today, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and other word processing software allow you to use pictures, graphics, diagrams, and more, making it more than just a plain text document.

The Doc format is an excellent option to develop a minor technical document. Also, if you only need to add text and graphics, you’re well off using the Doc format.

However, if you need to develop technical documentation with hundreds of topics, it may be unwise to use this format. That’s because minor inconsistencies can mess up the overall document formatting. As a result, when you print the document, it may cause unwarranted formatting issues. If you move a single page, you may mess up the entire document.

Other than that, Doc files don’t support videos or GIFs; therefore, if you want to add any of those, you can only hyperlink them or provide a direct link for them. In any case, the user would have to open another app or a new browser tab to watch the video or GIF.

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2. PDF

The PDF (Portable Document Format) format was developed in the 1990s by Adobe as an alternate way to present documents that can include text, images, and graphs, regardless of the operating system, hardware, or application software. Technical writing documentation often takes this filename.

Every PDF file contains a top-to-bottom description of a fixed-layout flat document, including unique fonts, text, vector graphics, raster images, and other information. It’s crucial to maintain English syntax when developing the PDF, since many people find it hard to edit afterward.

Nowadays, PDFs have evolved to include a range of content, with logical and interactive structuring elements such as annotations, form fields, layers, videos, and 3D objects, among other things.

Furthermore, PDFs offer additional encryption options and allow you to include file attachments, digital signatures, and metadata.

PDFs allow all forms of content, making it great for document formatting when it comes to technical documentation. Most importantly, PDFs can be opened on practically any device, regardless of the operating system.

3. CHM

You have the CHM format for more technical documents, which is a Microsoft proprietary online help format. It includes HTML pages, an index, and various navigation elements that act as a table of contents.

CHM files are compressed and use the. CHM extension. That keeps the document size extremely small while ensuring faster loading times.

Otherwise known as Compiled HTML, CHM is used for writing software documentation, like CSS and PHP tutorials, software manuals, and legal documentation of a Creative Commons license.

Despite being designed by Microsoft, various applications can open and view CHM-formatted files.

It supports all the basic features, like italic, bold, markup, markdown, and more. More importantly, using a CHM template is much more convenient than other software documentation formats.

In any case, CHM is an excellent example of technical documentation formatting because of its navigational properties.

4. Online Documentation (Technical Writing)

Online documentation is usually topic-based information that users can access for assistance or information about the software. Such documentation can be opened on any browser, regardless of the operating system or software.

The following are the critical aspects of online documentation.

As long as the user has a stable internet connection and a browser, they can access the documentation online.
Online documentation officially supports all visual content elements, including graphics, vectors, diagrams, GIFs, videos, and more, which can be played within the document immediately.
After publishing, your documentation formatting will remain the same from when you designed it. Other formats can mess up your formatting when you’re about to publish or print your documentation.
Exporting documentation online is easier because you can choose from several formats. That will help make documentation easier for users with different systems.
It’s much easier to use a professional technical writing tool for online documentation. Furthermore, you can use other online writing tools like Grammarly to fix any issues quickly.

Lastly, attribution is much easier when using online documentation formatting. You can directly link to other sites, documents, and tools in the documentation itself.

Choosing the Right Documentation Formatting

Technical documentation and technical writing can take on various forms, but it mostly depends on your objective. For example, if you’re creating software manuals, it would be best to use CHM documentation formatting. On the other hand, you’re better off with PDFs if you’re developing product manuals.

Similarly, if you have a web app, cloud-based software, or a website, your best bet is online documentation.

In any case, while you can use any documentation formatting example above, it’s best to stick with industry standards because users are familiar.

Depending on your industry, product/software, and organization, please choose an appropriate documentation formatting example and go with it.

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