More on technical documentation

Last night I attended a presentation and discussion regarding recent developments in the tools and technologies associated with technical documentation. The forum is sponsored by the DITA Boston Users Group (ditabug). (If you want to know more about DITA and you're not in techdoc, you might want to think about what kind of example you're setting for your children.)
There were plenty of graybeards in attendance, increasing the risk that the conversation would devolve into a fog of long-gone and best-forgotten applications and acronyms.
But, occasionally, there is a point in all this reflection on the past.
Y'see, what's really curious about many of these types of discussions is that we've been having them for at least the 30 years that I've been involved in this business. We've sought to develop methods and tools that would let us write concise descriptions and procedures and easily publish those items in print and online.
There are various other aspect to these goals, including integration with product development (so that the documentation describes the particular version of the product you are using), facilitating translation (so that the same content can be made available in three or 17 languages at the same time that the product is released), reuse (sharing pieces of information among multiple writers), and accessibility (ensuring that people with vision, hearing, or dexterity limitations can use the product and information).
The curious and ultimately frustrating thing about all of this is that we've solved it at least a half dozen times. Like Twain knowing how to quit smoking, we as individuals and as an industry know how to do the right things. We know how to fix these things; we just haven't figured out how to stop breaking them.

see more There I Fixed It