MIcrochip Technical Writing

Inventor

1.0 FORUM POST OVERVIEW
This forum post defines the technical writing style of the Microchip technical document production employees. The text of this document consists of English ASCII characters and should be read as such. This document is not the complete reference about Forum Post Overviews regarding technical writing style - it is only a guide. For complete documentation refer to document see reference document FPO666-EVLDOC which is available on the Microchip web site but we will not tell you where to locate it.

Dang, can they write or what?

okvern · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:33 pm Post subject:

Hi Inventor,

*Guffaw.* You nailed it. This is the sort of thing that makes third-party books sell (I've written a bunch, though not in this field). Smile

My favorite comes from an old Photoshop manual (about v. 3.0 or so), describing the Unsharp Mask operation. Unsharp masking is a fairly complex topic--despite the name, it's actually a form of image sharpening (heightening transitions between edges), and relies on some fairly abstruse math. The manual said:

"To use the Unsharp Mask feature, choose Unsharp Mask from the Sharpen submenu of the Filters menu, change the settings in the dialog box, and click OK."

That was it. Nothing about WHY you might need it, WHAT if might do for you, WHEN you might want to use it, etc. For that, you had to go to "Real World Photoshop" or "Real World Scanning and Halftones," or other third-party references (disclaimer: these were written by friends/co-authors of mine).

Thanks,

Ole

Inventor · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject:

Ole,

Oh, so you're a writer. It's always good to know some writers, haha. Yeah those Microchip docs are DRY!

Les

okvern · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:59 pm Post subject:

Hi Les/Inventor,

Technically, I'm a "Computer Scientist" (i.e., a programmer). But I've written a bunch of third party books--entirely because of how angry standard "technical documentation" makes me. Google and Amazon can tell you about them, if you like.

One of my goals in life is to demystify coding. My background is in graphic design and illustration--if I can write code, anyone can! All it takes is a.) losing the fear, and b.) not defining yourself in opposition to all of that "rational, analytical" stuff (as most "creative types" do). I was surprised to find that it was *the same thing*.

Thanks,

Ole

blue hell · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

oootini · Joined: Oct 15, 2007 Posts: 80 Location: ireland

doodz this is right out of zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance! Smile

tech writers assemble!