In order to write effective and useful documentation, you need something more feature-rich than MS Word. Here is where help authoring tools step in. Help authoring tool is a software program or a web-based solution that is used to create various types of online help. One great example of a web-based documentation program is ClickHelp. Let's dive in and learn why ClickHelp is the best online documentation tool for technical writing.
Flexibility
ClickHelp is a flexible help authoring tool for many reasons:
Quick migration. Usually, migration from another tool can be painful but it's not about ClickHelp. The online documentation tool supports a wide range of formats like Microsoft Word, HTML, CHM and the like, so you can just create output files in your current tool and import to ClickHelp.
Easy review process. In ClickHelp, you can give anyone access, create roles, and assign topics to reviewers. you don't need to send your documentation via email where it can get lost, and your team will work in one portal.
Workflow customization. As every team is different, each of them should have their own workflow to carry out tasks effectively. ClickHelp provides premade workflow with statuses but you can customize them according to your needs.
Single-Sourcing
Your documentation can be created in different types and for different audiences. With ClickHelp, you don't need to switch between multiple different systems, websites or files. ClickHelp is one tool that you need to manage different documents and host them.
Here are some single-sourcing techniques that are available:
Conditional content. If you create a document for different types of audiences - for developers and novices, for example, you can add content blocks that may be shown or hidden, depending on how you configure. For example, a part of the content will be shown only for developers and hidden for novices, so you can generate two different outputs from the same topic.
Conditional TOC. Thanks to this feature, you can exclude or include any topics. For example, you may omit a topic from an online version of a manual, and include it to the printed one.
Output styles. Using conditional styles, you can vary colors, fonts, logos, backgrounds, and the like to design a single project for different clients.
Full-Text Search
Detailed documentation is what users need, but it can be too long because of added thorough information, so it can be difficult to find a specific subject. But with ClickHelp, you will not worry about it because this online documentation tool offers a number of features to help your readers navigate through your documentation:
Patented full-text search engine. You can search for a specific set of user guides or the entire documentation portal. The engine handles tenses and word forms to allow your readers to use natural language. ClickHelp also supports quotes, wildcards, and the like for more complex use cases.
Index keywords. Did you change the button name in a previous release but your users still don't get used to it? For this case add index keywords to a topic, so users will find the necessary topic using an old button name.
Conclusion
The above list of ClickHelp advantages is not full, we described only those which will be the most useful ones for case deflection and customer orientation. So, if you're a technical writer, for example, you can just show your decision-makers this article to prove how ClickHelp can be useful for your help authoring process and business.
The online documentation tool provides 200+ features and a wide range of integrations. If you want to try them yourself, you can order a free trial (no credit cards are required) and you'll get:
All features included.
Password-protected online portal.
10 author accounts.
