Writing Software Documentation: A Task-Oriented Approach (Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication)

This book is an excellent academic approach to software documentation. It is an excellent manual on writing documentation and includes all of the academic steps to reach that goal. However, it gets a slight bit heavy on details and strays from the actual performance. In other words, you may have to ignore or not use much of what is contained in the book because of individual practices and peculiarities in the various industries. I do recommend it as an overall view of the process and will be useful for beginners to the profession.

I had taken a course in Technical Communication for which this book was a recommended-read. After going through the chapters, I must say that this is an excellent guide for anyone who documents software. The book takes a task-oriented approach and lists some great pointers. It gives you a step-by-step process for analyzing users, learning a software program, and writing the documentation; teaches you the basics of page and screen design, and even helps you understand the software users better. This is the only *readable*(cover-to-cover) technical writing book that I have come across. Definitely a great buy!

I can't believe how cheap this book was!! I received it in less than a week and it is in great condition.

I got this book through an online cetification class for writing user manuals and reference guides. I never would have found this book had it not been for that class. This book is great in that it takes you through the 7 steps of documentation. I'd recommend this book for those getting started in the technical writing field and those who are senior members. The author also chunks the information in a way that is easily understandable. Great book!

This is *the* book a new technical writer should read. Barker really knows his stuff--and he presents it in truly usable form. I especially liked his 3-category approach: writing to teach (for eager learners), to guide (for reluctant users of the product), or to provide a reference (for experts who need only occasional support).