Technical editing is much like the code testing process. Developers depend on their test team to identify errors, missed requirements, and poor user experiences. Similarly, writers rely on editors to catch much more than misspellings and misplaced commas. A technical editor provides expert-level reviews of content for structural issues, missing (or misleading) ideas, inconsistencies, technical errors, and—of course—grammatical errors. Read on to see how a technical editor can save you time, reduce your overall costs, and create a better experience for your users.
The Value of a Technical Editor
A technical editor is someone who bridges the gap between technical writing and technology users. They understand the ins and outs of grammar and document structure for technical assets, and they can speak on a peer level with subject matter experts (SMEs) to understand the technology. Additionally, a technical editor puts fresh eyes on a draft to see errors and issues that writers—who are much closer to the work—might miss.
When you hire a technical editor for your project, you gain these advantages:
Save Time
Writing is an iterative process, but a good technical editor reduces the number of iterations it takes to get an excellent document done. Editors have a keen eye for detail, spot problems quickly, document clearly what needs to be changed, and reduce confusion during rewrites. Working with an editor ends up being more efficient, and reduces the total amount of work for all involved.
Save Money
It might seem counterintuitive that adding an editor saves you money, but it does. Cutting corners on technical editing leads to more revisions, erodes quality, increases support calls, adds costly rework, and causes customer dissatisfaction. Even for internal documentation, poor editing of API and training docs leads to decreased productivity, missed deadlines, and even higher employee turnover. However, technical editors provide tangible benefits that come with communication excellence.
Improve the Customer Experience
All readers, including customers, internal employees, and business partners, get more value from a clear document that is free of grammatical and technical errors, leading to improved experiences with your technology. Well-edited documentation is easier to read and understand, and more enjoyable for the reader. This improved experience is rarely attributed to the documents themselves, but to the product. Good docs eliminate confusion and help the product deliver the value it promises to every customer who reads them.
Know What Types of Technical Editing You Need
There are three levels of technical editing: developmental editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Depending on the context, you might need all three.
Developmental Editing
Unlike a copy edit, a developmental edit makes the editor into the writer’s co-conspirator in producing the document. This level of editing comes into play when you are determining the direction the document needs to take, or need to revise or reorganize the document significantly. If you want to make sure your document is effective, has the right structure, and is well organized, ask your editor to do a developmental edit. Your editor works closely with you, and as appropriate, your SMEs, developers, and product owners, to ensure the best possible results.
A developmental edit includes:
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- Assessment of how well the document delivers on its goals
- Expert-level review and fact-checking of technical content (with SME)
- Verification of code examples (with SME)
- Review of the usefulness and accuracy of images, or places where images are/aren’t needed (with SME)
- Evaluation of accessibility to the typical reader
- Review of flow, structure, and organization
- Fine tuning of clarity
- Thorough check for consistency
- Evaluation of voice and tone
- Revision of some sentences/sections, and suggestions for rewrites
Developmental editing can also include the copy editing services listed below.
Copy Editing
Copy editing is the most commonly requested editing service. You want a copy editor when your document is finished, all the content is in place, and SMEs have agreed that the information is correct. At this stage, it needs an edit pass for grammar, structure, consistency, readability, and adherence to any relevant style guides, including grammar, usage, and code.
A copy edit includes a review of these things:
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- Adherence to style guidelines
- Grammar
- Spelling
- Sentence structure
- Passive vs. active voice
- Proper use of terminology and capitalization
- Parallel structure
- Link verification
- US English language/dialect
- Image review: relevant to surrounding text, clean, easy to read, properly numbered/captioned
- HTML/markdown check
Proofreading
Proofreading is the final stage of editing, reserved for documents that are considered done. Think of this type of editing as your validation right before a push to production. Your document has been reviewed, updated, and cleaned up. A proofread is a once-over to ensure that no errors were introduced during final drafting or design and that nothing important was overlooked during the copy-editing process.
Proofreading includes:
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- Spell check
- Link check
- Formatting or pagination problems
- Typos or other egregious errors
- Anything overlooked on the main edit pass
Don’t Skip the Critical Step of Technical Editing
Before shipping your next product document, user manual, API documentation revision, or wiki site, talk to us about technical editing services. Our editors have experience with all kinds of documentation, including complex hardware and software technology documentation. They can quickly come up to speed with your technology, provide whatever level of editing you need, and help you produce documents that save your writers and developers time, reduce overall costs, and improve the readability of your technical documentation.