Creating User Documentation Virtually
The next time you are taking that final run through on your laptop or desktop of that brilliant website or application your team just built, consider hitting a simple record button. And capture.
Instructional documentation is an extremely important part of product support. But it could also prove to be mind-numbing to create. Especially if you are part of a team that prides itself on getting your client up and running while building solutions that are self-sustaining from an administration standpoint. But not all teams are staffed with technical writers or have the budget to create robust user documentation for products that they might have built on a tightened budget.
Here is where a little resourcefulness can payoff big dividends. Screen capture has been around for quite some time but usually at the price of costly programs and programs that consume time for learning. Not anymore. A short time ago a friend of mine shared Jing with me. Jing is a free application, with a minimal feature set that allows you to record or capture your screen. And just when you thought FREE was the best part – it is not. It’s easily compatible on both the MAC and PC. Enough said?
To give you an example of just how easy it is, I’ve put together a quick tutorial on how to use my own website through Jing. It took about 5 minutes.
The end value of something as simple as virtual documentation to the client outweighs the time it takes to produce. For larger teams that do provide technical documentation, consider this as a way to augment traditional written documentation. And it looks prettier.
Have any screen capturing / documentation options that you want to share?
