Savvy technical editors
Your technical documentation is in experienced hands. For decades, we have been designing, editing,1 publishing and consulting for projects like:
- documentation suites for international software developers
- programming language reference books and users manuals
- open source and public domain computer code
- content-rich technical web resources
- magazines for associations and general circulation
1. See related: general editorial services
Technical editors with history
We have decades of experience offering editorial services (magazines, books and manuals) and design of marketing materials.
External Design staff has provided documentation design and technical editing services for three decades. Our contributions include:
- We edited 24 issues of the seminal Dr. Dobb's Journal in its early years, when "personal computers" were first emerging.
- Later, we edited a trade journal for the then-revolutionary Forth programming language2 for almost two decades.
- Along the way, we created, edited and otherwise shepherded into existence a collection of trade books, technical manuals, documentation suites and more for small businesses, associations and corporations.
For documentation projects, we work with clients who ensure access to their relevant technical and scientific staff, because we believe the best documentation results when the true subject matter experts remain interested and available throughout the process. Open lines of communication are essential to any project's success, but never more so than when the interests of marketing, development and the end user/consumer all are being served.
2. Discussed in some technical detail in the Wikipedia article about Forth.
Custom document templates
As your consultant, External Design can develop document templates3 for your projects. This frees you and your staff to focus on content development. You may also call on us to review your content — fresh editorial eyes often are very useful. Or go ahead and delegate all the design, content and production to us and reserve just the final approval for yourself.
3. Typically created in Adobe FrameMaker or Adobe InDesign, occasionally in Microsoft Word. Each template is custom to the requirements of your project and your company.
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our technical editors and writers
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