For IE and iOS apps I write all user-facing docs: UI labels, guides and help, social media marketing content.

 Your Internet Explorer application has so many more places to reside than only a couple of years ago. And in some of them, for example, smartphones, the real estate can be pretty tight.

My job is to deliver the user assistance (UA) deliverables that work in close quarters.

UA is the current name given to user docs in any form. Until a few years ago, back when everyone worked on PCs and used their cell phones to make calls, the UA was workstation-based: You got a big manual and a help system whose table of contents rivaled the Sears catalog of days gone by.

A traditional help system is too cumbersome for mobile but their are subsets of help that work just fine. It's the same with popup help, interactive tutorials, or detailed reference guides. There's no reason for the user to be lost in a small place. All the writer needs is authoring tools and the ability to say a lot in a few words.

Whether the platform is Windows, IE, or Windows Phone, I can provide the informational resources users need to become productive. And not just the traditional help-and-PDF manual. The social media offer a wealth of interactive possibilities for your UA, and I know how to take advantage of them. A Facebook business page as a knowledge center? Update notifications by Twitter? A complex procedure explained in a YouTube video? There's no reason left to ask why not. Documentation has become relevant again.

I work with Silicon Valley Windows startups and small developers who currently don't have a writer on staff and need one to create user-oriented marketing communication and procedural docs. I can update what's currently in place or start from scratch to build not just a conventional documentation set, but an informative and inviting presence that incorporates the social media where appropriate.

 By now you probably know the hard truth about an iOS application's shelf life:  If it costs only a buck or two and the reader doesn't immediately like what they see, they will toss it without mercy. Even if you pass the test, you'll have only another 30 seconds to show some results.

Making an application's functionality obvious to an end user seeing it for the first time can be a challenge. Applications seem intuitive to those who use them a lot  ̶  like the developers, for example, or existing customers. But to a new pair of eyes, the elements on the screen might not actually merge into the larger, seamless whole the developers envision. There might be too many details. The wording might be opaque. Maybe there's just no there, there.

Since Netscape I have been assisting Bay Area developers in getting out their message via the web. I write marketing and procedural docs that are easily accessed and understood. The goal of every aspect of my writing is the same: to encourage the development of an informed, engaged end user.

Working with your designers, I can bring fresh eyes to your UI labeling, and spot problem areas in the UX that are too prominent to notice, if you know what I mean.

iOS apps are becoming sophisticated enough to warrant formal documentation, including video tutorials. I've been writing user docs for more than 20 years and can write yours.

Where applicable, I use the social media to house the knowledge base and user-interactive UA (user assistance) deliverables. Via the social media, users can communicate back to the developer and also among each other. Along with product knowledge comes a sense of personal investment and from that, brand loyalty.

Whether it's just a few paras for the App store description, or context-sensitive help for every screen, I have the experience, skills, and authoring tools to describe your iOS app in both social marketing and procedural documentation.

To discuss the possibilities for your app, please phone or email me, John Mulvihill, at the numbers below.

Call John!

  johntechwriter

    johntechwriter

    @johntechwriter

    johntechwriter

    johntechwriter

   five one zero . 333 . 7715

   http://johntechwriter.com