back

 

Quanos Blog

Our guide for
technical documentation

In a technical editing department, the creation of technical documents is only half the battle. A large part of it is also the organisation of the content: Variant management, terminology, translation management and the automation of tasks are just a few keywords.

Technical Documentation

  • Modularization (9)
  • CCMS (59)
  • Content creation (70)
  • Translation management (11)
  • Smart Information (36)
  • Quality control (34)
  • Documentation (27)
  • Networking service information (14)
  • Trends (9)
  • terminology management (8)
  • Tools and technology (7)
  • AI technology (7)
  • Digitalization (14)
  • Content Delivery (19)
  • Digital Information Twin (15)
  • Product news (2)
  • After sales service (2)
  • Automation (12)
  • Increase efficiency in service (8)
  • Identifying spare parts (2)
  • Spare parts catalogue (1)
  • Variant management (14)
  • Reuse (5)
  • Service portal / Customer portal (2)
  • Layouts and formats (2)

Get your free Q'sletter now!

Regular information about:

  • current webinars and events
  • latest trends
  • valuable download assets

Subscribe now

 

Effective Content Delivery with Node-based Data Storage

Everyone's talking about content delivery—at least when it comes to technical communications. Delivering the right inform…

 

Automated Translation with SCHEMA ST4 and DeepL

Texts can be translated directly from SCHEMA ST4 within seconds using AI-based tool DeepL and then sent for review. This …

 

How to Take the New EU Regulations into Account in Technical Writing

With its new directives and regulations, the EU Commission wants to ensure that products are both safer and more sustaina…

 

Technical documentation and SEO hand in hand? This is how it works!

Do you want customers to find your technical documents more easily on the internet? In the new Quanos white paper, you ca…

 

Creating Operating Instructions – The New Practical Guide Is Here!

Sebastian Schiller, Software Trainer at Quanos, shares his expertise when it comes to creating user-friendly operating in…

 

Networked: How You Can Make Exchanging Data Easier With Your Component Content Management System

Don’t want to type out product data anymore? If a Component Content Management System is linked to internal company syste…

 

Technical Writers Should Be Familiar With These Software Systems

A Content Management System saves a great deal of work when it comes to technical documentation. Complemented by systems …

 

What Does COTI Actually Mean?

If you work in technical writing, you might have already come across the abbreviation COTI at some point. It comes up aga…

 

Plain Language in Technical Writing

Standards for plain language have been in the works in Germany and at the international level since 2019. Dr. Markus Nick…

 

Automatically Create Videos and Animations with TXTOmedia

Videos are widely used in modern technical documentation to clearly convey instructions. Video tutorials are popular, but…

 

New Version of the EU Construction Products Regulation— How to Overcome Future Challenges

The new version of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is currently causing some uncertainty among manufacturers. …

 

Docs as Code – A Technical Writing Approach From The Software Industry

For several years now, docs as code has been a buzz word in the field of software documentation. It is an especially popu…

 

Create Technical Documentation Anywhere: Web-Based Version of SCHEMA ST4 Available Now

Our content management system SCHEMA ST4 is now available as a web-based version: ST4 Web Author. With ST4 Web Author, te…

 

Technical Writer: A Day in the Life of Martin Rauscher

Communicating complex technical content in comprehensible language—this is how a technical writer's job is typically desc…

 

5 Proofreading Tips

Proofreading is almost inevitably one of the sticking points in any publication process. It occurs at the end of the proc…

 

Localization and Translation: how they differ and affect Technical Writing

The terms localization and translation always seem to create confusion. Occasionally, you hear people say that localizati…

 

Raus aus der Word-Falle! Oder: Warum sich ein Redaktionssystem für kleine Redaktionen lohnt

This blog article is only available in German

 

Inklusive Sprache bei Eurocom und Kaleidoscope

This blog article is only available in German.

 

Alle mit ins Boot holen - Inklusive Sprache in Unternehmen

This blog article is only available in German.

 

Documentation for the Mechanical and Plant Engineering Industry

Mechanical and plant engineering can be fascinating. Its methods and processes have developed over the years to make the …

 

UX Writing – Important Trend or Unnecessary Fad?

For some time now, the topic of UX writing has been cropping up in technical writing departments time and time again. At …

 

Your Style Guide – What Should Not Be Forgotten

The typical style guide is stored somewhere in a folder on the shelf, or it’s gathering dust in a file directory. The tru…

 

InDesign as a Content Management System? Not for Everyone!

Choosing a content management system is one of the most important decisions in technical communication. As a layout and t…

 

Content Management Systems of the Future

Admittedly, we don't have a crystal ball, so we can't predict in detail what the content management system of the future …

 

The Quanos Software Portfolio for Technical Writers

A lot has happened in recent years at Quanos. The merger of Quanos Content Solutions and Quanos Service Solutions has all…

 

The Content Management System that Thinks for Itself

To create a web CMS, is it enough to simply recreate all the features of a professional CMS for technical authoring in ex…

 

Technical Documentation: The Most Important Standards

Let us start by saying that you can never tell from the outside which standards will be of relevance to a technical writi…

 

Getting Started with Terminology

For some companies, terminology work is an everyday occurrence. They appreciate the benefits of a well-maintained termino…

 

What and Who Benefits from Terminology?

For many companies, systematic terminology work is still a closed book but it is a task worth taking seriously. After all…

 

Reviewing, Editing, or Proofreading?

There is a part of the technical writing process that almost every company has a different name for: in addition to revie…

 

Chatbots for Technical Documentation

Gerhard Glatz and Lara Kraegel are technical writers at Dokuschmiede, a service provider for technical communication and …

 

Unequal Siblings: Technical Writing and Marketing

In principle, technical writing and marketing do the same thing: they communicate with customers about a company's produc…

Getting Variants Under Control  

Getting Variants Under Control

There are many reasons why technical documentation has different variants. But what is the best way for a technical writi…

Variants, variants, and more variants  

Variants, variants, and more variants

Most technical writers agree that variants are one of the biggest challenges in technical authoring. But where do these v…

Englische Doku, deutsche Redaktion: (k)ein Problem  

Englische Doku, deutsche Redaktion: (k)ein Problem

This blog article is only available in German.

Safety Information – These Standards Help  

Safety Information – These Standards Help

Safely to the safety instruction  

Safely to the safety instruction

Of the many content modules that make up a manual, warnings are probably the most sensitive. If errors occur here, there …

SCHEMA ST4 Online – A Good Idea?  

SCHEMA ST4 Online – A Good Idea?

Just like many other office jobs, the landscape of technical writing departments has changed dramatically. Mobile working…

Die perfekte Technische Dokumentation  

Die perfekte Technische Dokumentation

This blog article is only available in German.

1 – 2 – Callout! Graphic Labeling Made Easy  

1 – 2 – Callout! Graphic Labeling Made Easy

With technical documentation, one thing is pretty much a certainty: lots of pictures. After all, you have to show again a…

Guidelines, Style Guide, Editorial Guide  

Guidelines, Style Guide, Editorial Guide

Editorial Guide, Style Guide, Documentation Guidelines – almost every team of technical writers has one or more documents…

What Makes a Writer a Technical Writer?  

What Makes a Writer a Technical Writer?

“Doesn’t a technical writer just write down what the developer/engineer built?”. You still hear this misconception from t…

Technical documentation – Why?  

Technical documentation – Why?

Let’s consider the why question for a moment. After all, sometimes it’s not a bad idea to go back to basics. What actuall…

The Right Choice  

The Right Choice

Introducing a CMS is about more than just buying software. After all, the provider is just as important as the product. C…

Is a Component Content Management System Worthwhile?  

Is a Component Content Management System Worthwhile?

If you’re thinking about introducing a component content management system (CCMS), you will of course want to know whethe…

Does Your Technical Writing Department Need a Component Content Management System?  

Does Your Technical Writing Department Need a Component Content Management System?

Sometimes the answer to the question “At what point do you need a component content management system?” is quite obvious:…

Automating terminology checks in SCHEMA ST4  

Automating terminology checks in SCHEMA ST4

“The support team just called. The latest issues of the maintenance manuals still contain old component names. It’s resul…

Agile documentation – how development and technical writing complement each other  

Agile documentation – how development and technical writing complement each other

Aren’t we looking here at something that is almost an oxymoron? You could be forgiven for thinking so. “Agile” – a word w…

Digitalisation pressure – digitalisation opportunity  

Digitalisation pressure – digitalisation opportunity

Many people are sick and tired of all the non-stop chatter about digitalisation, of Industry 4.0 and smart information. I…

How to warn – a skill that has to be learnt - Quanos Content  

How to warn – a skill that has to be learnt - Quanos Content

One of the most important objectives of an instruction manual is to ensure that the product is used safely. This comes as…

Norms and standards for technical documentation – where to look  

Norms and standards for technical documentation – where to look

Technical writers must be able to handle the wide range of tasks involved in creating a document. Not only do operating i…

Modularisation for beginners  

Modularisation for beginners

Getting modularisation right is a critical success factor when working with content management systems such as SCHEMA ST4…

Less is more: controlled language for more efficient documentation  

Less is more: controlled language for more efficient documentation

The verb “to sanction” can mean “to approve” as well as “to punish”. The Oxford English Thesaurus apparently lists 380 sy…

Filtering master projects in SCHEMA ST4 – many from one!  

Filtering master projects in SCHEMA ST4 – many from one!

“Many from one!” That might sound a bit like witchcraft. But it is common practice in our SCHEMA ST4 Component Content Ma…

Save real money with workflows  

Save real money with workflows

Authoring work is fun! Optimising and structuring content, modelling content management, refining the layout: this type o…

Automated image legends using callout labels  

Automated image legends using callout labels

Labelling images and creating image legends are frequently recurring tasks facing technical writers. With SCHEMA ST4’s Ca…

The major advantages of a component content management system in technical writing  

The major advantages of a component content management system in technical writing

Authoring processes can be optimised with a content management system, because such a tool provides efficient solutions f…

Achieve optimum text intelligibility in technical writing  

Achieve optimum text intelligibility in technical writing

Imagine that your company produces fan heaters. Winter is slowly approaching and you know that the coming months will be …

Simple steps to optimise your documentation for translation  

Simple steps to optimise your documentation for translation

If your company wants to market its products abroad, it goes without saying that you’ll need your documents translated in…

Chatbots and technical writing – Communication is key  

Chatbots and technical writing – Communication is key

It almost always helps when people talk to each other. From a service provider’s perspective, chatbots can be a good way …

Challenges of software documentation and how to master them  

Challenges of software documentation and how to master them

Working with software is nothing unusual in this day and age. There are hardly any professions that can manage without a …

Better review processes in technical writing  

Better review processes in technical writing

In technical writing, content naturally does not come out of nowhere. Ideally, it emerges in parallel with the product, t…

Callout in Motion – Creating and managing interactive content directly in ST4 - Quanos Content  

Callout in Motion – Creating and managing interactive content directly in ST4 - Quanos Content

You may have heard about it in our report ahead of the tekom annual conference – Callout in Motion is a powerful new feat…

Never rush in: Always think the whole process through!  

Never rush in: Always think the whole process through!

For around the last five years, the technical communications sector has been focussing more and more of its efforts on a …

How-to-videos in technical documentation  

How-to-videos in technical documentation

There is no doubt about it: how-to videos are becoming increasingly popular. Already in 2016, one third of online video u…

A workflow walks into a blog  

A workflow walks into a blog

On 4 June 2018, the 2018 version of ST4 was launched, bringing with it probably the most comprehensive innovation since t…

Bosch turbos up – with SCHEMA ST4 as the component content management system for motorsport components  

Bosch turbos up – with SCHEMA ST4 as the component content management system for motorsport components

There’s no denying that it was a true eye-catcher at the SCHEMA Conference: visitors to the Nuremberg exhibition centre w…

Is working with a Component Content Management System really easier?  

Is working with a Component Content Management System really easier?

Do I implement a Content Management System, yes or no? We are often asked this somewhat philosophical question, so we now…

Why separate content, structure and layout?  

Why separate content, structure and layout?

Anyone in the authoring and documentation industry has undoubtedly heard of “separating content, structure and layout”. …

Callout your content!  

Callout your content!

In its different versions, SCHEMA ST4 contains some useful tools: from Page Layout Designer, with which you can create la…