GitLab / Technical Writing

Here is a great example of how links from the UI to the docs can result in a bad user experience. It's better to have no link than to have a bad link.

Pajamas guidance here: https://design.gitlab.com/usability/contextual-help

Often we call things "known issues" or "limitations" when really they are just how the product works in the current release. You can sometimes call these things prerequisites instead.

This short video shows you how to "make lemons into lemonade."

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/topic_types/reference.html#reference-topic-titles

This video shows an exercise for paring down information and documenting multiple UI fields at once.

Related style guide topic: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/styleguide/#documenting-multiple-fields-at-once

Fiona, Evan, and Rupert discuss the role of a Technical Writer at GitLab. We cover onboarding, tips for interviewing, and how the role at GitLab is different from other Tech Writer positions.

Useful links:

Values - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/values/
Technical Writer handbook - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/

Slide deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSz3rQf2KKQ9Sec2iXeatyy3MY-pHKvEF236EK616gjMfWI5ztSlSSdIA7ipLmmiLHp0Po5YtvrYyDU/pub

Manage & Plan
UX Showcase - Dec. 1st, 2021

This video summarizes the main findings from survey research on the GitLab Doc site conducted in September 2021.

Reviews topic types: concepts, tasks, references, troubleshooting (CTRT).

Session 1 is an introduction to this class. More information:
https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/fundamentals/

Session 2 reviews additional grammar and style requirements.

More information:
https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/fundamentals/

Reviews even more grammar and style requirements and linting. More information:
https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/fundamentals/

A walkthrough of how I began editing a docs page to implement clearer topic types and remove extraneous words.
More about topic types: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/structure.html
More about GitLab style: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/styleguide/

Marcel Amirault, Technical Writer at GitLab, Verify meets with Nadia Sotnikova, Product Designer at Verify:Pipeline Authoring to discuss the upcoming improvements to CI/CD documentation.


- What are the problems with GitLab CI/CD documentation
- What improvements are we making
- How Technical Writing and UX collaborate to make GitLab CI/CD magic


Learn more about GitLab CI/CD: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/

GitLab Technical Writer Manager, Craig Norris, discusses a recent content audit of our documentation site (https://docs.gitlab.com/).

Craig Norris talks about the recent audit of our documentation site (https://docs.gitlab.com/).