How to Write a Help Centre Article
One article, one task, one reader who arrived from search mid-problem. The structure that follows from that, the grammar of a numbered step, and the test that proves the article actually works.
Writing help content
The artefacts themselves - articles, FAQs, error pages, release notes - and how to structure each so people can follow them.
7 guides
Free PDF
The Help Article Handbook
All 7 guides on writing help content in a single PDF, plus a one-page checklist to print and a short opener on which three things matter most. Formatted to read on screen or on paper.
How to Write an FAQ Page
An FAQ is a record of questions people actually asked, in the words they asked them. How to source them, answer them in one sentence, and keep the page from becoming a landfill.
How to Document an Error Message
The page has to be found by someone pasting the error into a search box, so the exact string goes in the title. Then: what it means, what causes it, what to do, in that order.
How to Write a Troubleshooting Guide
Start from the symptom the reader can see, order the checks by likelihood rather than by architecture, and make every check answerable yes or no.
How to Write Release Notes
Release notes are for the person deciding whether this release affects them. Lead with the effect, put required actions at the top, and never publish 'various improvements'.
How to Write a Getting Started Guide
Pick the first moment the product does something useful, work backwards to the shortest path to it, and delete everything else. One outcome, one path, one next step.
How to Document a Feature for Non-Technical Users
Translate a feature from what it does internally to what it does for the reader, without dropping the limitations that turn into support tickets three weeks later.
Stop doing it by hand
Writing the article is the easy half. SupportPages drafts them from your codebase and flags them when a merged change makes them wrong.
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