I write about technical editing. Here’s what I mean when I use the term "technical editing".
Editing online written content about software, hardware, and related technical concepts.
I don’t write about:
- Traditional print publishing
- Book editing
- Video and image editing
- Editing in other technical fields like medical, academic, and scientific editing
The act of editing
In my experience the term "edit" encompasses a variety of actions.
A technical editor will read the content and then might:
- Make direct changes to the text
- Suggest corrections and revisions
- Add commentary
- Check links and verify sources
- Ask questions and seek clarification
- Give praise and celebrate the author
👉 See Types of Technical Editing
Types of content
When I use the phrase "online written content", I mean any short-form or long-form writing for the web. For example:
| Shorter | Longer |
| Social messages | Software documentation |
| Product statements | Community Contributor guides |
| Web page content | White papers |
| Release notes | FAQs |
| READMEs | Blog posts |
| Newsletter introductions | Tutorials |
| Infographics |
Working with a variety of content types requires working with a variety of tools.
👉 See my editing tech stack
The know-how
The word "technical" here refers to having an understanding of technology.
Software is eating the world, and every business is a software business. This means a large portion of content created today is written either by developers or for developers.
A technical editor has domain knowledge. They understand the concepts and vocabulary of the subject matter, while also having the skills to make those concepts clear and understandable to a non-technical reader.
👉 See Putting the "tech" in technical editor
Further Reading
- Field Guide to Technical Editing from Draft.dev
- The Role of the Technical Editor from TechWhirl
- Technical Editing - Chapter 8 of Open Technical Communication
Magnifying glass photo by Steven Wright on Unsplash