Technical writers and the companies they work for all over the world have a growing demand for good technical English content. Technical documentation has always been a vital part of maintenance operations, for example, but as businesses reach out to new revenue streams, the end-users of documentation become more and more international. This is where simplified English comes in handy.
The STE specification (Simplified Technical English) is the best way to make technical information easy to understand for both native and non-native readers of English. It does not allow complex or obscure expressions.
User-friendliness with HyperSTE
When a writer has to comply with Simplified Technical English, it creates difficulties. It is hard to remember all the parts of the STE standard, its dictionary of about 3000 words and its 60+ writing rules.
But Etteplan’s HyperSTE checker tool comes to the rescue. It is very easy to use, checks style and grammar against STE guidelines on the fly and provides immediate feedback. It gives insight into issues that the writer should focus on to improve the results. Users can also build custom dictionaries.
HyperSTE helps in implementing the famous KISS principle coined by the US military in the 1960s: “Keep it simple, stupid”. It solves the writer’s challenge to avoid complexity and write texts that are easy to digest. Even translations are easier, cheaper and faster to do and understand.
User-centricity for all by default
End-users of technical documentation need content that is more user-centric. It is important for them to perform their job well and without unnecessary delays. However, the sad fact is that often technical information is complex and includes irrelevant information.
HyperSTE addresses the trend for user-centricity, and it results in end-user efficiency. It diminishes the cognitive load because its very idea is to secure easy understanding. Indirectly, it boosts safe product use.
Measure and manage content production easily
Managers in charge of technical documentation are looking for metrics in content production and management. HyperSTE addresses this demand in multiple ways. Managers, as well as technical writers, can generate reports and ratings about text quality and STE compliance with just a couple of mouse clicks. HyperSTE ensures that technical information is coherent.
For administrators, HyperSTE’s new SaaS solution includes valuable new features. There is centralized user and license management in the cloud portal, where administrators can also manage and configure multiple dictionaries, terminology and sentence databases.
Enjoy the benefits of cloud
Technical documentation tools for STE must follow the trend in IT, and become available as SaaS, or software-as-a-service in the cloud. It makes the software fast, easy and affordable to deploy compared to traditional licensing. This is why we created a SaaS-version for our popular HyperSTE tool.
HyperSTE’s SaaS version is the world’s first cloud-based STE compliant checker software for technical documentation. With over 600 technical writers, we use HyperSTE ourselves on a daily basis when writing content for our customers. HyperSTE is available for any size organization in any industry as well as for individual users.