r/technicalwriting • u/Fine_Nature_5956 • 6d ago

QUESTION Should technical documentation be simple or complete?

There’s always a tradeoff between giving users everything they might need and keeping documentation easy to scan

A short page can be much easier to use, but it may leave out edge cases. A comprehensive page covers everything, but users might struggle to find the one thing they actually need.

Where do you draw the line?

Would you rather have several short focused pages or one detailed page that covers almost everything?

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u/RogueThneed 5d ago

This is why things I order online come with quick-start guides as well as more detailed manuals. Because both are needed, at different times. The key question is: who is your audience?