Authoring formats

DITA

• LearningDITA - Nine game-based courses for DITA beginners, developed and maintained by Scriptorium.
• DITA for the Impatient - Short DITA tutorial to teach the basics of DITA, developed by Hussein Shafie at XMLmind Software.
• DITA-aware XML editor
• DITA Best Practices: A Roadmap for Writing, Editing, and Architecting in DITA - A practical book about how to write effective technical information in DITA, published in 2011 by IBM Press (paid resource).
• The DITA Style Guide: Best Practices for Authors - Written in DITA 1.1 by Tony Self.
• DITA Mini Manual - Mini owner's manual that published in 1960s rewritten in DITA.
• DITA Version 1.3 - The latest official specifications for DITA, which was released on Jun 19, 2018.
• Lightweight DITA: An Introduction Version 1.0 - The Committee Note 02 for Lightweight DITA, which was approved on Oct 30, 2018.
• Lightweight DITA Specification - The official repository for source files of the Lightweight DITA specification developed and maintained by the Lightweight DITA Subcommittee.
• Pilot Training Mitchell Bomber - A pilot training manual (aviation document) rewritten in DITA.
• LwDITA Code Samples - Various manuals of a 1970s computer rewritten in Lightweight DITA.
• DITA Glossary Example - A book named On Yacht Sailing rewritten in DITA to demonstrate how to implement glossaries.
• DITA Specification - The official repository for the source files of the DITA specification developed and maintained by the DITA Technical Committee.
• DITA Specializations - The official repository for DITA specializations that were developed by the DITA Technical Committee, but are no longer part of the DITA standard.
• DITA 101 Guide - Introductory document to DITA, produced by IBM.
• Jorsek's Technical Content Development Guide - Developed by the maker of Heretto CCMS.
• DITA Style Guide - Source code for The DITA Style Guide: Best Practices for Authors, written by Tony Self.
• BTS Manual - User manual of Berlin Text System written in DITA.
• DITA Open Toolkit Documentation - Source code for the DITA-OT documentation.
• Oxygen XML User Guide - Source code for the Oxygen XML documentation.
• DITA 结构化写作指南：基于 Oxygen XML Author 和 GitLab 的技术文档开发实践 - Practical DITA best practices in Chinese for technical documentation teams that are new to DITA and Oxygen XML Author.
• LearningDITA - Nine game-based courses for DITA beginners, developed and maintained by Scriptorium.

Markdown

• Markdown Guide - Concise, bare-bones guide for Markdown beginners.
• John Gruber's Markdown Documentation
• Dillinger - In-browser Markdown editor. It can create new files, export files to Markdown, HTML, or PDF, synchronize with GitHub, Google Drive, or Dropbox repositories, etc.
• StackEdit - In-browser Markdown editor with rich functions. It can create new files or folders, export the files to Markdown or HTML, synchronize with GitHub, Google Drive, or Dropbox accounts, etc.
• the controversy over Markdown
• GitHub Docs: Writing on GitHub - Basic Markdown syntax supported on GitHub.
• GitHub Flavored Markdown Specification
• Markdown DITA Syntax - Markdown syntax supported by DITA Open Toolkit, which is the most commonly used engine for DITA publishing.
• MDITA Syntax - Markdown syntax for Lightweight DITA supported by DITA Open Toolkit, which is the most commonly used engine for DITA publishing.
• Pandoc's Markdown - Markdown syntax of Pandoc, a universal document converter, which can convert between various formats.
• kramdown Quick Reference - Markdown syntax of kramdown, which is the default Markdown parser for Jekyll.
• Awesome Markdown
• Markdown Table Maker - An extension to generate Markdown tables in an easy and intuitive way.
• Markdown PDF - An extension to convert Markdown files to PDF, PNG, JPEG, or HTML.
• Markdown Preview Enhanced - An extension to enrich Markdown features in Atom and VS Code, featuring the integration of Pandoc.
• Markdown语法中心 - One-stop resource for Markdown syntax learning and quick reference.
• Markdown All in One - An extension to enrich Markdown features in VS Code, such as automatic creation of table of contents, auto completions, printing Markdown files to HTML.

reStructuredText

• Visual Studio Code (VS Code) - Code editor developed by Microsoft.
• Introduction to reStructuredText
• A ReStructuredText Primer - Informal introduction to reStructuredText, authored by Richard Jones.
• reStructuredText Primer - Brief introduction to reStructuredText in Sphinx documentation.
• Online reStructuredText editor
• Quick reStructuredText - Online cheat sheet for reStructuredText syntax.
• reStructuredText Markup Specification - Detailed technical specification for reStructuredText, authored by David Goodger.
• reStructuredText - An extension to provide rich reStructuredText language support in VS Code.
• reStructuredText Syntax Highlighting - An extension to provide rich syntax highlighting and non-intrusive section navigation for reStructuredText in VS Code.
• reStructuredText Cheatsheet - Downloadable two-page cheat sheet for reStructuredText syntax.

S1000D

• S1000D Specifications - All versions of official specifications for S1000D.
• ATA Spec 1000BR: Civil Aviation Business Rules for S1000D - An implementation of S1000D specification in civil aviation industry, which can not be accessd for free.
• S1000D DIG Business Rules - An implementation of S1000D specification in the defense industry.
• The Shipdex Protocol: Issue 2.3 - An implementation of S1000D specification in the shipping industry.
• ATA Spec 1000BR: Civil Aviation Business Rules for S1000D - An implementation of S1000D specification in civil aviation industry (paid resources).
• The Shipdex Protocol: Issue 2.3 - An implementation of S1000D specification in the shipping industry.

Content accessibility

Introductory materials

• European Accessibility Act: A Guide to Compliance - Explains the requirements in the European Accessibility Act that companies must comply with and the compliance deadlines.
• 信息无障碍研究会：无障碍生活指南 - Survey report on barriers to accessibility in our daily life, latest accessibility technologies and recommendations on further improvements.
• Microsoft accessibility resources - Accessibility training courses, accessible design approaches and tools and other resources developed by Microsoft.
• IBM accessibility resources - IBM accessibility design tools, IBM Accessibility Requirements, Accessibility Conformance Report of IBM products, and other resources developed by IBM.

Laws and regulations

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended - Federal civil rights law of United States that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in everyday activities.
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 508 - Accessibility requirements for the federal government and all federal agencies of United States to use electronic and information technology.
• 美国508无障碍法案 - Chinese version of Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 508.
• European Accessibility Act: Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services
• Accessibility of products and services - Summary of European Accessibility Act.
• 中华人民共和国无障碍环境建设法 - Accessibility law in China which regulates the construction of accessible facilities, accessible information exchanges, social services, and so on.
• 美国508无障碍法案 - Chinese version of Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 508.

Standards and specifications

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - International standard to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.
• Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) - International standard for developers to make authoring tools more accessible to people with disabilities and more convenient to create accessible web content.
• User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) - International standard to make browsers, browser extensions, media players and other applications more accessible to people with disabilities.
• 信息技术：互联网内容无障碍可访问性技术要求与测试方法 (GB/T 37668-2019) - China's recommended standard for the technical requirements and the conformance testing of web content accessibility.
• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) - International technical specification to improve the accessibility and interoperability of web content and applications.

Knowledge sharing

Blogs

• I'd Rather Be Writing - Tom Johnson, a technical writer at Google, writes about API documentation, AI, and other topics about technical writing.
• DITA Writer - Keith Schengili-Roberts, a senior manager for technical documentation at AMD, writes about DITA and technical writing community.
• Just Write Click - Anne Gentle, the director of developer experience at Cisco DevNet and the book author of Doc Like Code, writes about her books, interviews, experience and insights about technical writing.
• Everything Technical Writing - Linda Ikechukwu, a technical writer transitioned from a frontend developer, writes about what she learned and experienced as a technical writer in the software industry.
• James' Coffee Blog - James Gallagher, a technical writer at Roboflow (a computer vision startup), writes about her daily work as a technical writer.
• 技术传播百态说 - Yedda Wang, a technical writer with solid manufacturing industry experience, shares insights on technical writing, software and tools, technical illustrations, and more.

Podcasts

• Write the Docs Podcast - Discussions related to software documentation between members of the Write the Docs community.
• I'd Rather Be Writing Podcasts - Tom Johnson, a technical writer at Google, records his interviews, presentation recordings, individual monologues, etc.

Professional communications

Conferences

• DITA Europe (February 17-18, 2025) - Two days of on-site event with focus on trends, content management solutions and best practices of technical content and DITA (paid ticket necessary).
• ConVEx San Jose (April 7-9, 2025) - Three days of hybrid event in San Jose, California (previously named DITA North America), with focus on content strategy related to DITA (paid ticket necessary).
• Write the Docs Portland (May 4-6, 2025) - Three days of on-site event with focus on software documentation and community.
• Archives of Write the Docs Conferences
• tcworld China (May 22-23, 2025) - Two days of on-site event with focus on the development and challenges of technical communication in China (paid ticket necessary).
• Evolution of TC (May 27-28, 2025) - Two days of on-site event with focus on innovations in software documentation.
• Adobe DITAWORLD (June 3-5, 2025) - Three days of online event hosted by Adobe to showcase the trends, new features, customer stories, and best practices of Adobe's software suite related to technical documentation.
• tcworld Conference (November 11-13, 2025) - Three days of on-site event with diverse topics and professionals in technical communication from all over the world (paid ticket necessary).
• XML Prague (June 6-8, 2024) - Three days of on-site event with focus on markup and semantics on web books and ebooks and printed books, recent advances in XML technologies, and XML technologies for big data.
• ConVEx IDEAS (September 9-11, 2024) - Three days of online event with focus on industry trends rather than just one topic (paid ticket necessary).
• Write the Docs Portland (May 3-5, 2026) - Three days of on-site event with focus on software documentation and community.
• Adobe DITAWORLD 2026 (June 23-25, 2026) - Three days of online event hosted by Adobe to showcase the trends, new features, customer stories, and best practices of Adobe's software suite related to technical documentation.
• Adobe DITAWORLD 2026 大会总结 - A comprehensive Chinese summary of Adobe DITAWORLD 2026.

Webinars

• The Content Wrangler - BrightTALK channel for content management, with more than 70k subscribers.
• The Content Wrangler - BrightTALK channel for content management, with more than 70k subscribers.

Professional communications and knowledge sharing

Webinars

• Quark

Technical illustrations

Readability checkers

• Technical Illustration in the 21st Century: A Primer for Today's Professionals - White paper produced by Bettina Giemsa at PTC.
• The State of Technical Illustration and Documentation - Survey report on technical illustration and documentation market, conducted by Corel in 2022.
• Arbortext IsoDraw Data Sheet - Commercial software for technical illustrations, developed by PTC.
• SOLIDWORKS Composer - Commercial software for technical illustrations, developed by SolidWorks.
• XVL Studio 3D CAD Corel Edition - Commercial software for technical illustrations, developed by CorelDRAW.
• XVL Technical Illustration Suite - A suite of commercial software for technical illustrations, developed by Lattice Technology.
• RapidIllustrator - Commercial software for 3D illustrations, developed by Cortona3D.

Technical writing

Courses for beginners

• Google Technical Writing Courses for Engineers - Practical technical writing course for beginners, with examples and metaphors familiar to programmers.
• Google Technical Writing Courses for Engineers
• Coursera: Introduction to Technical Writing - Systematic introduction to technical writing, including the features, workflow, software and tools, history and futures, etc.
• GitLab Technical Writing Fundamentals Course - four introductory videos about the topic types, grammars, and style requirements for GitLab documentation.

Dictionaries

• American Heritage Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Editorial style guides for technical writing

• Google Technical Writing Courses for Engineers
• ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English - An international specification widely used in the aerospace and defense industry and other manufacturing industries, containing a set of writing rules and a controlled dictionary.
• The IBM Style Guide - First published by IBM Press in 2011. It emphasizes a helpful, direct, and authoritative tone and topic-based writing (DITA).
• Red Hat Technical Writing Style Guide - For all kinds of technical documentation, including training and examination content. It emphasizes a formal writing style, with the IBM Style Guide as the preferred reference.
• Microsoft Writing Style Guide - For computer technology and software documentation. It emphasizes a warm and relaxed conversational voice.
• Google Developer Documentation Style Guide - For software documentation. It emphasizes a casual and natural conversational tone with specific format recommendations for HTML and Markdown.
• SUSE Documentation Style Guide - For software documentation. It emphasizes a professional tone and comprehensive markup reference for DocBook.
• Apple Style Guide - For Apple materials, nothing special.
• Red Hat Supplementary Style Guide for Product Documentation - Supplementary to the IBM Style Guide. It provides format examples in AsciiDoc.
• ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English - International standard widely used in the aerospace and defense industry and other manufacturing industries, containing a set of writing rules and a controlled dictionary.
• NASA Technical Documentation Style Guide - Technical writing and formatting conventions for formal documents (books) and engineering documents prepared for or by Kennedy Space Center.
• Microsoft Localization Style Guide - Translation and style conventions for 78 languages in computer technology and software documentation.
• A Guide to Technical Writing - The first style guide for technical writing in the world, by Thomas Arthur Rickard in 1908.

General purpose editorial style guides

• University of Oxford Style Guide Quick Reference - One-page quick reference guide with the most commonly requested information.
• University of Oxford Style Guide - Thirty-page style guide for writing and formatting documents consistently.
• AMA Manual of Style - For medical and scientific publishing. It has been published continuously since 1962 and now is in its 11th edition (subscription required).
• The Elements of Style - Classic book on principles of plain English style, by William Strunk, JR in 1918.
• The Elements of Style: Fourth Edition

Readability checkers

• Free Readability Checker - For web pages (URL) and texts.
• Readability Formulas - For documents (.txt, .pdf, or .docx) and texts.
• Wordcalc - For texts only.

Textbooks and tutorials

• Software Technical Writing: A Guidebook - A technical writer at a computer vision startup writes about her daily work in every detail.
• Documentation APIs: A Guide for Technical Writers and Engineers - Tom Johnson, a senior technical writer at Google and the founder of the I’d Rather Be Writing blog, teaches you how to write API documentation step by step.
• Software Documentation Guide - Living guide around best practices for creating software documentation, developed and maintained by the Write the Docs community.
• Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors - One of the must-read books for technical writers. It demonstrates technical writing guidelines with original and revision examples, published by IBM Press.
• Open Technical Communication - Open textbook in its 4th rendition, authored by five professionals at Kennesaw State University.

Writing assistant software

• Grammarly - Online grammar checker that automatically evaluates writing quality.
• QuillBot - Online grammar checker and rewriting tool.
• LanguageTool - AI-based spelling, style and grammar checker.
• ChatGPT - AI chatbot developed by OpenAI.
• Tongyi Qianwen - ChatGPT-like chatbot developed by Alibaba, one of China's largest technology companies.
• 通义千问 - AI chatbot developed by Alibaba, one of China's largest technology companies.
• DeepSeek - Free and open-source AI chatbot with same performance to OpenAI's o1 model, developed by Chinese AI company DeepSeek.

Text processing

PowerShell

• PowerShell 101 - Book for PowerShell beginners. Its content is open to public by Microsoft on its website.
• Everything You Want to Know about … - A series of articles about PowerShell, collected from the PowerShell Explained blog by Microsoft.
• PowerShell Documentation - The official documentation for PowerShell 7.4.
• Awesome PowerShell

Regular expressions

• Regular Expressions: The Complete Tutorial - Easy-to-understand and practical book for regex beginners.
• Regex 101 - Online tool to build, test and debug regexes.
• RegExr - Online tool to learn, build and test regexes.
• Regular Expression Language: Quick Reference - Quick reference for regexes from Microsoft.
• Regular Expression Syntax Cheat Sheet - Cheat sheet for regexes in the JavaScript Guide from MDN Web Docs.
• Pyrexp - Online tool to visualize, test and debug Python regexes.

XSL

• XSLT Tutorial - For XSLT beginners. It was developed by W3Schools.
• XSLT Version 2.0: Second Edition - The latest official specification for XSLT, released on Mar 30, 2021.
• XSLT Version 3.0 - The official specification for XSLT 3.0, released on Jun 8, 2017.
• XPath Tutorial - For XPath beginners. It was developed by W3Schools.
• XPath 3.1 - The latest official specification for XPath, released on Mar 21, 2017.
• XSL-FO Tutorial - For XSL-FO beginners. It was developed by W3Schools.
• XSL-FO Tutorial - Learn-by-example tutorial for XSL-FO beginners. It provides a series of examples working in XEP.
• XSL Version 1.1 - The lastest official specification for XSL-FO, released on Dec 05, 2006.
• XPath Tester - Online tool to test and debug XPath.

Version control

PowerShell

• Pro Git - Complete and practical textbook with graphic illustration to teach Git fast and well (available on the Git website).
• Learn Git - Short tutorial to teach Git basics, by Microsoft.
• Git Cheat Sheets - Cheat sheets of common Git commands in 20+ languages, by GitHub.
• Git Reference - Official reference manual of Git.
• Git Cheat Sheet - Visualized cheat sheet of common Git commands.