Editing Software documentation (section)

==== Composing user documentation ====
Like other forms of technical documentation, good user documentation benefits from an organized process of development. In the case of user documentation, the process as it commonly occurs in industry consists of five steps:<ref>Thomas T. Barker, [http://www.writingsoftwaredocumentation.com/index.htm Writing Software Documentation], Preface, xxiv. Part of the [[Allyn & Bacon]] Series in Technical Communication, 2nd ed. [[Upper Saddle River, New Jersey|Upper Saddle River]]: [[Pearson Education]], 2003. {{ISBN|0321103289}} {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513033153/http://www.writingsoftwaredocumentation.com/index.htm |date=May 13, 2013 }}</ref>

# [[User analysis]], the basic research phase of the process.<ref>Barker, pg. 118.</ref>
# Planning, or the actual documentation phase.<ref>Barker, pg. 173.</ref>
# Draft review, is a self-explanatory phase where feedback is sought on the draft composed in the previous step.<ref>Barker, pg. 217.</ref>
# [[Usability testing]], whereby the usability of the document is tested empirically.<ref>Barker, pg. 240.</ref>
# [[Editing]], is the final step in which the information collected in steps three and four is used to produce the final draft.