Within the world of technical writing, authoring tools play a crucial role in the process of creating documentation in the context of "Docs as Code". These tools offer the technical writer a range of functions, features and capabilities to streamline the documentation creation process, produce high-quality content, and improve overall efficiency.
Authoring tools, typically enable writers to compose, edit, format and style their documentation content using features that include font styles, headings, lists, tables, inserting diagrams, and managing text styles.
We are going to take a closer look at the following authoring tools:
Contributions for Notepad++ and Paligo were made by D'vorah Sorrels. Wix Profile
Contributions for MS Word and Flare were made by Natanya Da Costa. Wix Profile
| Tool | Link | Open-Source or Proprietary | Description | Learning Curve | OS System |
| Notepad++ | Notepad++ | Open-Source | Code and text editor | Easy to moderate | Windows |
| Paligo | Paligo | Proprietary | Cloud-based Component Content Management System (CCMS) | Easy | All major operating systems |
| MadCap Flare | MadCap Software | Proprietary | Technical writing software | Steep | Windows |
| MS Word | Microsoft | Proprietary | Word processor | Easy to moderate | Windows |