Content Enhancement Tools
Once you've structured your document in Markdown and committed it via Git, your work isn't quite done. You need a final layer of polish. This is where specialized writing tools come in, helping you enforce style, check clarity, and stamp out grammatical errors.
The best tools for technical writers automate the tedious checks so you can focus on complex concepts.
1. Grammar and Spell Checkers
These tools are the baseline for professional communication. They catch the obvious mistakes that even seasoned writers miss during a fast review.
| Tool | Focus | Key Feature for Tech Writers |
|---|---|---|
| Grammarly | General grammar, tone, and clarity. | Browser extension that works across almost all web interfaces (GitHub, Hosted CMS, etc.). |
| Microsoft Editor | Grammar, spelling, and style suggestions within the Microsoft Office suite. | Deep integration with Word/Outlook for writers who frequently draft non-Markdown content. |
| ProWritingAid | In-depth analysis of style, readability, and repetitive wording. | Offers detailed readability scores (like Flesch-Kincaid), great for optimizing user comprehension. |
In technical writing, correctness is more important than flair. While these tools might suggest a synonym for a technical term, always prioritize consistency over variety. If the API calls it a "Widget ID," don't let Grammarly change it to a "Gizmo Identifier."
2. Style Guide Enforcement (Linting)
This is the next level of professionalism. Linting tools check your content against a codified set of rules, ensuring you use consistent terminology, heading case, and punctuation across your entire documentation set.
The goal is to maintain a unified voice and style, making the content feel like it was written by one entity, not twenty different people.
Vale (The Technical Writer’s Linter)
Vale is the most popular open-source tool for documentation linting.
- How it Works: Vale runs checks based on custom style guides (like the Microsoft Writing Style Guide, Google Developer Documentation Style Guide, or your company's own custom rules).
- What it Checks:
- Terms: Flagging non-approved terms (e.g., catching "login" instead of the approved "log in").
- Tone: Identifying passive voice, informal language, or slang.
- Formatting: Enforcing rules like capitalization of headings or avoiding double spaces.
- Integration: It integrates perfectly with your development workflow, often running automatically as part of the CI/CD pipeline when you create a Pull Request on GitHub. If your doc breaks a style rule, the build fails.
3. Readability Checkers
A separate function often built into the tools above (like ProWritingAid), readability checkers use algorithms to assess how easy your content is to understand.
| Metric | What it Measures | Why it Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Flesch-Kincaid | Measures grade level based on sentence length and word difficulty. | Most technical docs aim for a Grade 8–10 level to ensure global accessibility. |
| Passive Voice Score | Measures how often sentences use the passive voice ("the error was found"). | Active voice ("you will find the error") is clearer and more direct, which is vital in instructions. |
| Long Sentences | Counts sentences over a specific length (e.g., 20 words). | Long sentences introduce complexity and can obscure instructions. |
When you write procedural steps, always try to keep your average sentence length under 15 words. Your users are performing an action, and they need immediate clarity.
4. Link Checkers
Nothing screams unprofessionalism like a broken link. As documentation platforms are updated and file names change, old links often become invalid.
- Tools: Most Static Site Generators (Docusaurus, MkDocs) have built-in link checkers that run during the build process.
- Function: They crawl the site's generated pages and verify that every internal link (
../setup.mdx) and external link (https://example.com) returns a valid status (HTTP 200).
By integrating a linter (like Vale) and a strong grammar checker (like Grammarly) into your workflow, you create a robust safety net that elevates the quality and consistency of your technical content.