The world is becoming increasingly mobile. But you don’t need me to tell you that. Chances are, you own at least one smartphone and maybe a tablet or other device. And this move to mobile is having an effect on technical communicators.
As I learned during a presentation at DocTrain East 2008, creating and deploying help for a mobile device isn’t as easy as it seems. You need to move away from the tools, techniques, and mindset of desktop or Web-based help and think inside the mobile device.
While mobile has grown by leaps and bounds, it seems that technical communicators are still fumbling in the dark (or, at least a dim light) when it comes to creating user assistance for mobile applications. We’re still molding techniques and best practices, and there’s a real dearth of information on how to create mobile user assistance.
At the Open Help Conference this last June, I ran into Joe Welinske. When he mentioned that he’d written a book about creating help for mobile apps, I got excited. Why? Welinske has been creating help for mobile applications for a while now, and (based on a couple of chats we had in the past) has some great insights into this.
His book, Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps, is a solid primer on the topic. Let’s take a closer look at it.
It’s not uncommon for freelancers to receive some (or even the bulk) of their payments via 
Throughout my career as a technical communicator, I’ve never documented consumer software or devices. My work has always focused on enterprise applications. Even when I did write documentation for PDA software or for the Blackberry, it was in the context of the enterprise.