Technical writing, a subset of technical communication, is a broad term used to describe specialized correspondence in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Technical writing communicates technical (specialized) information, generally in the form of white papers, these may be printed or printable documentation such as PDF or online help.
The type and form of the produced documentation depends on the needs of the audience and on the documented product. A software application, for example, is usually documented in the form of online help. Online help includes instructions that describe how to
navigate through the application use the application to perform common tasks (workflow) understand each screen in the application and fill out the fields in each screen Other documentation is always delivered in printed or printable form. Disaster recovery procedures, for example, are delivered to the user in printed or printable form because it is assumed that these instructions are only required when a computer system fails (is no longer on line). In such a situation, online documentation would be useless.