Automating product documentation
It’s been a while since I last posted here, but as you can see, I’ve been busy building. I just haven’t gotten around to writing about what’s been happening, like the studio name change from Particle Shift Labs to Crystal Bridge. That’s a story for another day.
Speaking of, Crystal Bridge is a one-person studio, for the moment, and it’s something I’m doing out of a genuine passion for crafting digital experiences. However, running an indie studio comes with a lot of “glue work”: essential, often unrecognised tasks that support customer success, marketing and compliance. Things like documenting product features, processes and customer support.
One of the most important tasks for a business offering digital products and services is written user documentation, and to be honest, it’s my least favourite. When illustrating ideas, new features and acceptance criteria for QA, I prefer sending screenshots, Figma prototypes or walkthrough GIFs and videos.
Shout out to Cap (an open source Screen Studio/Loom alternative) and Gifsky (a free GIF creation tool)
These formats are great and efficient when communicating with a small team or a few alpha/beta users, but for larger, more diverse audiences, written documentation is preferred, and it also pays off with SEO benefits.
Like the problem solver that I am, I decided to take on the challenge and automate 80% of the drudgery by turning screen recordings into detailed documentation with contextual screenshots. This is how Easy Scribe came to be.
Easy Scribe automates the hard parts of the documentation process and lets you focus on the fun parts, like adding perspective and filling in missing details.
I’ve been using Easy Scribe for client work and to document Easy Scribe itself. You can view the generated documentation here, built using Docusaurus and the markdown content generated using Easy Scribe. Beyond that, it’s been useful for creating acceptance criteria for QA and testing.
Easy Scribe is one of the most exciting projects I am currently working on at Crystal Bridge and I’d love your feedback. Try it out here: https://www.easyscribe.guide/