Presented August 11, 2025 at the Support Driven Expo
Whether you’re writing for an internal knowledge base or a user-facing help center, it gets complicated pretty quickly. One way to simplify your content efforts with maximum impact? Clearly define the types of articles you’re creating based on their purpose.
My talk details my approach to article typing, outlining 6 core article types alongside how to determine which one(s) should be used in different scenarios. The approach forces more intention on the authoring process, which actually streamlines both authoring and maintenance of your content, improves the user experience, AND it seems to help quite a bit with machine learning tools too.
Talk resources:
Slide deck
Article decision tree
Adapted Diátaxis
Article graphics
These graphics serve as loose examples for how certain article types and templates might look. Always remember, these will likely need to vary based on your needs, or your CMS in the very least!
This is only part of the bigger picture…
Article types are incredibly important, but remember that when it comes to structure, they only make up a portion of the bigger picture. To really optimize support content for your users and machine learning tools, it’s important to consider the other structures that make up the experience.
How you can learn more about my approach to structure!
I plan to publish more on this soon, but you can also find a detailed breakdown of my approach to structure in my course, Fundamentals of Support Content, published in partnership with the UX Content Collective. I’d love for you to check it out! (This is a shameless sales pitch and the best way to support my work right now :)
Please feel free to connect or contact me if you have any questions!
