Your App is Finished - Now What?

If you plan to let other people use your no-code app there's something else you need to do once you finished testing. You understand what the app does and how to use it but your potential users are going to need a little guidance - and so will you in 6 months. So what do you need to tell someone about how the software works and how do you go about doing that?

The answer of course is documentation but exactly what documentation do you need? Documentation explains the "why" behind how you constructed your app, so it's a good idea to start with a "concept" section. A concept page gives an overview of your app so the user understands the purpose of the app and what it can do for them. This part of the documentation will include a written explanation of the app, but it may also incorporate screen shots, workflow diagrams, and even short videos about the overall design of the app.

Along with the overview you will probably need several sections that cover the different tasks the user has to carry out in order to use the app. For an inventory app for example, the user needs to know how to add, change and delete vendors, how to enter items received and sold, and how to keep track of quantities on hand and on order. Again, screen captures and flow diagrams can be useful in explaining how to carry out a certain task, but it's not necessary to explain everything in painstaking detail.

The details involved in each of the app's functions are best shown in tutorials. Tutorial pages are generally used to show how the different parts of your app work together. Stay focused on the overall picture you're trying to present and don't get too detailed about any particular feature - that's the purpose of the task pages.

OK, that's the basics of how you can structure your documentation. You can create docs like this with many different products ranging from Microsoft Word to Google Docs to apps specifically designed for software documentation. One way to make the process easier though, is to find or develop a set of templates that you can use to build your user guide. You don't want to have to start from a blank screen each time. By the way, if you're building your own templates however, make them as complete as you can. It's much easier to remove unnecessary parts of a template that to try to squeeze in a new section or added material. 

A final word - always leave comments and notes inside your app itself when appropriate. Sometimes you need to insert reminders about something you did and why that doesn't really belong in a user guide. A few platforms provide a specific way to add comments - with others you can always do something like entering your note in a text box element and then hiding that element in the live view.