Like any other document, the design of your knowledge base is incredibly important. Customers want answers to their questions quickly, and your task is not only to write clear content for your knowledge base but also to design it thoroughly. Here, I gathered some tips on knowledge base design.

• Think over the place. The content of knowledge base should be in one place. If the types of content are different, think over the structure but topics should not be in the different parts of your website. Here is an example of good knowledge base — ClickHelp Knowledge Base — one website but at the same time it contains different types of content
• Clear content categories. Sort your content by categories to make navigation and answer finding easier.

• Add the search field. Your users want to get answers immediately, and if you knowledge base is too big, add the search field to help your customers find what they need.

• Add the “suggest an article” button. Of course, you can’t predict what your users will need, so be open for suggestions – ad the button to allow your customers to say what they need. Also, it’s a good idea to add some popular articles to provide quick access.

• Keep titles short. Nowadays, when people want to get information fast, nobody likes to read. So, knowledge base is not a place where you can try yourself as a stand-up comic. Create crisp and clear titles that will help users but not puzzle them.
• FAQ matters. To make the navigation easier, create a FAQ for your knowledge base where you’ll provide your users with the topic links.
• Consider colors and fonts. Don’t forget about content design. Text should be optimized according to the main accessibility guidelines. You can learn more here: Accessibility and Technical Writing.

Conclusion

However, keep in mind that you should not overdo — just clear documentation with strong content categorization will definitely work well.

Ann Green, Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors