Enabling Writers to Use jQuery Selectors for Targeted Whatfix Content
Overview
To empower a non-technical documentation team to design smarter in-app help content, I created a training resource on identifying jQuery selectors. This helped the team take ownership of Whatfix’s display logic and better understand how digital adoption content works under the hood.
🧩 The Problem
As Senior Technical Writer and Whatfix Lead at Consensus Cloud Solutions, I’m responsible for helping our writers transition from traditional documentation to embedded, just-in-time microcontent.
One roadblock: customizing Whatfix content display requires identifying specific HTML elements using jQuery or CSS selectors — something our team had no prior experience with. We work asynchronously, so I needed to build a self-guided resource that:
- Taught basic selector identification
- Introduced the fundamentals of reading HTML
- Enabled team members to work independently on display rules
💡 My Solution
I created a detailed, step-by-step guide that walks writers through:
- Opening developer tools
- Reading HTML and identifying elements
- Writing and testing jQuery selectors
- Applying those selectors in Whatfix display rules
The guide was intentionally written to slow down the process, giving writers hands-on experience rather than offering a shortcut. I reinforced this with a series of live workshops.
📈 Results
- Every team member gained the ability to identify and use selectors in Whatfix independently
- I successfully delegated selector-related tasks across the team
- Writers now better understand the structure and delivery logic of Whatfix content, allowing for more advanced content planning
This project demonstrates my ability to teach technical concepts clearly, create scalable internal training, and lead cross-skill capability building within a documentation team.
