Embedding HD video screencasts into a WordPress blog is something I've been trying to figure out. The HD quality is key because it allows me to compress the file into a small space without the video looking fuzzy -- a necessity for screencasts with small text. I also like the idea of showing video content directly where the reader is, rather than displaying the video in a popup or secondary window. I learned that if you upgrade your space...
Each social media site has its own badge. If you participate in a handful of them -- Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Tripit, etc -- it can be cumbersome to manage all your social media profiles and badges. DandyID.org is a site that helps you manage your social identities. It contains a list of 300+ social media services with profile fields for each. DandyID You enter your profile links for the services you participate in. Then you simply a...
This short film on youtube called "Validation" mesmerized me. If we applied these "validation" techniques to our interactions with SMEs, designers, and project managers, our world would certainly be different. The lead actor in the short film is TJ Thyne, the chemist on Bones.
Sometimes the audience for my help consists of seniors in the range of 60 to 85 years old. The other night I attended an orientation session with users to introduce them to a new application we were releasing. As part of the orientation, I observed first-hand the challenges that seniors have with computers. Here are a few user interface problems: Calendar picker tools are tough to navigate, since the forward and back links are small. In...
If you're in Utah, come check out Podcamp SLC on Friday, March 27 at Neumont University, South Jordan. I'll be presenting on "Interviewing Remote and Local Guests for Podcasts." Here's a description of my presentation: Interviewing is an art — one that can enable you to generate high-quality content for your podcast with little effort on your part, if you can find the right guest and ask the right questions. Connecting with another profe...
Listen here: This is the second half of the Blogging for Technical Communicators webinar that I gave to the STC-Rocky Mountain chapter on February 19, 2009. Here's the accompanying PowerPoint visual. Note: Make sure you listen to Part 1 first. Otherwise you'll come into this podcast in media res. Topics covered in this half of the podcast include the following: How Your Audience Consumes Blog Information Key Elements of...
Listen here: This podcast is a recording of the Blogging for Technical Communicators webinar that I gave to the STC-Rocky Mountain chapter on February 19, 2009. I split the recording into two parts due to length. This first half covers the following four topics: The Blog as an Expected Format Why Bother to Blog? Search Engine Optimization: The #1 Perceived Value of Blogging The Most Difficult Part of Blogging: Generati...
STC Speaker's Registry | Find experts fast. Cool new database of speakers that chapters can use to find speakers for their chapter meetings. Note that this is a prototype only. I don't know if the information it contains will be migrated to the released version or what.
Frustration The other day I came home to find Jane rather frustrated at the computer. She'd just ordered $40 worth of books from Half.com, but realized -- two weeks after completing the order -- that they were sent to an old email address with an unknown shipping address. The half.com address was apparently a Windows Live ID, but she couldn't remember any login information about it, nor could she retrieve the password, so she was having a...
One of the fundamental aspects of quick reference guides is knowing when to create them. A few weeks ago I was assigned to a small project team working on a relatively simple application, and I pitched the idea of several role-based quick reference guides for the help content. I showed samples from other projects, and the project team agreed it was what they wanted. Soon after, I started designing the help content for the application. I b...
Quick reference guides 1.0 Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing 1.1 Quick Reference Guide Formats -- Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts 1.2 → STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation" ...
This article is a guest post by Daniel Ng. Daniel is part of a small team with an in-house translator. They translate their own English Flare help projects to Simplified Chinese with Madcap Lingo and have been using Madcap Lingo since version 1. Madcap Lingo -- A Fully Integrated Translation Memory and Authoring Solution Madcap Lingo is Madcap's offering in the XML-based translation authoring solution space. As a translation memory system...
CSS-Tricks #1: Converting a Photoshop Mockup (part 1 of 3).
InDesignSecrets. This is a cool site -- lots of tips and tricks if you use InDesign. And it has an extensive and regular podcast.
This week I caught up with Debbie Campbell, a Colorado web designer and developer and the owner of Red Kite Creative, and asked her about the latest trends in web design. I've been following Debbie on Twitter for a while. This week she posted a few tweets about web design and WordPress, so I asked her to share a little more. In the projects you take on, how common is it for websites to integrate a blog? Are there any trends you're observ...
