To embed video on a web page, you don’t need to upload your video to youtube, vimeo, or some other video sharing service. A lot of times in a corporate setting, uploading your videos to a third-party site isn’t appropriate or allowed. Does this mean you have to resign yourself to a basic WMV output that opens up in the Windows Media Player? No. You … more »

Sometimes I can hardly believe I’ve gotten along for so many years as a technical communicator without a thorough understanding of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Flash. They seem critical to technical communication. Why Illustrator With vector images (which Illustrator allows you to create), your images in quick reference guides will look sharp and crisp. The more quick reference guides I create, the more I realize … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 (to download, right-click and select Save Target As) Length: 43 min. In this podcast, I talk with Ricardo Amigo, a translator and podcaster in Mexico City and Costa Rica, about the field of technical writing. This podcast is more of a reverse interview. Instead of me asking the questions, Ricardo interviews me. The general topic is … more »

The rotating flash tag cloud provides a curious approach to tags, no doubt more novel than useful, but still interesting and somewhat worthwhile. The flash cloud shows only 80 tags (any more and it’s unreadable). You can also create a comprehensive set of tags that function as an index. Both arrangements lack usability. I’m never quite sure what to do with tags. My approach has … more »

TiltViewer Pretty amazing viewer for graphics.

Use FTP? Here’s the Jing Wrapper and Embed Code – Jing Blog.

Understanding SWF versus MPEG-4 Formats in Jing Pro I was confused by the difference between SWF and MPEG-4 before I read this explanation (which includes video examples).

Download MP3 Duration: 15 min. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] In this podcast, Sarah O’Keefe talks about XSL, Flash, and live blogging. XSL (extensible stylesheet language) is a programming language that transforms XML content into a specific format, such as HTML. She explains what you can do with XSL, why it’s unique, and how the output is created.