I'd Rather Be Writing » SnagIt

Free Copy of Camtasia Studio 7 and Snagit 10

Tom Johnson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:52:26 +0000

Techsmith gave me a free copy of Camtasia Studio 7 and Snagit 10 to give away on my blog. To enter the contest, just leave a comment on this post. In your comment, tell me something interesting about screencasting. It could be a tip, an argument, a story, a scenario, a technique, or whatever. The most interesting comment wins a copy of Camtasia Studio 7. The second most interesting comment wins a copy of Snagit 10. Winners will be announced on Friday, July 16.

Blog Sponsors

Message from the Sponsors (April 27, 2010)

Tom Johnson — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:38:44 +0000

MadCap Software

Thinking Windows, a leading provider of billing software solutions for Australian water authorities, has long embraced MadCap Flare’s single-source publishing to improve efficiencies and eliminate redundancies. But it also uses Flare for its new device-agnostic mobile output — and recently was able to deliver online Help to GPS-enabled mobile devices around Australia in less than 30 days.

“We have long recognized the importance of delivering online documentation to an increasingly mobile workforce,” says Stephen Tearle, director of Thinking Windows. “With Flare 6, for the first time there is a technical communication product on the market for device-agnostic, single-source publishing to handheld and mobile devices. Now instead of carrying around instructional cards, the field operators have easy Web access to the information they need.”

Read the full case study here: Thinking Windows Delivers Mobile Web Help in Less Than 30 Days with MadCap Flare

Scriptorium

Sarah O’Keefe and Matt Arnold will be representing Scriptorium at the STC Summit in Dallas next week. If you’re attending the conference, be sure to visit our booth to meet Sarah and Matt, pick up some chocolate, and get a free copy of our updated white paper compilation, The Compass (while supplies last).

If you’re not attending the STC Summit, you still have a chance to pick up conference swag from us by visiting our virtual booth—a short survey that asks the same questions we ask conference attendees. During the survey, you can also ask us questions about any challenges you’re facing with developing and distributing technical content.

Complete the survey by May 5th (the day the STC Summit ends), and we’ll enter you into a drawing to win one of six copies of The Compass—and the winners get some chocolate, too. No Scriptorium conference booth would be complete without chocolate!

SnagIt

Capture anything you see on the screen. Edit and combine those captures. Share them via your favorite applications. Organize and find them again later. The more you use SnagIt, the more ways you’ll find to use it!

Want to get a laugh? Add a speech balloon to that photo of your cat and fire it off in an instant message.

Need to make an impression at work? Capture that sales chart and point out important details with a sleek-looking arrow. SnagIt can turn a simple screenshot into a powerful information graphic.

SnagIt is versatile, yet surprisingly simple! As one SnagIt user said, “It’s as basic or as powerful as you need it to be.”

Maybe that’s why millions of people worldwide love using SnagIt, in a million different ways.

Learn more and download a free 30-day trial of Snagit at: www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp.

Blog Sponsors

Message from the Sponsors — March 30

Tom Johnson — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:07:27 +0000

Last month I started a regular message from the sponsors post as a way to give my advertisers more visibility. Here’s the second sponsor post. Lots of good information in here.

Dr.Explain 4.0 Enables Rapid Creation of Software Help Systems to Speed up Software Rollouts

Indigo Byte Systems, LLC today introduces Dr.Explain 4.0, the most significant release of its innovative help authoring software, with over 10 new features and enhancements, including improved interface usability, customizable page layout, visual styles, on-demand screenshot annotating mode, search and index functionality in HTML manuals, PDF output and more. New Dr.Explain makes it even easier and faster to document software, ensuring faster software rollouts. The new version is available as a free trial from http://www.drexplain.com.

Unique to Dr.Explain is its innovative approach to making help documentation much quicker than it is with other tools. The program parses a live application and automatically produces screenshots of its windows along with a sequence of explanatory callouts for each control. The process is accurate and fully automated, so the user only has to enter a description for each callout. The project can be exported to HTML, CHM Help, RTF or PDF format.

Dr.Explain 4.0 includes but is not limited to the following key new features:

Improved usability: The newest version introduces a wide work area, sleek icons and slim toolbars, contributing to increased user satisfaction.

Customizable look: In the new version, the user can rearrange objects and change layout page content remarkably easily in the editor.

On-demand screenshot annotating mode: The workspace area is grabbed only when required. The floating panels will help the user to organize the workspace layout as needed.

Search and Index in HTML manuals: This feature doesn’t require scripting capabilities on a server and may be used even on websites with free hosting.

PDF output: Now the user can export help documentation to Adobe PDF with support for national characters, images, hyperlinks, bookmarks and table of contents.

A downloadable trial version is available at http://www.drexplain.com/download/

The program comes with “Compatible with Windows 7″ logo.

More information is available at http://www.drexplain.com

P.S.: A free serial number for Dr.Explain 4.0 is provided to magazine editors, internet columnists, bloggers and webmasters who intend to write a review of the program on their website, blog or column. Email info@drexplain.com for details.

SnagIt | Capture your digital lifestyle

Want to get a laugh? Add a speech balloon to that photo of your cat and fire it off in an instant message.

Need to make an impression at work? Capture that sales chart and point out important details with a sleek-looking arrow. SnagIt can turn a simple screenshot into a powerful information graphic.

SnagIt is versatile, yet surprisingly simple! As one SnagIt user said, “It’s as basic or as powerful as you need it to be.”

Maybe that’s why millions of people worldwide love using SnagIt, in a million different ways.

Learn more and download a free 30-day trial of Snagit at: www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp.

Scriptorium.com

Still interested in DITA? Next up in Scriptorium’s ongoing series of free webcasts on DITA-related tools and technologies is an XMetaL 6 overview on April 21, 2010. Presented by Simon Bate, this webcast demonstrates the DITA features in the XMetaL 6 editor. For more information and to register, visit our website: http://www.scriptorium.com/events.

Meet us at the Summit. Scriptorium’s Sarah O’Keefe and Matthew Arnold will be presenting/exhibiting at the STC Summit in Dallas on May 2–5. Sarah will be presenting on “Managing in an XML Environment.” Stop by our booth, #113, on Sunday between 6:45 PM and 8:00 PM, Monday between 10:30 AM and 6:15 PM, or Tuesday between 9:00 AM and 5:30 PM. If you’d like to schedule some time with Sarah or Matt, email info@scriptorium.com and we’ll set something up.

Scriptorium Publishing provides expert advice on how to develop, deploy, and manage content. If you are facing a difficult publishing challenge, we want to hear from you. Contact us at info@scriptorium.com or 919-481-2701 x105.

MadCap Flare the Authoring Tool of Choice for Carnegie Mellon University

MadCap Software was pleased to announce its latest case study highlighting how Carnegie Mellon University uses MadCap Flare to teach students documentation best practices. “In the past, students mocked up their online Help in HTML. It was extremely labor-intensive, and it didnʼt give them the practical experience of using an authoring tool,” said Tracey DePellegrin Connelly. “With Flare, the difference is night and day between what they were doing before and what they are now able to learn. Itʼs been an extremely valuable tool for giving our students real-world experience.”

“It can be hard to grasp the separation of content and formatting within a structured authoring environment if you are used to working with word processing and authoring packages where the formatting is applied directly to the content,” said Ms. Ciroli. “Flare did a nice job of bridging that gap. Our students liked that they didnʼt have to worry about formatting, as well as how easy it was to set up the online Help navigation using the indexing and glossary features in Flare. Whether they were technically savvy or not, all the students could get the output they needed.”

Read more about Flare and Carnegie Mellon University.

Flare 6 Allows Users to Work Smarter, More Efﬁciently When Reusing Content, Publishing to Multiple Outputs

File tagging and the WebHelp mobile output are among top of the list of favorite new features in Flare 6. “Flare’s new features and user interface improvements have been helping me work smarter, faster, and with better results. I’m especially pleased to see File Tags and the new WebHelp Mobile target,” says Nita Beck.

Flareʼs single-sourcing allows users to save time when creating the mobile output. They simply create a new output target in an existing Flare project and content can be immediately available to users on the go. Neil Perlin of Hyper/Word Services says, “This feature takes what was a separate process requiring different tools and skills and starts to make it just one more Flare output. I expect that more developers will try outputting to mobile devices now that it’s easier and more convenient to do so with Flare.”

Learn more about Flare’s new features. For an independent review of MadCap Flare 6, read Paul Pehrsonʼs blog.

Blog Sponsors

12 Days of Christmas in June Giveaway

Tom Johnson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:26:17 +0000

For the next 12 days, I’m coordinating with various companies to give away a product a day, as part of a 12 Days of Christmas in June theme. This is an opportunity to try out new software that may be new to you, for companies to receive a bit of promotion, and to kick off the blog fun that will last all summer long.

Here’s how the contest works: Each morning at 6 a.m. MST I’ll post a new cartoon, hand-drawn by my colleague Ben Minson of Gryphon Mountain, who is also a cartoonist. The cartoon will need a caption. To win the contest, you must supply the best caption in the comments below the post. The caption winner receives the product for that day.

Here are the products available and their corresponding dates:

Day 1 — Thursday, June 4: Snagit
Day 2 — Friday, June 5: Camtasia Studio
Day 3 — Saturday, June 6: Screensteps
Day 4 — Sunday, June 7: Screensteps
Day 5 — Monday, June 8: 100 Pack of Moo Mini Cards
Day 6 — Tuesday, June 9: Camtasia Studio
Day 7 — Wednesday, June 10: Madap Flare 5
Day 8 — Thursday, June 11: Dr. Explain
Day 9 — Saturday, June 13: Camtasia Studio
Day 10 — Sunday, June 14: Snagit
Day 11 — Monday, June 15: Snagit
Day 12 — Tuesday, June 16: Author-it

The best caption will be a completely subjective decision chosen by either me or someone I designate. This is not a random selection drawing. Winners will be announced each morning at 6 a.m. EST, right before the next cartoon appears.

Note that you can submit as many captions as you want on any given day. If you win one day, you can also win the next as well, so don’t save all your best captions for one day. Also, when you submit your caption, you give us rights to use the caption in future material as we see fit (though nothing is planned). Winners will receive a serial number and download link to the product.

Blog Sponsors

Having Fun with Snagit

Tom Johnson — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:53:40 +0000

This week I needed to create some visuals for a PowerPoint to illustrate concepts related to blogging. Since I have limited artistic ability (perhaps even negative artistic ability), I resorted to a stick figure person as a common theme. I spent a while trying to decide which tool to use to draw with. It turns out drawing a basic circle in Photoshop that doesn’t have a solid fill is tedious, as are other drawing functions in Photoshop. So I used my favorite little graphics program instead: Snagit.

Snagit 9 introduces a .snag format that saves every object on the screen as a movable part. Of course it’s not as powerful as Photoshop or Illustrator, but it’s a lot quicker and easier. I especially like the Add to Quick Styles feature, so that after defining a shape (for example a line of a certain color, width, and shadow) I can save it to the toolbar and access it immediately.

I also enjoy Snagit’s general ease of use. It’s the one graphics program that Jane found essential for working with images on her blog. I tweeted the other day that I wished more products would have Techsmith’s same usability, and they consequently gave me several product licenses to give away. So look for an upcoming caption contest on my blog shortly.

Here are my little stick figure drawings. You can click the images to see the full sizes.

Visibility

Purpose

The Question

Relevance

Readability

Voice

Story

Revealing Appropriately

Interaction

Regularity

Blog Sponsors

SnagIt 9 is nearly a perfect 10 | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise

Tom Johnson — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 07:11:44 +0000

SnagIt 9 is nearly a perfect 10 | Ed Bott’s Windows Expertise.

Technical Writing Careers — Answering 13 Questions about Technical Writing Jobs

Tom Johnson — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:49:33 +0000

Technical writing careers are often a mystery to those on the outside. What do technical writing jobs involve? What is the industry like? What is the career path of a technical writer, and what challenges do technical writers face?

Carmen, a student in a technical management program, found me by searching for “technical writers” on Yahoo.com. Fulfilling an assignment in a Career Development course to contact someone working in the technical writing field, she asked me 13 questions about technical writing careers. She’s currently a repair technician who has wanted to enter technical writing for years.

Her questions and my answers are below. Please feel free to build on my answers in the comments section below the post.

Job-Related Questions about Technical Writing

What do you like best about your position as a Technical Writer?

I like the combination of writing and technology. I majored in English and love to write, but careers for writers are usually low-paying. I also really like technology — websites, blogs, gadgets, social media, cyber-utopian imaginations, etc. Technical writing combines my two main interests — writing and technology — in almost seamless ways.

What kind of impact has this position had on your lifestyle?

Given that technical writing jobs pay a decent salary, I’ve been able to support a family with three children and an extremely hard-working stay-at-home mother. I couldn’t have done that had I gone into other writing fields. (For example, here’s a blog about a guy who earned a degree in creative writing but couldn’t put his skills to use, so he started delivering pizzas.)

I’ve found that working as a technical writer has sharpened my troubleshooting skills, given me greater patience and technical familiarity, and has deepened my awareness and interest in technology. For example, my wife jokes that computers — when they seem to work against her — are the Antichrist, and sometimes when she can’t get something to work, she’ll actually slam the keyboard or throw the mouse. Well, I’ve learned that broken websites, procedures that don’t work, and confusing code can all be overcome with some patient problem-solving. This is a skill I developed as a technical writer.

Technical writing also gives me time to pursue other hobbies in the evenings and weekends. Sometimes finishing documentation for a project can require you to sacrifice a few evenings, but by and large technical writing is an 8 to 5 job. That’s nice — not a lot of stress, and it’s not as if people die (regularly) because they can’t figure out the software, unlike careers in medicine.

What advice would you give to someone just entering this career track?

I highly recommend pursing technical writing as a career, especially if you majored in English or Writing. I say English or Writing because much of a technical writer’s day is spent writing (or preparing to write or editing what you’ve already written). Granted, instructions aren’t creatively fulfilling, or even interesting, but you’re still shaping complicated information into easy-to-understand, well-organized text. You’re creating something out of nothing. You are, in fact, writing.

But skill with words isn’t enough (and actually, you don’t have to be very skilled to write sentences like “Click this button,” “Select this from the dropdown box,” and so on). You also need technical aptitude. Does your blood pressure shoot up when you can’t figure something out? Or do you patiently find a way to solve the problem? If you’re a problem solver, technical writing is for you. You’ll be solving technical problems a good part of your day, as you experiment and explore and test how software functions, or might function (or is supposed to function).

To sharpen your technical skills, learn at least three types of programs: a graphics tool (such as SnagIt), an online help authoring tool (such as Madcap Flare), and a video capture tool (such as Camtasia Studio). Create some sample documentation so you can show employers your skills. Start a blog about technical communication so you can demonstrate your enthusiasm and knowledge to your employers. Take responsibility for your own learning, rather than relying on others. Also, get involved in your local STC chapter.

You might also see this post I wrote: “How to Break into Technical Writing”

What kinds of tasks do you complete during a typical day or week?

It’s your lucky day. I’ve already written an incredibly detailed post about this here: “Could you please tell me what the job of a technical writer is like?”

What types of advancement opportunities are available for entry-level candidates in this career track?

Interesting question. Here’s a great podcast on the potential career track for technical writers. Traditionally, junior technical writers become senior technical writers. Then they become managers, or often turn freelance, or do consulting. Some transition into business analysts or project managers, or move into other technology-related fields.

There’s some debate as to whether technical writing is a transitional job — something you do as you’re working your way into another role, such as business analyst, usability specialist, information architect, or project manager. Many people see technical writing as a stepping stone into something else.

Company-Related Questions about Technical Writing

What is the corporate culture of your company?

The corporate culture where I work couldn’t be better. I love the team environment, working with other dedicated and talented individuals who are inspiring and helpful (for example, they give access to what I need, answer questions, provide demos, review my documentation, and keep me up to date on changes). There aren’t any political battles or bitter attitudes. It’s really a fun place to work, especially since the entire project team is grouped on the same floor. There’s even a foosball table. And the technological setup is top-notch — see my previous post, “Top 10 Workspace Configurations for Technical Writers.”

One thing to avoid in corporate cultures is an overbearing bureaucracy, where a thousand regulations and procedures prevent you from being efficient. My current work environment is pretty much bureaucracy free.

I’ve worked in other companies where the environment was more challenging. For example, at one place, it took me two weeks before I was given access to the Intranet. In another place, I felt like I had an abundance of unnecessary meetings all day. But despite these challenges, the other environments have also been decent. I’ve always learned a lot in every situation I’ve worked, regardless of the corporate culture.

For alternative experiences, see this comment by Joseph K on a previous post.

Does the company promote or encourage continuing education?

Certainly my company promotes continuing education. They’re sending me to a couple of conferences this year — Doc Train West in Vancouver and the STC Summit in Philadelphia. (Granted, I’m presenting at both conferences.) They also buy me whatever software I need.

What type of training programs does the company offer?

I hinted at this earlier: you’re responsible for your own learning. I have some intelligent, helpful colleagues who teach me a lot — not just about software, but business process and documentation strategies. But I think ultimately, you’re in charge of your own learning.

That said, my company pays tuition if I want to take college credits (in any field). I have access to Safari, an online library with thousands of books and tutorials — I’m still exploring that one. I occasionally view webinars related to the software I use. I can order books as needed, and probably attend workshops or other training up to my allotted training budget.

What are some of the goals of the company of the next few years?

Hmmm, not sure how to answer that one on a public blog. But we definitely want to find technology solutions that help people on a global scale perform the tasks of their role more efficiently and powerfully. We want to leverage the Internet platform to provide helpful resources and information to people everywhere. We want to use technology to further our organization’s mission. The same could probably be said of many companies.

Industry-Related Questions About Technical Writing

What kinds of challenges is the industry currently facing?

Outsourcing is one threat, although I haven’t been following it much lately. I once interviewed an Indian technical writer who said the tech writing industry is exploding in major ways in India. In my experience, I think the technical writer works best when he or she is on-site (rather than remote).

Another threat is a crash in the technology sector. With the first Dotcom crash, many technology companies made dramatic cutbacks to survive. Technical writing is often an easy cut, since you can have the business analyst or subject matter experts (SMEs) write the manuals (or simply ask the existing technical writers to do more work, which is common).

Some leaders feel SMEs have the potential to do our jobs, but the results are often disastrous. (Think about instructions that lack any numbered steps, have a full-size screen print on each page, and are written in confusing jargon that assumes you’re half-engineer.)

Who are some of the major and minor competitors in the industry?

Some people think wikis will reduce the number of technical writing jobs (or transform the role of technical writers). The idea is that project members and users will simply write the documentation in piecemeal fashion. However, this idea is one that only works in unique contexts, like the WordPress Codex, and even there it doesn’t work well.

I agree with Craig on Helpscribe that wikis won’t kill technical writing. I actually once produced a help project entirely on a wiki. I was documenting the new SharePoint 2007 platform and had about 75 wiki topics. Just two people made a couple of brief edits. That was it. And with the wiki, it was a pain to style, it didn’t single source, and it was hard to manipulate and rearrange information. Wikis have been around 10+ years and haven’t replaced much of anything (except Encyclopedia Britannica).

For more on using Web 2.0 technologies in documentation, see DMN’s post on “Web 2.0 and Documentation Don’t Always Play Well Together.”

Another competitor is, as I mentioned above, outsourcing technical writing to places like India. I don’t have much experience with outsourced projects, but Charles Jeter wrote an interesting post on the state of innovation in India. I personally have never lost a job to outsourcing. In part it’s because I wear more hats than just a traditional technical writer.

Are there any likely changes that may affect the industry in the next few years?

Here’s an interesting observation. You’re writing me to ask about careers in technical writing. You’re asking me to provide insight on the technical writing industry as a whole. But I’ve only been a technical writer for less than 5 years (been a writer for much longer, though). The interesting thing is that I’m the one being asked for advice, and am giving it. Hundreds of others will find this post and take direction from it.

We’re seeing the rise of amateur content. If you want advice from someone with more authority and experience, you should have written someone like Neil Perlin or Doug Davis. Instead, because I’m more visible in Google, I become the de facto expert on technical writing. That reversal of roles, where non-leaders become leaders, amateurs become experts, and ordinary people become highly visible, will shape all industries dramatically in the next few years.

Another change is DITA, an XML language that allows you to reuse topic-based content. Over the next few years, DITA will become a standard technology embedded into the most popular help authoring tools. This will facilitate single sourcing and enable technical writers to be more efficient. As we’re more efficient, we’ll play greater roles with training, support, and quality assurance. I already wear each of these hats to some degree.

Free Copies of SnagIt 7 and Camtasia 3

Tom Johnson — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:57:13 +0000

TechSmith is providing free downloads and licenses for copies of SnagIt 7.2 and Camtasia 3.1. The current version of SnagIt is 8.2 and Camtasia is 5. Still, for totally free software, you can’t beat this. Thanks for the tip from Jeff and Digital Inspiration:

How to you get them?

SnagIt

Step One: Download it here.

Step Two: Visit the TechSmith website here and request a registration key.

Camtasia Studio

Step One: Download it here

Step Two: Request your registration key here.

I’ve actually wanted a copy of SnagIt for a while just to capture images for blog posts. It’s easier and quicker than doing it in Photoshop. Camtasia does a wonderful job at full motion recording for screen demos.

I think TechSmith’s marketing strategy is to hook you on the older products in hopes that you’ll want to upgrade to the latest versions. Pass the word on to other tech writers.