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2024 archives

  1. Using AI to design landing pages (prompt engineering series)

  2. Why designing landing pages is hard

  3. Unpacking the issues from AI — thoughts on Alan Porter's post Am I the AI Luddite? and Fabrizio Benedetti's How I'm using AI as a technical writer

  4. To establish value, focus more on high priority projects: Reading Michael Lynch's post on why he quit Google to work for himself

  5. Sadik-Khan's Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, plus a visual account of Seattle's downtown biking and pedestrian infrastructure

  6. From engineer interviews to written draft, with chain of thought reasoning

  7. New API course on mastering documentation by Mark Wentowski on Docsgeek

  8. Symposium on Usability and Design in France in April 2025

  9. Strategies for making doc bugs actionable

  10. Escaping the Productivity Trap: Experiments with Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks — guest post by David Kowalsky

  11. NotebookLM podcasts -- the missing piece in the GenAI puzzle?

  12. [Podcast] GenAI and Document360: Conversation with Saravana Kumar

  13. Using AI to jump-start code samples

  14. Unified Knowledge powered by Zoomin -- Q&A with Paul Maass

  15. Two days in my life as a technical writer, followed by reflection and analysis of fragmenting microtasks

  16. What a day in the life of a Technical Writer in the energy industry looks like -- Guest post by Bonnie Denham

  17. Routines and habit stacking

  18. Podcast: Task decomposition and complex tree diagrams

  19. Podcast: Using long-token contexts to quality check an entire API doc set

  20. Podcast: Using file diffs for better release notes in reference docs

  21. Podcast: Populating documentation templates using AI

  22. Podcast: Gathering source material for context input

  23. Podcast: Creating high-fidelity, thematically organized notes from engineering meetings using AI

  24. Blogging as personal training?

  25. Using long-token contexts to quality check an entire API doc set

  26. Seeing invisible details and avoiding predictable, conditioned thought (ZAMM series)

  27. Automate links in your release notes using AI (prompt engineering)

  28. Links from around the web -- June 10, 2024

  29. [Podcast] Uncovering and communicating the value of your tech comm teams' work, with Keren Brown

  30. [Prompt engineering series] Using file diffs for better release notes in reference docs

  31. Updates two years later on my smartphone experiment

  32. Thoughts on Docs as code being a broken promise

  33. Get Better at Using Prompts With Deliberate Practice: One technical writer's little experiment — guest post by Diana Cheung

  34. Prompt engineering series: Creating scripts to automate doc build processes

  35. What should your documentation metrics look like? Q&A with Zoomin about their 2024 Technical Content Benchmark Report

  36. AI is accelerating my technical writing output, and other observations

  37. Upcoming conference: AI the API docs

  38. Prompt engineering series: Gathering source input

  39. Prompt engineering series: Error checking the output

  40. Integrating AI with your content delivery platform and documentation: Zoomin Q&A with Keren Brown

  41. Showcasing your API technical writer portfolio and projects — guest post by Peter Gustafson

  42. Prompt engineering series: Reverse engineering the recipe for excellent documentation

  43. Prompt engineering series: Populating documentation templates using AI

  44. Prompt engineering: Task decomposition and complex tree diagrams

  45. Prompt engineering: Creating high-fidelity, thematically organized notes from engineering meetings using AI

  46. Visualizing APIs with tree diagrams, partly generated with AI

  47. Walking and chatting with ChatGPT

  48. Moved AI pages into their own collection and space

  49. Coffee Chat recording: Ask Me Anything about Managing API documentation projects

  50. Evaluating my 2023 site analytics -- why did my traffic drop?

  51. [Podcast] Breaking ground: New API documentation course at UW, with Bob Watson

  52. My 2024 technical writing trends and predictions

2023 archives

  1. Book review: Understanding Girls with ADHD: How They Feel and Why They Do What They Do

  2. Etto, a new AI co-pilot for Heretto — Q&A with Casey Jordan

  3. Podcast: Notes and themes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

  4. Webinar recording: Experiments and use cases for AI from a tech writer’s perspective

  5. 30+ ways I’m using AI in everyday writing life as a technical writer, blogger, and curious human

  6. Podcast: The evolution of podcasting, with Ed Marsh

  7. Webinar: Let's talk API docs: a discussion about issues impacting documentation for APIs

  8. Podcast: Tech writing and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with Dan Grabski

  9. You've heard of 'Docs as code' -- Now get ready for 'Code as docs': Q&A with Speakeasy

  10. Doing research with AI tools -- avoiding the trap of fabricated URLs

  11. Notes for Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality

  12. Movemate standing board review — fixing your back, legs from sedentary decline from a tech job

  13. My experience trying to write original, full-length human-sounding articles using Claude AI

  14. Chatting about AI trends and tech comm with Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti

  15. What is Diátaxis and should you be using it with your documentation?

  16. [Podcast] AI and APIs: What works, what doesn't

  17. Forrester Report, Coding jobs, Hyper-personalization, RFPs, Call center replacement (Oct 9, 2023)

  18. What I learned in using AI for planning and prioritization: Content strategy might be safe from automation

  19. Open-source contribution myths, Hiring poets to train LLMs, Problems with 'content', AI agents (Oct 6, 2023)

  20. Embracing professional redefinition

  21. Documentation failures, Bestiaries, AI Explain post mortem, Inside TechComm podcast (Oct 3, 2023)

  22. New article: AI and APIs: What works, what doesn't

  23. Claude versus ChatGPT -- and a few thoughts on using AI chatbots on an Alaskan cruise

  24. Alphadoc: Build API documentation that tells your API's story

  25. New API course topic: Using AI for summaries

  26. Links from around the web (Sept 5, 2023)

  27. New API doc course topic: Using AI for glossary definitions

  28. New API doc course topic: Using AI for comparison tasks with API responses

  29. New API doc course topic: Using AI For thematic analysis

  30. New API doc course topic: Using AI for language advice

  31. New API doc course topic: Using AI to create doc updates based on bugs

  32. New API doc course topic: Using AI to learn coding

  33. New topic in API course: Using AI tools to write build and publish scripts

  34. New topic in API doc course: AI document engineering with pattern-based prompts

  35. First Look at Oxygen XML's Positron AI Assistant [API doc course]

  36. Adding a new AI section to my API doc course

  37. First look at the Oxygen XML's AI Positron Assistant

  38. Telling your conversion story into tech comm

  39. Chapter PDFs for API doc course

  40. How to meet other technical writers in Seattle -- WTD Seattle coffee chats

  41. How the blog-to-book experiment is going: challenges and thoughts

  42. Blog and API doc course are now one site

  43. Doctave Q&A with Niklas Begley

  44. News turns the content wheel of advertising

  45. Newsletter: Endless news cycles, style checkers, finding research, noticing things around you

  46. How to find academic research to back up your tech comm decisions

  47. Book review of the Art of Noticing, by Rob Walker

  48. AI starting to diminish work for student essay ghostwriters

  49. From DITA to docs-as-code and Docusaurus: Q&A with Mike Howes

  50. Newsletter: Copilot for Docs, Wappalyzer, Illusions, Late projects, Forbidden Fruit

  51. Newsletter: Doctave, Chatbase, SiteGPT, small CLs, TC bibliography

  52. What’s missing from the AI workflow: incentives for content creators to provide training data

  53. Newsletter: Content creator ROI, Netlify, Madbot, and Hollywood

  54. Newsletter: AI doc alerts, state of tools, saying easy or just, automated writing teams

  55. Newsletter: Docusaurus, Lens, Docs-as-Code, 2022 site analytics, and HTML Table formatting

  56. Newsletter: Markprompt Q&A, LearningDITA, Snowflake docs, AI Commits

  57. Meandering thoughts on my 2022 site analytics

  58. Markprompt Q&A with Michael Fester

  59. Newsletter: Alphadoc, vocab lookup, field, Open Assistant, Markprompt, content ops

  60. Newsletter: GPT-4 tutors, Phind.com, Dark user manuals, interfaces for reading docs, automation scripts, and bball

  61. AI chat interfaces could become the primary user interface to read documentation

  62. Using AI tools to look up words and provide mini-poems to help remember their meaning

  63. A script that creates a new Jekyll post and populates it with YAML frontmatter, and also makes a curl call to add a Rebrandly shortlink

  64. Newsletter: Docs-as-ecosystem, structure in WordPress, identity crisis, and pencils

  65. Newsletter: AI and tech comm survey results, Zoomin's predictions, Beating an ATS, ChatGPT plugin docs

  66. Survey results: Technical writers on AI

  67. Newsletter: Why engineers need to write, tech writers in pop culture, 101 subreddit, Cambrian period of AI (April 4, 2023)

  68. Survey on the impact of AI on tech comm

  69. Upcoming Webinar: API Trends Across the Lifecycle Webinar (April 11, 2023)

  70. Beyond 'parts' documentation: Moving towards systems thinking with developer portals

  71. The influence of language-generative AI tools on tech comm: parlor tricks or disruption?

  72. Updates on my standing experiment: surprisingly good for the lower back

  73. Presentation recording: Specialization myopia syndrome and the content journey

  74. Podcast: All about Redocly, with founder Adam Altman

  75. Building your own balance board for a standing desk

  76. Finally got Covid -- my experience

  77. Five ways to leverage big-picture thinking as a technical writer

  78. New Job-Hunter Support Group course offered by Bobby Kennedy

  79. New series: Sitting, standing, and walking

  80. Approaching the college personal essay: Tips as a parent helping your student write a compelling essay

2022 archives

  1. Book review: May I Ask a Technical Question, by Jeff Krinock and Matt Hoff

  2. Thoughts on ChatGPT after reading Crawford's Why We Drive: whatever skill you outsource, atrophies

  3. Having fun with ChatGPT

  4. Two examples where high-level overviews are essential: Macbeth and Elon Musk

  5. Pulling readers through long documents

  6. Stoplight tutorial update -- practically every screenshot updated

  7. Podcast about Archbee -- a new documentation tool with a block-based editor, API publishing capability, content re-use, and more

  8. Attempting to write a Life of a [something] narrative

  9. 'Putting together things': Articulating a thesis about the effects of hyper-specialization on documentation

  10. Expanding from cross-product newsletters to a book club and site

  11. Some advice if you're just starting out your technical writing career

  12. Systems thinking: Limits to Growth, Complex Cause and Effect, and Shifting the Burden

  13. Systems thinking and developer portals

  14. Blobr API portal (API doc topic)

  15. The impact of technical diversity on documentation -- epiphanies on a trip to IKEA

  16. Technical diversity/pluralism/fragmentation in tech comm

  17. My Commute Seattle Spotlight

  18. Review of Peter Norton's Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving

  19. Docs as Code

  20. Inline ads -- updated advertising offerings

  21. Keynote presentation to STC India 2022

  22. Remote work

  23. Git and GitHub

  24. API documentation

  25. Every page is page one

  26. Marcom and tech comm

  27. Scrum

  28. Let's Talk Docs podcast -- episode on measuring API documentation quality

  29. The History of Content -- Content Components podcast with Patrick Bosek and Sarah O'Keefe

  30. Preparing for technical writing jobs and interviews -- posts from Aaron Redshaw

  31. Content strategy

  32. DITA

  33. WordPress and web CMSs

  34. Quick reference guides

  35. Screencasting

  36. Faceted filtering

  37. Wikis and crowdsourcing

  38. Help authoring tools (HATs) and single-sourcing

  39. Intro to the series: Trends to follow or forget

  40. [Podcast] Become a technical writer: conversation with Bobby Kennedy about the technical writing courses he offers

  41. My multimodal commuting strategies

  42. Archbee product review -- first look at a new online platform for writing and managing documentation

  43. Part 6: The newsletter as the social content of corporations

  44. MEGAComm recording: How to increase awareness of tech comm inside corporate walls

  45. Updated Metrics and Measurement section in API course to remove scoring aspect

  46. Results of the survey about fizzled trends: Every trend is still with us

  47. Survey about documentation trends that fizzled (one-minute survey)

  48. Webinar recording of 'Using MadCap Flare to Generate API Documentation'

  49. Part 5: More specifics about finding a focus

  50. Part 4: Creating engaging content: A balance of interests

  51. Part 3: Five basics for building an audience on the web

  52. Part 2: Initial attempts and failures with workplace content

  53. Part 1: Introduction to influence on the web

  54. Themes from 2021: working from home and podcasting

  55. Site analytics for 2021 -- a few observations and reflections

2021 archives

  1. PDF and eBook formats available for API doc course

  2. One year later after moving to Seattle

  3. Broadcasting your meeting notes (API documentation topic)

  4. Barefoot shoes, basketball, and how to avoid recurring calf strains

  5. "The writing process"-- a new section in my API doc course

  6. HastyDocs: A new approach to keeping API documentation up-to-date, by Jarek Piotrowski

  7. Urban sprawl and car dependence -- some thoughts on solutions

  8. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 35: Docs for Developers book, with Jared Bhatti and Zachary Sarah Corleissen

  9. Presentation recording -- 'Best practices in API docs: Product overviews and getting started tutorials'

  10. The existentialism of technical writing

  11. New article in API doc course: Using Oxygen XML in docs-as-code workflows

  12. Biking and public transportation in Renton and Seattle: Solving the first-mile and last-mile problems

  13. tcworld China 2021 keynote: 'Tech comm and marketing: How to make your tech comm group more visible to those within your company'

  14. New article in API doc course: 'Ensuring documentation coverage with each software release'

  15. Sending doc status reports -- a tool for visibility and relationship building [API doc course]

  16. Recording of 'Product overviews vs. getting started tutorials: striking a balance between read-first and try-first user behaviors'

  17. Review of "Hashtag #TechComm: An Overview of Members, Networks, and Themes from 2016-2019"

  18. New sections in API doc course exploring causes for poor product overviews and getting started tutorials

  19. Five basketball strategies and how they might apply to tech comm

  20. Balancing product overviews with getting started tutorials

  21. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 34: Adding personality to documentation, with Fabrizio Ferri

  22. Five project management responsibilities of senior technical writers

  23. Trying to get back to normal

  24. Paligo: Structured Authoring and Component Content Management made easy

  25. Experiments: Leaving reviews on Google Maps

  26. 10 characteristics of ambiguous content

  27. Experiments: Will reading a physical newspaper improve the way I consume news?

  28. Experiments: What would happen if I exercised 2 hours a day?

  29. Balancing action with narration: Creating product overviews and getting started tutorials to satisfy both try-first and read-first learning modes

  30. An in-depth look at MadCap Flare 2021’s New Markdown Import Feature

  31. Finding a focus

  32. Updated API Getting Started tutorial

  33. Technical writing course Q&A -- 'Become a Technical Writer', with Bobby Kennedy

  34. Updated Stoplight tutorial

  35. Switching from Skype to Zoom for podcasting tools

  36. Videocast: Micro content and Flare -- Conversation with Kate Schneider

  37. Updated glossary article with technical examples [API doc course]

  38. My life story, or reflections on what shaped my life's career trajectory

  39. Analyzing doc portals by looking at developer journeys -- recommended podcast episode from Cherryleaf

  40. Who can make documentation requests

  41. Some good decisions and minor mistakes

  42. 10 observations after using my API documentation checklist in a real scenario

  43. Adding last modified timestamps to content

  44. Product overviews -- a tricky space where documentation and marketing overlap

  45. Q&A about Xeditor -- online XML editor -- with founder Matthias Kraus

  46. Write the Docs Podcast episode 33: Simplified user interfaces, with Anton Bollen

  47. Site analytics for 2020 -- trends, reflections, and thoughts

  48. Measuring documentation quality -- a rubric for developer docs

2020 archives

  1. Cherryleaf collects tech writer goals for 2021

  2. Moving to Seattle and making housing decisions using virtual tools

  3. Job transition: from Amazon to Google

  4. Content Strategy Insights podcast with Larry Swanson about API documentation

  5. The most perfect 17-mile biking loop in Santa Clara

  6. Finished up the section on documentation processes (for now)

  7. New API course article: Processes for changing internal doc culture

  8. New API course article: Processes for external contributors

  9. Documentation templates and The Good Docs Project -- guest post by Ankita Tripathi

  10. The story behind Document360 -- podcast with founder Saravana Kumar

  11. Process for collecting feedback post-release (new article in API doc course)

  12. How does Document360 handle challenges with API documentation?

  13. Write the Docs Podcast episode 32: Self-publishing and AsciiDoc, with Mehmed Pasic

  14. Processes for maintaining existing documentation (new article in API doc course)

  15. Developer experience (DevX) usability (new article in API doc course)

  16. Does working outside with the world as your office actually work?

  17. Coffee and Content webinar recording: Treat Code Like Code; Treat Prose Like Prose

  18. New article in API course: Processes for reviewing documentation

  19. On cultivating a garden while the world is crumbling around you

  20. SmartBear's 2020 API report finds 'Accurate and detailed documentation' to be second-most important characteristic of APIs

  21. Write the Docs Podcast episode 31: Site search, with Peter Levan

  22. Redocly tutorial added to API course

  23. New article in API course -- Questions to ask during a documentation kickoff and demo

  24. Inexpensive media hosting and CLI uploading with Wasabi?

  25. ISTC article on developer documentation trends

  26. Playing a product design role as a content designer -- podcast with Jonathon Colman

  27. When 10X translates into -10X: debunking the myth of the 10X technical coder/writer

  28. SDK release process article added to API doc course

  29. DX content strategy article added to API doc course

  30. Processes for managing large documentation projects and small documentation requests

  31. Webinar -- Optimizing Content Development: Grow Your Content Faster Than You Grow Your Team

  32. Part VI: Results from the survey correlating org models and tech writer value

  33. A tip for doc reviews -- bring a list of questions

  34. Write the Docs Podcast episode 30: Documentation templates, with Juan Lara

  35. Writing productivity tip: Focus sessions

  36. Part VI: Conclusion, analysis, and feedback

  37. Part V: On being strategic, interpersonal, and sponsored

  38. Part IV: Engaging deep enough to blur the lines between content and product design

  39. Part III: Correlating organization models with low value estimations

  40. Part II: Personal layoff stories and reasons

  41. Part I: Introduction and background

  42. Developer portal strategies for complex landscapes -- conversation with Kristof van Tomme

  43. What makes a good covid sign?

  44. Treat code like code and prose like prose

  45. Diversity in tech comm -- Conversation with John Paz

  46. What's the point of site search?

  47. Making a comfortable office environment when working from home is harder than it seems

  48. API the Docs recording: How Trends in API Documentation Differ from other Tech Comm Trends

  49. WTD Australia event recording -- 'Remote discussion: Techcomm in the times of pandemic'

  50. Guest post: Why are technical writers often treated as such an unimportant part of a company?

  51. Results of Pandemic Impact on Tech Comm survey

  52. Podcast: Building Great Documentation -- WAPI FM radio hour

  53. Short survey about quarantine/pandemic impact on tech comm

  54. Connecting micro content with search analytics -- notes on the first MadCap Flare and MadCap Central 2020 Release

  55. A user manual for your death?

  56. API doc course update: Re-architecting the OpenAPI spec tutorials to start with visual modeling tools first, then code

  57. My Knowledgebase Ninjas podcast episode -- Metrics don't work

  58. API The Docs Virtual Series 2020 -- Upcoming presentations and thoughts on the virtual format

  59. Write the Docs Podcast episode 29: Salary Survey results and WFH tips, with Eric Holscher

  60. Are technical writers increasingly playing non-technical roles? Some thoughts on the evolution of technical writing roles

  61. Podcast: Users as producers of knowledge -- conversation with Nupoor Ranade about how tech writer roles are changing

  62. Staying updated about what developers are changing -- my techniques for information sleuthing

  63. Write the Docs Podcast episode 28: UX writing processes and considerations

  64. Tech comm podcasts are growing -- here's a list

  65. Life on reset -- new dynamics emerging

  66. Working from home — things I've bought

  67. How life has changed with the pandemic

  68. Webinar recording: How Trends in API Documentation Differ from other Tech Comm Trends

  69. Introduction to API documentation - Recording from Los Angeles API documentation workshop

  70. Is there a place for exploratory writing in the workplace?

  71. Podcast: How Paligo is filling a niche in the CCMS market for complex documentation, with Anders Svensson

  72. The Manuscript Podcast, with Breno Barreto -- Episode 2, How technical should a tech writer be?

  73. Checklist of different types of API docs

  74. Podcast with Andrew Davis: Hiring API doc writers -- an inside look at fixing broken processes

  75. Write the Docs Podcast episode 27: Starting a doc group/process when you're the first

  76. *How* you write influences *what* you write — interpreting trends through movements from PDF to web, DITA, wikis, CCMSs, and docs-as-code

  77. New podcast: Unifying Technical Content Sets into a Broader Ecosystem, with Cruce Sanders at [A]

  78. Tools FAQ for API doc site

  79. Autonomous Agile Teams and Enterprise Content Strategy: An Impossible Combination?

  80. From API docs to developer portals

  81. Site update: Switched from Disqus to Commento

  82. What is a DITA Content Management System (CMS)? guest post by John Baker

  83. Learning about event planning -- life pro tips from Jack Molisani

  84. Updated Intro to API documentation topic

  85. Reflections on my 2019 site analytics

2019 archives

  1. Write the Docs Podcast episode 26: Technical writing and Reddit, with Alan Bowman

  2. 2020 Developer documentation survey

  3. Podcast: API Design and Usability with Arnaud Lauret (API Handyman)

  4. When reference docs lack a tutorial -- a look at Wescheme's Bootstrap documentation for students learning programming

  5. Upcoming API Documentation Workshop in Los Angeles, Calif., on January 23, 2020

  6. Reflecting on my latest SF API doc workshop

  7. Follow-up to 4 Technical Writing Tests Post

  8. 4 Technical Writing Tests to Screen Candidates

  9. Write the Docs Podcast episode 25: Researching how developers use API docs, with Andrew Head

  10. Long-term strategies for project productivity

  11. Matching documentation review practices to company culture

  12. Some specifications docs I've been working on -- and thoughts on strategies and techniques for managing specs

  13. Podcast with Jacob Moses on the Not-Boring Tech Writer: Skill #26: Getting Started with API Documentation

  14. Podcast: Dealing with Project Overload -- Strategies to Manage Overflowing Documentation Tasks

  15. Podcast: 10 myths about API documentation

  16. Expanding embedded Swagger UI instances in your docs

  17. Write the Docs Podcast episode 24: Conference chatter and the Australian scene, with Swapnil Ogaler

  18. Write the Docs Podcast episode 23: How to write inclusive tech documentation, by Lucie Le Naour

  19. An inside look at DeveloperHub -- hosted documentation portals for API docs

  20. Upcoming API Documentation Workshop in San Francisco, Calif., on November 19, 2019

  21. What I learned from organizing and running my first API documentation workshop from end to end

  22. New topic in API course: Following agile scrum with documentation projects

  23. Can you collaborate on doc projects in Git with other writers?

  24. New topic in API course: Five strategies for documenting code

  25. New topic in API course: Research on documenting code

  26. New topic in API course: Why documenting code is so difficult

  27. Write the Docs Podcast episode 22: Managing multiple doc projects across Git repositories, with Giles Gaskell

  28. Single-sourcing data into table templates in Jekyll

  29. Upcoming API Documentation Workshop in Mountain View, Calif., on August 30, 2019

  30. Every project is a monster you battle and slay

  31. If I am learning to write developer documentation, should GraphQL be on my radar? -- guest post by Casey Armstrong

  32. Recording of Tech Comm Trends Presentation (STC Puget Sound chapter)

  33. ClickHelp -- a flexible online platform for authoring and publishing technical documentation

  34. My documentation project plan template

  35. How to avoid inefficiencies even with context switching

  36. Reader question: Am I specializing too much by limiting my focus to docs only?

  37. Crash course in API documentation -- a one-hour video

  38. Reader question: Is it a red flag in the hiring process if they tell you that you'll be the only tech writer, with complete control over everything?

  39. Reader question: Recommended setup for docs-as-code tooling?

  40. Upcoming conference: The Tech Comm Roundup, by The Content Wrangler

  41. Season of Docs -- opportunities for both tech writers and open-source organizations to benefit from each other

  42. Technical writer position for Amazon Appstore team in Seattle or Irvine

  43. My slide links and presentation descriptions at the 2019 STC Summit

  44. The essence of technical writing, and my five stages of review for documentation

  45. First look at Document360 -- an authoring/publishing tool that satisfies both KB and tech pubs needs

  46. New video recordings of Raleigh API documentation workshop now available

  47. How I record audio and video in workshops — all the technical details, equipment, software, post-production techniques, and publishing methods

  48. Flare adds micro content feature, taking steps toward content management for AI scenarios

  49. When you're in the business of complexification

  50. Why I decided not to become a grasshopper expert, or, Not deciding your focus based on where readers are clicking

  51. A hypothesis on how to exert more influence and visibility inside the corporation

  52. Upcoming API workshops in Raleigh (April 6) and Denver (May 5)

  53. Recognizing Research Realities Across Technical Communication -- guest post by Kirk St. Amant

  54. Write the Docs Podcast episode 21: On career growth, leadership, and mentoring in Tech Writing

  55. Master's in technical writing at Mercer — FAQ

  56. Results from survey about engineers who write documentation

  57. My documentation takeaways from the Boeing disaster -- two essential doc questions to ask for any project

  58. Biking at Alviso County Park (Santa Clara)

  59. Should you get a degree in a tech comm program? Two considerations to keep in mind

  60. How to encourage risk-taking and idealism without falling prey to cynical attitudes born from experience

  61. XML Documentation for Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) — Integrating documentation and marketing content into a seamless whole

  62. How to design API documentation for opportunistic (active, experiential) learning styles

  63. Confronting the fear of growing older when you're surrounded by young programmers

  64. Write the Docs podcast episode 20: Minimum requirements for good tech docs, with Matt Reiner

  65. Corporate exodus narratives: A close look at the tension between the corporation and academia

  66. Recording and slides for my trends presentation at the Symposium for Communicating Complex Information (SCCI)

  67. Asserting your expertise as a SME in the workplace: Q&A with Jennifer Mallette and Megan Gehrke

  68. How to become a 10X technical writer in the workplace

  69. How to motivate users to provide feedback: Show that you're listening to their input

  70. Write the Docs Podcast episode 19: Static site generators, with Jessica Parsons

  71. Recording of Trends presentation on The Content Wrangler BrightTALK channel

  72. Site analytics from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2018 -- are more engineers writing docs now?

  73. Employment and salary outlook for technical writers based on the 2017-2018 STC Salary Database

  74. The absolute worst that can happen in 2019, or, Imagining a dystopian corporatocracy emerge after a permanent government collapse

2018 archives

  1. Is Premium Grammarly worth it for identifying style and grammar issues in tech docs?

  2. Obituary for my dad - David Tait Johnson, 1935 - 2018

  3. Research on code documentation -- when not to comment on code

  4. Top 10 holiday gifts for technical writers

  5. My podcast about writing with Ellis Pratt on Cherryleaf

  6. Recording for Menlo Park API documentation workshop now available -- and some thoughts on using cardioid versus omnidirectional microphones for recording

  7. New post in Simplifying Complexity series -- Principle 11: Be both a generalist and specialist at the same time

  8. My upcoming presentation and workshop at the 2019 STC Summit in Denver

  9. Upcoming BrightTALK webinar on trends -- January 15, 2019

  10. Write the Docs Podcast episode 18: Recap and thoughts on the WTD Australia 2018 conference

  11. Bibliography of API documentation articles

  12. How to avoid being a secretary for engineers

  13. I'd Rather Be Writing is now an Alexa Flash Briefing skill

  14. Upcoming full-day API documentation workshop in Menlo Park

  15. The Tell-Tale Project — Guest Post by Edgar Allan Poe, Technical Writer

  16. Preferring technical acuity over specialized knowledge

  17. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 17: Structured Writing -- reasons and approaches, with Mark Baker

  18. Brainstorming by transposing patterns from one category to another

  19. The ideal number of slides for an hour-long presentation, and other thoughts on preparing slides

  20. Tech comm trends -- why tech writers will be collaborating more with engineers

  21. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part I)

  22. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part II)

  23. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part III)

  24. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part IV)

  25. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part V)

  26. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part VI)

  27. Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part VII)

  28. Tech comm podcasts roundup and survey

  29. Pages at a glance -- the importance of the first two sentences of any topic

  30. Write the Docs Podcast episode 16: An open-source Grammarly for tech docs?

  31. How I handled data for about 10 device specifications on the same page -- the advantages of a flexible, customizable web-based framework like Jekyll

  32. New article in Simplifying Complexity series -- Iterate and increment on content following an agile approach

  33. Getting a job in API documentation -- new topics and expansions in my API doc course

  34. Strategies for learning technology -- podcast recommendation and a poll

  35. If writing is no longer a marketable skill, what is?

  36. My conflicted thoughts about the decentralized web (while taking the Census of Technical Communicators survey)

  37. The right story for tech writers to tell in a corporate blog post

  38. Articulating stories that influence product adoption (new article in Simplifying Complexity series)

  39. Reciprocal knowledge networks and the iFixit Technical Writing Project -- Conversation with Guiseppe Getto

  40. Looking at the theoretical foundations for tech comm -- Conversation with Lisa Melonçon

  41. Adventures of a Techie Academic with Lightweight DITA (LwDITA): Conversation with Carlos Evia

  42. Write the Docs Podcast episode 15: User research, tech writer stereotypes, and conversations

  43. Teaching Technological Adaptability to Bridge the Gap (Guest post by Melonie McMichael)

  44. Combatting the "Make-It-Pretty" Philosophy: Technical Writers Fight Back (Guest post by Emily January Petersen)

  45. Results from my Academic/Practitioner Attitudes surveys now available

  46. The relationship between academics and practitioners -- Podcast with Kirk St. Amant

  47. Reducing the complexity of technical language (new article in Simplifying Complexity series)

  48. Random reflections on the throwaway mentality in our culture

  49. Thoughts on docs-as-code after 3 years -- it works!

  50. A short survey to measure academic/practitioner attitudes

  51. 10 ways technical writing is just like the World Cup

  52. MadCap Flare 2018 and MadCap Central Review for the May 2018 Release -- Guest post

  53. Evaluating the user experience of documentation -- Podcast with Bob Watson

  54. Non-Reference Content section updated in API course

  55. Hiding Complexity -- A new Simplifying Complexity article

  56. New article in Simplifying Complexity: Reconstructing the absent user

  57. The reason I always find time to write on this blog

  58. Stoplight -- creating a single source of truth to drive the API lifecycle

  59. My site now has Algolia search integrated

  60. Replaced the previous weather API example in my API course to now use OpenWeatherAPI

  61. Do you have to relocate to an urban tech hub to find a technical writing job?

  62. Strategies from pickup basketball -- Why you shouldn't guard the worst player or focus too much on the documentation no one reads

  63. New Simplifying Complexity article on shaping information into familiar schemas, especially story

  64. A Review of the MadWorld Conference -- guest post by Jayna Locke

  65. New article on Simplifying Complexity: Reduction, layering, and distillation as a strategy for simplicity

  66. The math game my daughter and her friend created with Codesters

  67. What can we learn from the homogenous profiles in the Stack Overflow 2018 survey?

  68. Write the Docs Podcast episode 14: Humanizing your documentation

  69. Recording of API documentation workshop in Denver

  70. Guest post: The story behind DocToolHub, a site for finding tech comm tools

  71. Recording of Docs-as-code tools and workflows presentation

  72. Recording of STC San Francisco presentation: Beyond mere endpoint reference — the overlooked content in API documentation

  73. New article in Simplifying Complexity -- Ensuring information harmony in the larger documentation landscape

  74. Perspectives on tech comm from the VP Candidates — Q&A with Pam Brewer

  75. Perspectives on tech comm from the VP Candidates — Q&A with Ben Woelk

  76. Recording of OpenAPI and Swagger presentation (for STC and WTD San Diego)

  77. Two open-ended surveys to gauge practitioner/academic attitudes

  78. New Simplifying complexity tutorial: Discoverability through metadata

  79. New section on my site: Simplifying complexity

  80. Write the Docs Podcast episode 13: Postman for API development and docs — Interview with Postman Founder

  81. Recording of WTD South Bay presentation: Publishing tools for API documentation

  82. Unexpected realizations after a comprehensive review of my 2017 site metrics

  83. New STC Intercom article: How to Research What You Need to Learn to Be Successful as a Technical Writer

  84. What technical writing trends will we see in 2018?

2017 archives

  1. Part VIII: Conclusion

  2. Part VI: Deepening documentation's value by simplifying complexity

  3. Part V: Influencing the content experience

  4. Part IV: Enabling information flow

  5. Part III: Determining value through usage

  6. Part II: Reviewing past research

  7. Part I: Introduction to the series

  8. Why is TC Camp's unconference format so popular? Interview with Liz Fraley, TC Camp Founder

  9. Write the Docs Podcast episode 12: Founding ideas behind Write the Docs

  10. Biking down Coyote Creek Trail

  11. How to become a voracious reader

  12. Write the Docs Podcast episode 11: Exploring the Mozilla Developer Network's Web Docs project

  13. How do you communicate user progress in a course without a Learning Management System (LMS)?

  14. Case study: Switching tools to docs-as-code

  15. Intro to API Documentation -- recording of presentation to STC Silicon Valley chapter on 11/20/2017

  16. Balancing writing, editing, and learning in equal measures

  17. New OpenAPI 3.0 specification tutorial in my API Course

  18. The Untold Story of Techwriter.pl: A Polish website about technical communication for technical writers, trainers, and translators

  19. Question: Which software tools should I use if my goal is to write API docs?

  20. Write the Docs Podcast episode 10: What's going on in our lives as documentarians and product owners

  21. SwaggerHub: A collaborative platform for working on OpenAPI/Swagger specification files, and more

  22. Convert Google Docs content to Markdown or HTML using the gd2md-html add-on

  23. Has plain language deepened or ruined our delight in language?

  24. Write the Docs Podcast episode 9: Chatbots in Documentation

  25. Discoveries and realizations while walking down the Docs-as-Code path

  26. Write the Docs Podcast episode 8: Stack Overflow's Documentation Failure and Open Source Challenges

  27. Why Stack Overflow's Documentation effort failed -- a few thoughts from a technical writer's perspective

  28. Tech docs and Agile: Alternatives to integrating into engineering Scrums (Part 2)

  29. Tech docs and Agile: Problems with integrating tech writers into engineering Scrums (Part 1)

  30. Why simple language isn't so simple: the struggle to create plain language in documentation

  31. When the pain of ignorance exceeds the pain of learning

  32. Transparency in documentation: dealing with limits about what you can and cannot say

  33. Write the Docs Podcast episode 7: Let The Robots Do The Work

  34. Circle review -- How to manage your kids' access to Internet devices

  35. My second-chance points strategy with documentation

  36. The problem with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in documentation

  37. Recording of my WTD Portland 2017 presentation on Building navigation for your doc site -- 5 best practices

  38. Write the Docs Podcast episode 6: Metadata and UI copy

  39. Limits to the idea of treating docs as code

  40. How big should your documentation repo be?

  41. Impressions from the Write the Docs Conference -- and thoughts on achieving sustainability without selling out to vendors

  42. Slides for Write the Docs Portland presentation on doc navigation best practices

  43. Testing your documentation -- updates in API doc course

  44. Write the Docs Podcast episode 5: Where do we belong?

  45. My Calm Meditation app -- another experiment to test my docs

  46. Tutorial on converting an HTML site into a Jekyll theme

  47. Following instructions involves learning a new language -- adventures with Tinker Crate projects

  48. Write the Docs Podcast app now on Fire TV, and the importance of testing your docs with sample apps

  49. Amazon begins pilot with voice-interactive user manuals

  50. Tutorials versus docs -- why you need both

  51. Moved my API doc site into separate repo

  52. Simplifying my life and writing

  53. Guest post -- The effects of terminology consistency on the reader's comprehension and attitude

  54. Crowdsourcing docs with docs-as-code tools -- same result as with wikis?

  55. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 4 -- Continuous Integration and Docs as Code

  56. Adobe FrameMaker 2017 -- time, tools, and the tech writer’s focus on content

  57. Upcoming 2017 Write the Docs Conference in Portland

  58. Guest Post -- MadCap Central: A Review for Companies Delivering Technical Communication Services

  59. How do you learn what you need to learn to be successful as a technical writer?

  60. Guest post: Design choices for organizing API reference content with other documentation

  61. Recording of User-Centered Design Principles for Organizing Documentation

  62. Write the Docs Podcast episode 3: Trends for 2017

  63. Technical Writing Trends and Predictions for 2017

  64. Simplified Technical English and HyperSTE

  65. Recording: Modern Technical Writing, by Andrew Etter (STC Silicon Valley chapter)

  66. Recording: Writing tech docs like a hacker with Jekyll

  67. My top 3 posts of 2016 are all Swagger-related -- lessons learned from 2016 analytics

  68. Swagger presentation recording -- Harnessing the Chi of Swagger in your REST API documentation

  69. FrameMaker and the mobile web: Evaluating Adobe FrameMaker's responsive HTML5 output

  70. MadCap Central -- a first look at MadCap’s new cloud-based collaboration and publishing solution

  71. How much code do you need to know to create API developer documentation?

  72. Attend my upcoming TC Dojo presentation on Swagger on Jan 9, 2017

  73. TC Camp in Santa Clara to be held Jan 21, 2017

2016 archives

  1. Generalist versus specialist: What should you focus on with knowledge building in your tech writing role?

  2. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 2 (which Focuses on Findability) Now Available

  3. Updating a single page versus updating the documentation as a whole

  4. Write the Docs Podcast episode 1: New podcast from the Write the Docs community

  5. Recording of Open Authoring -- Collaboration Across Disciplines presentation, by Ralph Squillace

  6. Review of Coding for Writers course by Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy

  7. Should you ever apologize for something product-related in your documentation? Looking at Apple's dongle documentation

  8. How to avoid becoming extinct in your technical writing career

  9. How to get crisp text callouts like in Apple's new Touch bar documentation -- and why you might not want to with translation projects

  10. Markdown or reStructuredText or DITA? Choosing the right format for tech docs

  11. How to tell if you're a content strategist

  12. Apple's Two-Step Verification versus Two-Factor Authentication, or, When Marketing's lingo makes it impossible to communicate with plain speech

  13. How to respond to product disasters: Analyzing Samsung's response to their exploding phones in contrast to Dyn's response to the DDoS attack

  14. How to deliver newsletters for your Jekyll site

  15. Coding the sidebar navigation element for documentation websites

  16. From podcasts to audio books and now back to podcasts -- experimenting with a new angle

  17. Saving Your Sanity Through Better Client Relations -- with Alisa Bonsignore

  18. My gravity towards tools

  19. Zooming out and in with navigation

  20. Kanban may be a better fit than scrum when you support large numbers of engineers

  21. How can technical writers thrive in agile environments? Event recording and details

  22. Implementing Swagger in your API documentation -- My ISTC article

  23. Recording of Let's Tell a Story -- Scenario-Based Documentation, by Matt Ness (STC Silicon Valley Presentation)

  24. Balancing the never-ending list of documentation to write with your natural interests and passions

  25. The variety of tools tech comm professionals use

  26. Presentation recording: Hunting for API developer documentation jobs in the San Francisco Bay area, by Andrew Davis

  27. The complexities of translation and the need for dynamic variables in the build process

  28. Will the docs-as-code approach scale? Responding to comments on my Review of Modern Technical Writing

  29. The Story of Paligo: A new browser-based CCMS with all the features you'd ever want

  30. Review of Andrew Etter's ebook on Modern Technical Writing

  31. Applying Tim Ferriss' 4-hour work week rules to tech comm projects

  32. Thoughts on Transforming Documentation Processes presentation at WTD: Evaluating the trend to treat documentation as code

  33. Context switching and efficiency -- Kanban to the rescue?

  34. Why Programming Sucks and the fallacy of documentation in the context of code chaos

  35. Thoughts on Documentation Avoidance for Programmers

  36. How the Solve This! meetup format turned out -- plus some unachieved parallels with the Dead Poet Society

  37. The difference between marketing writing and technical writing in one small sign

  38. A jump in Google traffic due to content quality?

  39. Attend the "Solve This!" Write the Docs Meetup tomorrow (June 23, 2016)

  40. Examples of visual communication in developer documentation with the Android Vocabulary Glossary

  41. My technical communication contribution to the UX Careers Handbook

  42. Advanced formatting with Markdown using Jekyll and Includes

  43. More complex user process maps in documentation systems

  44. Interested in working as a technical writer at Amazon?

  45. Examples of linear workflow user maps built with JS and CSS

  46. 8 image translation issues for tech doc — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone

  47. 11 images issues for tech doc systems — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone

  48. Presentation recording: Move Fast And ... Document Things? Lessons learned in building documentation culture at a startup, by Ruthie Bendor

  49. Recording of 'Move fast and ... document things,' by Ruthie Bendor at Write the Docs

  50. Recording of 'Two great teams that work great together: Bridging the gap between documentation and support,' by Neal Kaplan at Write the Docs

  51. Some post-STC Summit thoughts

  52. Slides for Writing Tech Docs Like a Hacker with Jekyll presentation

  53. Slides for Documenting REST APIs Workshop — 2016 STC Summit Anaheim, Calif.

  54. How do you establish more context in a topic-based writing model?

  55. Getting sharp, clear text in screen captures — and making sense of Retina displays

  56. Jekyll Conf 2016 slides and video: Overcoming Challenges in Using Jekyll for Tech Docs

  57. Creating professional looking graphics in the easiest, simplest way possible

  58. Visual communication overview

  59. Three types of knowledge every technical writer needs to be successful

  60. Recording of WTD presentation on Video Documentation, by Alicia Avrach

  61. Recording of STC-SV presentation on the Shape of a Modern Technical Communication Organization, by Sanborn Hodgkins

  62. Seeing things from the perspective of a learner

  63. Eight reasons why documentation fails for users, and what to do about it

  64. API documentation workshop opportunity at the STC Summit

  65. Lightning talks from San Francisco Write the Docs meetup

  66. Xeditor, a CMS editor for XML content

  67. REST API documentation workshop recording (STC Sacramento)

  68. Version 5.0 of my Documentation Theme for Jekyll now available

  69. Hi there – Let’s get casual… Guest post by Lavanya Krishnamurthy

  70. Shannon got into Stanford's MA Liberal Arts program

  71. Selling Girl Scout cookies

  72. Starting a new series on visual communication

  73. 10 minute podcast on API technical writing with Ryan Weber on Stitcher

  74. Retrospective — Looking back at the good and bad of previous experiences

  75. So People Don't RTFM? Write a FM That's Worth R'ing — Guest post by Marcia Riefer Johnston

  76. Lightweight DITA article in Technical Communication Journal

  77. I'm starting a new job at Amazon Lab126

  78. Answering questions in James Gill's upcoming book, How to Get Started as a Technical Writer

  79. What is the ideal tool for developer documentation environments?

  80. Updating from redcarpet and Pygments to Kramdown and Rouge on Github Pages

  81. Why didn't WordPress take off with tech docs?

  82. Two upcoming API documentation events this Thursday

  83. Is the only way to plug into a documentation CCMS through DITA/XML?

  84. Three models for single source publishing — and challenges with each

  85. My YAML tutorial in the context of Jekyll

  86. The third API course from Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy

  87. Upcoming REST API documentation workshop in Sacramento

  88. New section in API documentation course: The Job Market for API technical Writers

  89. Challenges in documenting long JSON objects

  90. How to apply agile processes to manage your life's projects

  91. The problem with adopting bleeding-edge tools

  92. Spec-driven Development with RAML -- presentation by Michael Stowe to STC Silicon Valley chapter

  93. First video for API documentation course -- your feedback?

  94. Are technical writing blogs growing or dying?

  95. What is the technical writer's role in content marketing?

  96. Analyzing top posts on my blog during 2015 — Deciding between brand versus readership

2015 archives

  1. My 2016 technical writing trends and predictions, or the ripple effects of API growth on technical writers

  2. Recording of Creating Documentation for Startups: Panel Discussion -- Write the Docs San Francisco

  3. My upcoming 2016 STC Summit workshop and presentation

  4. How do you stay updated with changes developers are silently making?

  5. Those pesky authoring tool questions, and an update on my adventures with Jekyll

  6. Recording of Version Control, Writers, and Worfklows by Richard Mateosian

  7. Question: How long does it take to ramp up on your Jekyll theme?

  8. Swagger UI probably the coolest thing I've done in API docs

  9. 10 realizations as I was creating my Swagger spec and Swagger UI

  10. Guest Post: Could Software Perform Technical Writing? by Robert Desprez

  11. Single sourcing the Swagger spec and main documentation using Jekyll

  12. Version 4.0 released for the Jekyll Documentation Theme

  13. Planning my API doc course

  14. Upcoming Write the Docs Meetup

  15. My pros and cons of using Jekyll for documentation

  16. Can you replace a CCMS with version control such as Git or Mercurial?

  17. Tell me about your career as a technical writer...

  18. Why incremental regeneration in Jekyll 3.0 is such a big deal

  19. Increase efficiency 24 times faster when fixing errors — implications for technical writers on agile teams

  20. Podcast: Spec-driven Development of REST APIs, with a focus on RAML -- interview with Michael Stowe

  21. Udemy podcast (with me) and infographic on technical writing

  22. 5 REST API resources to add to your reading list

  23. Tutorial for creating interactive consoles with RAML

  24. Question: If you weren't a technical writer, what would you be?

  25. Why so little focus on API doc at tech comm conferences?

  26. Question: Can I earn a living blogging?

  27. Question: How long has your API doc course been available?

  28. Question: How are you publishing and delivering your docs?

  29. Question: How do I tell what platform people are using for API docs?

  30. Experimenting with a shorter post style

  31. Added native library API section to API doc course

  32. Upcoming "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session

  33. Swagger tutorial for REST API documentation

  34. Survey analyzing skill requirements in job postings

  35. How to avoid broken links when single sourcing

  36. Editing workflows and reviews through Github's pull requests

  37. Comparing object-oriented design to content reuse

  38. How authorization works with APIs

  39. What is a REST API?

  40. Proposals for 2016 *STC Silicon Valley Chapter* presentations now accepted

  41. My process for creating vector diagrams with Illustrator

  42. Version 3.0 of my Documentation theme for Jekyll released

  43. Question: What qualities should technical writers have to work at startups?

  44. Podcast: The divide between academics and practitioners -- Interview with Lisa Meloncon

  45. Why is there a divide between academics and practitioners in tech comm?

  46. When are wikis ever successful?

  47. An easy way to support my site: Sign up for technical writing job alerts

  48. Podcast: How do design, length, and relevance affect how people use API reference docs -- interview with Bob Watson

  49. LearningDITA.com: A new online learning resource for DITA by Scriptorium

  50. How do you test content that's beyond your skill level?

  51. Should you add your testing scenarios into your documentation?

  52. Peter Gruenbaum has released part 2 of his Udemy course on API technical writing

  53. Survey results about the possible REST API workshop

  54. Is it inefficient to frequently switch contexts among multiple projects?

  55. Survey about possible REST API workshop — your feedback would be helpful

  56. Getting mobile friendly display and responsive design just right, especially with ads

  57. Reader question: How do I move forward out of a stagnant tech writing career?

  58. Should technical writers care about more than documentation?

  59. Build a technical writing portfolio by writing documentation for startups

  60. Communicating feedback from testing documentation

  61. Guest post: 10 New Things to Love and Hate About Flare

  62. Should QA test documentation?

  63. Listen to Ed Marsh's Content Content podcast with me as a guest

  64. The key to writing good documentation: Testing your instructions

  65. Pingdom reports with WordPress on Bluehost/MaxCDN versus with Jekyll on Github

  66. Three questions people ask me each week

  67. Slides, notes, and lessons learned at the STC Summit 2015 in Columbus, Ohio

  68. My upcoming workshop and presentation at the STC Summit 2015 in Columbus, Ohio

  69. How to avoid early death from sitting down all day

  70. How do you authenticate your documentation?

  71. My daughter published a real video game through "Girls Make Games" camp

  72. Check out my conversation on ContentHug

  73. How can technical writers cut through engineering jargon and decode complex information?

  74. Why no one stopped by my technical writing booth at career fair day

  75. Moved my blog from WordPress to Jekyll

  76. Integrating Documentation into engineering code and workflows

  77. API technical writing course on Udemy from Peter Gruenbaum, and some thoughts on documenting JSON

  78. Switched commenting systems to Disqus

  79. Introduction to technical writing -- slides and audio recording

  80. API Documentation presentation to East Bay STC chapter -- slides and recording

  81. How to design documentation for non-linear reading behavior

  82. Recording and slides from "Jekyll vs. DITA: Bridging the Gap Between Tech Comm and the Web" presentation

  83. User-centered documentation slides

  84. Upcoming presentation: Jekyll versus DITA: Bridging the Gap between Tech Comm and the Web

  85. New series: User-centered documentation

  86. Final analysis between DITA and Jekyll

  87. Producing PDFs in DITA versus Jekyll

  88. Reviewing content in DITA versus Jekyll

  89. Creating links in DITA versus Jekyll

  90. Newbie to Technical Writer in 4 Easy Steps

  91. Building a table of contents with DITA versus Jekyll

  92. Creating re-usable chunks (conref) in Jekyll versus DITA

  93. Variables and conditional processing in Jekyll versus DITA

  94. Authoring with Markdown in Jekyll versus Authoring with DITA in OxygenXML

  95. Check out Ed Marsh's podcast, and also My New series: Jekyll versus DITA

  96. Some thoughts on attending tcworld India 2015

  97. PDF still trumps browser-based help?

  98. Recording of API documentation workshop (REST and Javadoc) at tcworld India 2015

  99. Recording of Innovation in Technical Communication keynote at tcworld India 2015

  100. Slides for tcworld India 2015 presentations

  101. Reveal JS: An HTML5 alternative to PowerPoint, with support for SVG graphics

  102. Pushing content into any format with Jekyll

  103. How to create a help API

  104. Static site generators start to replace web publishing platforms like WordPress

  105. Some web tools worth using in help solutions

  106. Piggybacking onto the innovation of the web

  107. Microsoft and the last 5 great technological innovations

  108. Interactive video workshop in San Jose this Saturday, 1-5pm

  109. The genius of Github and how it can transform tech comm

  110. XML and the web: drifting farther apart?

  111. The only significant innovation for tech comm

  112. A long list of technical innovations semi-relevant to technical writers

  113. Sustaining and disruptive innovations

  114. Podcast: The upcoming tcworld India conference on March 12-13, with Akash Dubey

  115. Why do we need PDFs?

  116. Upcoming workshop: Creating Interactive Video Tutorials, with Bernard Aschwanden on Feb 21

  117. Best practices for API documentation -- podcast with Andrya Feinberg

  118. Survival strategies for API documentation -- slides and recording

  119. Creating context-sensitive help by converting your help into a JSON API with Jekyll

  120. Writing is like sorting laundry -- practical advice for tackling documentation projects

  121. 10 reasons for moving away from DITA

  122. API workshop video + audio + slides + workshop files from TC Camp

  123. Reinventing the table of contents

  124. Implementing ScrollSpy with Jekyll to auto-build a table of contents

  125. Moving from passive to reactive documentation -- recording of presentation by Greg Koberger, ReadMe.com founder

  126. Most important factor in APIs is complete and accurate documentation

  127. API doc survey: Do engineers write API doc in the source code?

  128. API doc survey: How much of your doc process is automated?

  129. Several REST API tutorials using the EventBrite, Klout, and Flickr APIs

  130. Experimenting with Jekyll for tech comm

  131. API doc survey: Most challenging aspect of API documentation

  132. Jan 12 Silicon Valley STC meeting: Passive vs. reactive doc + readme.com

  133. Question: How do I add my DITA content in Confluence for SME review?

  134. Podcast: Unifying the API doc publishing toolchain, with Mark Baker

  135. API doc survey result: How to learn what you need to know?

  136. API doc survey result: How do you get the source files that contain code comments?

  137. API doc survey result: Automating REST API documentation

  138. Podcast: Automating REST API documentation, with Peter Gruenbaum

  139. New cost-per-click feature for advertising on I'd Rather Be Writing During 2015

  140. My *real* top 10 technical writing trend predictions for 2015

  141. Top 10 posts, podcasts, tweets of 2014 -- and what it all means

  142. API doc survey: Do you create API doc by looking at source code?

  143. API doc survey: What IDE do you use?

  144. API doc survey: Do you test out the API calls used in your doc yourself?

  145. Predictions for Top 10 Technical Writing Trends for 2015

2014 archives

  1. Various Site updates: Added third column with dynamic sidebar, and more

  2. Question: Where are API documentation jobs for technical writers located?

  3. API doc survey: Authoring tools preferred by API documentation writers

  4. Learning how developers think, and other API doc insights: Podcast with Joe Malin

  5. API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know

  6. API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document

  7. Getting a job in API documentation: Podcast with Andrew Davis

  8. I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey

  9. Authoring tools for startups -- Guest post by Vinish Garg

  10. Podcast download stats kind of mind-blowing

  11. DITA: Glossary terms and acronyms

  12. Free from limitations and imaginary lines

  13. Convert Markdown Content to DITA in 20 seconds

  14. The Upcoming TC Camp Unconference and my morning API workshop

  15. Upcoming API Workshop with Sarah Maddox

  16. Tech comm on a map: See all the tech comm groups, meetups, conferences, events, and consultants on a Google map

  17. Dynamic content filtering with OxygenXML's webhelp output

  18. Add a mini-TOC to your OxygenXML webhelp topics

  19. Crystal Springs Reservoir ride, and other details

  20. Impressions from my first Write the Docs meetup

  21. The Evolution of Technical Writing

  22. Flat file systems versus database models for help

  23. The Author Experience -- Interview with Rick Yagodich

  24. Simplifying DITA authoring by using a Markdown to HTML to DITA workflow

  25. Celebrating Lucy and her timeline

  26. Santa Clara to San Carlos bike ride

  27. API and SDK documentation: Notes from Ed Marshall's Workshop at Information Development World

  28. Slides and recording for "Perfecting the audio narration in instructional video" at Info Dev World

  29. Upcoming presentation at #InfoDevWorld: "Perfecting the Audio Narration in Instructional Videos"

  30. DocOps: Interview with Jim Turcotte

  31. San Francisco city-to-ferry loop bicycle ride

  32. Biking trip to Yosemite

  33. API Doc presentation slides and recording (San Francisco STC chapter)

  34. Import DITA's XHTML Output into WordPress

  35. Outside the tech comm tool bubble, there is a wide, wide world

  36. Why developers will never adopt DITA

  37. Natural Bridges

  38. Maisie's peak and more

  39. Two major Confluence problems: poor content re-use and lack of wiki markup

  40. Using collapsible sections to bring tasks and concepts together (DITA)

  41. Foreword to Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps, 2nd Edition

  42. Adding code comments through a sliding jQuery Sidr panel (DITA)

  43. STC Intercom Issue Entirely Dedicated to API Documentation

  44. Using WordPress natively for single source publishing and conditional content

  45. Upcoming presentation in downtown San Francisco: Publishing strategies for API documentation

  46. Challenges in using WordPress for publishing DITA content

  47. Thirteen life hacks

  48. Author in DITA, publish with WordPress

  49. Woes of conditional text and topichead elements (DITA best practices)

  50. Benefits of tool diversity, part II

  51. Is tool fragmentation in tech comm a good thing?

  52. Reviewing draft DITA content with subject matter experts: 6 essential points

  53. My DITA quick reference guide (QRG)

  54. Book Review: The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

  55. Writing documentation in an interactive world: Some thoughts on using easyDITA and OxygenXML

  56. The part of the brain you should listen to when writing

  57. Content Re-use is so much better with DITA (and esp. with OxygenXML)

  58. Strategies for content re-use in Confluence

  59. 10 technical writing principles to live by

  60. Information Development World and the Customer Experience -- A Podcast with Scott Abel and Val Swisher

  61. Introduction to API documentation: Interview with Scot Marvin

  62. Started a new job

  63. Lessons learned as a novice API technical writer -- Interview with Mary Linderman (podcast)

  64. The future of tech comm is developer doc

  65. Creating code samples for API/SDK documentation (webinar recording, slides, and audio)

  66. How to embed looping videos on your web page

  67. My Intercom article on gamification and user engagement

  68. Recording of my STC Sacramento presentation -- Why users can't find answers in help material

  69. What does DITA-structured help look like?

  70. Complex tools versus simple tools

  71. Upcoming webinar: Creating code samples for API/SDK documentation

  72. DITA: Nested subheadings and the concept element

  73. DITA: Limitations with the chunk="to-content" attribute in relationship tables

  74. DITA hierarchical links, related links, short descriptions, and one-folder organization

  75. DITA: Why DITA, metadata, working in code and author views, and relationship tables

  76. DITA: Folder hierarchy, conref, mapref, and more

  77. My DITA journey begins

  78. The need for robust tech comm authoring tools

  79. Strategies for using links with DITA

  80. STC Chapter provides lavish "all expenses paid" outing to San Diego zoo for members

  81. Now that debts are paid off, plan to travel the world for a year, documenting things

  82. Dita Von Teese to give keynote at DITA North America 2014 Conference

  83. New hot coals event to be highlight at Lavacon conference

  84. The Content Wrangler Announces New 52 Mini-Conference Model

  85. Using metadata to control online navigation through portlets

  86. Writing skills versus technical skills, or, What I realized in solving a Sudoku puzzle

  87. soap! A new conference for technical writers in Poland

  88. Two months after leaving the church -- an update

  89. Do I need to take courses in technical writing? Guest post by Laura Palmer

  90. Videos and reflections from the 2014 Intelligent Content Conference

  91. Tobi Crabtree on Virtual Agents (Intelligent Content 2014)

  92. Val Swisher on Translation Without Borders at Intelligent Content 2014

  93. Noz Urbina on The Biological Imperative for Intelligent Content (Intelligent Content 2014)

  94. Mark Baker on Every Page Is Page One (Intelligent Content 2014)

  95. Rahel Bailie on the Language of Content Strategy (Intelligent Content 2014)

  96. Don Day on Connecting Intelligent Content with Micropublishing (Intelligent Content 2014)

  97. Theresa Putkey on Diagnosing and Solving Content Problems (Intelligent Content 2014)

  98. Kyle Wiens on gamification and iFixit / Dozuki at Intelligent Content 2014

  99. Sarah O'Keefe on The Many Facets of Content Strategy (Intelligent Content 2014)

  100. Marcia Riefer Johnston on Writing (Intelligent Content 2014)

  101. Tom Johnson on Blogging (Intelligent Content 2014)

  102. Writers needed for Intercom issue on API documentation

  103. A simple way to write, edit, and publish documentation online using Google Docs and Markdown

  104. How can we know something that is totally unfamiliar to us?

  105. An argument for complexity rather than simplicity in technical communication

  106. Gamification and user engagement in e-learning and documentation

  107. Will structure and style make documentation processes less costly?

  108. Growing trends for APIs and my favorite resources to learn technical information

  109. Upcoming interviews at the Intelligent Content Conference

  110. Why I left the Mormon church

  111. Single-page docs versus "Click Insanity"

  112. Upcoming presentation to Sacramento STC Chapter on Jan 16

  113. Tips for writing code comments in developer documentation

  114. Recording of STC Berkeley presentation on why users can't find answers in help

  115. DITA's output does not require separation of tasks from concepts

  116. The appeal of DITA

  117. Upcoming API Workshop in San Jose on Feb 8, 2014

2013 archives

  1. How to lose weight without starving yourself

  2. WordPress tip: Create a series of posts

  3. Researching the right keywords (search engine optimization)

  4. Get a technical writing internship or on-the-job experience without having much time for it

  5. My Christmas wishlist on Techwhirl

  6. Single sourcing and duplicate content (search engine optimization)

  7. Introduction, frames, iframes, and tech comm tools (search engine optimization)

  8. Collapsible header sections -- more problematic than helpful

  9. TC Camp Unconference in San Jose, Calif. on January 25, 2014

  10. Making website banner ads more visible

  11. Is Atlassian Marginalizing Confluence Power Users? Guest Post by Steve Goldberg

  12. A bucket list for a career in tech comm?

  13. Questions from readers: How to organize reviews, and whether a dedicated editor is worthwhile

  14. A few things tech writers frequently say: Videos tedious, topics best when short, people just use Google, and more

  15. The Bug Badge

  16. Balancing new and familiar: Avoiding the Groundhog day syndrome

  17. Imperfect content and the difficulty of writing video scripts

  18. Everything I needed to know about technical writing I learned in preschool...

  19. Recording and slides for "Why users can't find answers in help" presentation to STC Silicon Valley

  20. What to do with old manuals from products you own

  21. My Upcoming Presentation at the STC Silicon Valley Chapter -- "Why Users Can't Find Answers to Their Questions in Help Content"

  22. Learning How to Communicate Visually in Documentation

  23. How to Search Engine Optimize (SEO) Your Help Documentation

  24. Narrative Workflow Topics: Helping Users Connect the Dots Among Topics

  25. Reader Question: How do I create online help, how to guides, quick start tutorials, or video tutorials?

  26. Recommended Article: APIs are delivering on their promise (SD Times: Software Development News)

  27. Creating Good Content Requires Cross-Department Collaboration

  28. Sticking with Obvious Information Versus Creating Information that Users Need

  29. Subheadings: Perhaps the Most Useful Technique in Technical Writing

  30. Examples Are a Primary Way That Complicated Concepts Become Clear

  31. Interactive Poll: Why Can't Users Find Answers to Their Questions in Help?

  32. Why I Test Nearly Everything

  33. When Organizing Big Data Content, It's Okay To Be Messy

  34. 7 Ways to Learn Difficult Subjects in Order to Write Useful Content

  35. Turning Around the Disdain for Help by Focusing on Content

  36. Messages from Sponsors -- July 2013

  37. Sample Chapter from Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs, by Marcia Riefer Johnston

  38. Finding a Starting Point: Answering Questions or Addressing Purpose?

  39. Abandoning the Social Network and Q&A Idea

  40. How do you answer every user's question?

  41. What Have Been My Most Successful Experiences in Connecting Help Material with Users?

  42. Notes from Future of Technical Communication Webinar

  43. Recording of "Video Tutorials for User Assistance" (UA Europe Presentation)

  44. Recording of "Making Content More Findable When Users Browse and Search" (UA Europe Presentation)

  45. Do We Need a New Approach to Help? Why Are Users So Apathetic Towards Help after 50 Years of Innovation?

  46. How Things Will Be in Tech Comm … After the Singularity?

  47. Version 2.0 of I'd Rather Be Writing -- More Community Driven

  48. Structured Authoring By For And Or Nor With In the Web

  49. Reader Question: How Do I Restrict Content by Role in the Same Output?

  50. Exploring Markdown in Collaborative Authoring to Publishing Workflows

  51. Can Help Content Have Recognizable Facets?

  52. Faceted Search and Query Reformulation

  53. On Metadata and Help Content

  54. Moving Beyond the TOC in Organizing Help Content -- Illustrated Edition

  55. What Does Content Re-Use Look Like in a Web CMS?

  56. Is Structured Authoring (like DITA) a Good Fit for Publishing on a Website?

  57. Why Long Topics Are Better for the User

  58. Do Short Topics Make Information More Findable?

  59. Does Merging Support Content with Documentation Increase Findability?

  60. What makes Basketball Fun? Gamifying Exercise

  61. Does DITA Encourage Authors to Fragment Information into a Million Little Pieces?

  62. How Do You Teach New Users Programming?

  63. How Can a Technical Writer Develop a Love of Programming Code?

  64. How Do You Gamify Writing?

  65. Why Do People Rank High on the MindTouch #Techcomm Influencer Report?

  66. Why Does Content Become Disorganized?

  67. Adding Syntax Highlighting to Code Examples Online and in Microsoft Word

  68. Sample Expand and Collapse Code with Twisting Buttons

  69. Evaluating the Usability of Collapsible Sections (or jQuery's Content Toggle)

  70. Avoiding Quadrant Four

  71. How to Organize Page-Level Content

  72. Gamifying Chores

  73. What I Learned in Searching for a Job

  74. Moving to California and Starting a New Job

  75. Two Competing Help Models: One-Stop Shopping or Specialized Stores?

  76. Single Sourcing and Redundancy

  77. How to Get Programmers to Change User Interfaces

  78. Four Less Common Types of Technical Writers Companies Are Looking For

  79. Import DITA Webhelp Output into WordPress

  80. Single Sourcing Screen Captures to Print, Online, and Mobile Using Flare and Capture

  81. Looking at Search Analytics to Improve Help Content

  82. Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions about Technical Writing

  83. Connection Points with the Tech Comm Role

  84. Girl Scouts Painting and Comic Art Badges

  85. Discovering Girl Scouts

  86. Create a Child Theme to Customize a WordPress Theme

  87. Message from Sponsors — January 2013

2012 archives

  1. Reader Question: "My Wish List for Technical Writing Tools"

  2. Moving Between the Agora and the Desert

  3. 7 Ways to Increase Flare's Search Engine Optimization in Google's Results

  4. Knowledge Has a New Shape, and It's Not the Book

  5. Podcast: Include It All, Filter It Afterwards -- Interview with Mark Baker

  6. The Rebirth of My Podcast

  7. My Upcoming Presentations at User Assistance Europe in Manchester, England

  8. A Few Notes from Too Big To Know

  9. What Does "Every Page Is Page One" and "Include It All, Filter It Afterward" Mean?

  10. Five Ways to Avoid the "Congratulations" Cliche as You Start a User's Guide

  11. Book Review: Your Brain at Work, by David Rock

  12. Incorporating Learning into Tech Comm Deliverables

  13. Implementing Highlighting in Madcap Flare's HTML5 Output

  14. Creating Video Tutorials for Android and iPhone Mobile Apps

  15. Exploring Flare's Mobile Webhelp Format in Depth

  16. Retina Display and Screen Capture Sizes in Online Help

  17. 10 Realizations While Writing Documentation for a Mobile App

  18. Staying Out of Maintenance Mode

  19. Writing in the Trenches Versus Writing on the Sidelines

  20. Upcoming STC Editing SIG Webinar: Writing and Editing Scripts for Video Tutorials

  21. Halloween Human Organ Donation Station

  22. Company Strategies for Blog Content That Avoids Controversy

  23. PowerPoint Slides from Lavacon Presentation on Producing Professional Sounding Audio in Video Tutorials

  24. The Double-Edged Sword of Hiding Controversial Information

  25. Podcast on Technical Writing

  26. Professional Technical Writing Careers -- Answers to Questions, by Cheryl Landes

  27. Book Review: No Easy Day

  28. Specializing in the Next Big Thing: A Few Lingering Thoughts from Lavacon

  29. Professional Technical Writing Careers -- Questions and Answers, by Steve Goldberg

  30. Exploring the Tech Comm Paradox

  31. How to Create Video Tutorials -- A Five Step Process

  32. How to Change the World

  33. Incorporating Elements of Speech into Writing

  34. Keeping Scripts Fluid When Recording Video Tutorials

  35. Why Isn't Spoken Language Easier for Writers?

  36. Bringing the Scientific Mind to Tech Comm

  37. Quick Reference Guide Gallery

  38. Comparing Zumba to Technical Writing

  39. First Day of School

  40. The Blame Game of RTFM

  41. Blending Tech Comm with Support

  42. Messages from Sponsors -- August 2012

  43. Summer Is Over, School Begins Again

  44. Guest Post: Core Skills for Technical Writers Often Overlooked

  45. Using the Proximity Principle to Design Online Help Navigation

  46. Why Glossaries Help Users Find Information

  47. This Theme Is Now Responsive

  48. Applying Progressive Information Disclosure to Online Help Navigation

  49. Misconceptions about Topic-Based Authoring

  50. The Importance of Contextual Navigation, or Cross References in Topics

  51. Unconscious Meaning Suggested from the Structure and Shape of Help

  52. Why Do We Need Navigation At All?

  53. Writing as a Holy Calling

  54. Taxonomy, Metadata, and Search: Notes from Seth Earley's Confab Workshop

  55. Returning to Findability

  56. How Can Newbies Learn Tech Comm Tools Given Their Cost?

  57. Writing User-Centered Documentation, or, My Best Days as a Technical Writer

  58. Turning Point (Wikis)

  59. Writing Is Harder Than Most Think (Wikis)

  60. A Guiding Metaphor (Wikis)

  61. Community and Collaboration (Wikis)

  62. Some Wiki Basics (Wikis)

  63. Is Collaborative Authoring Over-Hyped?

  64. The Need for Constant Updates (Wikis)

  65. My Journey To and From Wikis: Why I Adopted Wikis, Why I Veered Away, and a New Model

  66. Upcoming STC Webinar: Creating Help in a Wiki Environment

  67. An Ingenious Way to Solicit Community Contributions, or, How to Replace the Screen for an Asus Laptop UL50AG

  68. Content Strategy Workshops: Interview with Rahel Bailie

  69. When Wikis Succeed and Fail

  70. Confab 2012: Thoughts and Reactions

  71. 15 Tips for a Successful Conference Experience

  72. How Character Drives Story -- Book Review of Ann Patchett's State of Wonder

  73. Q&A: What should my major be for a career in technical writing?

  74. Trying New Things, Changing Interests

  75. Book Review: Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson

  76. Stuck in a system

  77. Asking questions is more important than finding answers -- why?

  78. Differences between blogs and wikis, and why you might need both

  79. Leveraging the wisdom of the 80/20 rule: Focusing on content that matters

  80. A Love Affair with Grapefruit

  81. Guest Post: Why I Love Wikis

  82. Finally Biking to Work

  83. Subpage Titles on Wikis -- Challenges, Conventions, and Compromises

  84. Guest Post: Wikis Are the Future of Technical Documentation

  85. Guest Post: A Week in My Life as a Technical Writer (with some humor)

  86. Guest Post: Is Technical Writing Creative?

  87. Thinking About a Social Media Strategy: A Few Elements to Consider

  88. Technical Communication Metrics: What Should You Track?

  89. Conferences I'm Attending This Year

  90. Why don't technical writers use wikis — or do they?

  91. Incensed at "Laid-back" Categorization of Technical Writing Career

  92. Why I Love Audible

  93. My New Email Strategy: The Email Game and ActiveInbox

  94. Webinar Recording: Designing Quick Reference Guides

  95. Webinar Recording -- Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies

  96. Looking at The Peter Principle, Dilbert Principle, and Parkinson's Law

  97. On Being an Individual Contributor

  98. A Life of Its Own: An Essay About an Article That Was Never Published

  99. A Reverse Approach to Help Authoring: Writing Documentation Post-Release

  100. Brainstorming Solutions to Volunteer Management/Engagement

  101. Messages from Sponsors -- January 2012

  102. STC Certification: An In-Depth Interview with Steve Jong

  103. Interview with Ugur Akinci about Technical Communication

  104. Upcoming Webinar: Designing Quick Reference Guides

  105. Graduate Research Findings about Technical Communication and Blogs in the Workplace

  106. Using JIRA to Track Writing Assignments

  107. A Lifetime of Reading Versus a Lifetime of Writing

  108. The "Home Depot Model" of Findability, or, Social Search

  109. Looking at Breadcrumbs in a New Way

2011 archives

  1. What I Learned About Tech Comm During 2011

  2. The Urge to Correct: Frustrations with Language Translation and Misuse

  3. Using Tags to Increase Findability

  4. What Tools Do Technical Writers Use

  5. Kanban and Limiting the Scope of Work

  6. Matrix Foretells Future of Learning

  7. What I Like About Grandpa

  8. Grandpa Reading Runaway Bunny

  9. Buffalo on Antelope Island

  10. Hanging Out at Home

  11. Sitting Around at Home

  12. Kids Singing

  13. Misleading Documentation Metrics

  14. Writing My Last Chapter

  15. Counting Calories

  16. How Avery Got Earrings

  17. Grandma Nana Comes to Visit

  18. We Moved Downstairs

  19. King Size Bed Fits Four

  20. Some Thoughts on Technical Writing in the Cloud

  21. Slides from STC Webinar on Organizing Content (Findability)

  22. My STC Webinar on Organizing Content -- This Thursday at 4pm EST

  23. Regret Over a Missed Career in Astronomy

  24. Discovering Antelope Island

  25. Reading Mistborn

  26. Cooking Tamales

  27. Wiki Culture, Reader/Writer Distinctions, and Divergence from Structured Authoring

  28. Should Technical Writing Be Taught in High School? (Collaborative Post)

  29. Why I Returned to Wikis for Help Authoring

  30. Messages from My Tech Comm Sponsors -- November 2011

  31. Survey about Technical Writers and Blogging Activities

  32. Senior Technical Writer Job Opening at the LDS Church

  33. Moving Towards the "Dark Side": From Technical Writing to Content Marketing

  34. Managing 60 + Volunteer Writers

  35. Using Treejack as a Method for Evaluating Your Help's Navigation

  36. The Importance of a Personal Face -- On Halloween

  37. Blog Versus Web Log: Back to Origins

  38. Adding Captions to Youtube Videos

  39. Building Trust in a Corporate Blog

  40. The Conference Proposal I Didn't Submit

  41. Customizing the "No Results Found" Page with Helpful Wayfinding Tips

  42. Appearing on The Forge Show from TechSmith Today at 2pm EST

  43. Visual Storytelling Guides: A New Deliverable in Technical Communication?

  44. Visually Appealing Documents Combine Text with Images

  45. Why Rubrics Fail as a Means of Measuring Documentation Quality

  46. What I've Learned from Lunchtime Creative Writing Workshops

  47. How I Took Back My E-mail Inbox

  48. Recordings of Fathers Blessings

  49. The Proximity Problem for Technical Writers

  50. Book Review: The Hunger Games, and a Possible Parallel for Technical Writers

  51. Should You Get a Graduate Degree in Technical Writing?

  52. Collaborative Post: Why Is the "Technical" More Important Than the "Writing"

  53. What Does It Mean to Know How to Write?

  54. My Review of the New Testament

  55. Three Solutions to the Corporate Blogging Paradox

  56. Book Review: The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall

  57. Interview with Kevin Cuddihy, Editor of the STC Notebook Blog

  58. Stewart Falls: One Last Outing Before Summer Ends

  59. How Swimming Has Changed

  60. Blown Away by Author-it Aspect

  61. Storm Returns Home

  62. The Big Hill

  63. Book Review: A Practical Guide to Designing with Data, by Brian Suda

  64. Windy Night and a Stray Cat

  65. Messages from Sponsors -- August 2011

  66. My Problem with Fiction, and How I Tried to Resolve It

  67. Sidewalk Chalk at Thanksgiving Point Gardens

  68. Familiarity Affects Preferences for Text or Video

  69. Guest Post: CMS UX Woes. It Shouldn't Be This Hard.

  70. Book Review: Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps, by Joe Welinske

  71. Swimming at the Lehi Legacy Center

  72. Thanksgiving Point Gardens Outing

  73. Thinking More About Family

  74. Our Spring View Farms Trail Adventure

  75. Up and Down Directions

  76. A Few Notes from Usability Testing: Video Tutorials Get Watched, Text Gets Skipped

  77. Google Plus as a Professional Communication Tool

  78. Collaborative Post: Giving Guidance to a Masters Student about Technical Writing Careers

  79. Building on Past Successes for Future Directions

  80. Groupon's Copywriting Style

  81. On Content Strategy and Identity

  82. "One Day I'm Going to Figure Out the Solution to Help..."

  83. I want to be a spy ....

  84. The Most Important Stories ... Aren't the Ones I'm Writing

  85. The Value of Content

  86. On Prayer

  87. Why Is Corporate Blogging So Hard?

  88. On telling real stories

  89. Presentations Versus Conversations

  90. Technical Writing in China

  91. MindTouch Webinar — Organizing Help Content: The Problem of Findability

  92. Diverging Directions for Tech Comm: Social Media or Structured Authoring

  93. Does Translation Mean You Should Omit Illustrations?

  94. Message from Sponsors -- June 3, 2011

  95. Join the LDSTech Blog Project and Write Articles for Your Portfolio

  96. Making Up Stories

  97. The Moment

  98. Where Topic-Based Authoring Fails: End-to-End Scenarios

  99. What Does It Mean to Be Innovative?

  100. Moving from Google Reader to Twitter Hashtags

  101. Podcast: Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-based Hierarchies

  102. Every Page Is Page One

  103. WordPress Workshop Outline for the STC Summit

  104. Examples of Help Systems that Provide Users with Multiple Entry Points?

  105. Will We Still Know Us, Tomorrow?

  106. Mooer's Law and Findability

  107. Avoiding Burnout as a Technical Writer [Collaborative Post]

  108. Messages from Sponsors -- May 4, 2011

  109. Collaborative Posts Q&A

  110. A Paradox of Navigation Metaphors for the Web

  111. The Butterfly Paths

  112. Saratoga Hot Springs

  113. Content Strategy for Content Agility

  114. Predicting Tech Comm's Future for Mobile

  115. Cedar Fort cemetery

  116. Introducing Technical Writing World, a New Social Network for Technical Writers

  117. Topic Chunking and The Broken Alarm Clock

  118. The Importance of Chunking for Sorting

  119. Guest Post: To each their own

  120. Book Review: Everything is Miscellaneous, by David Weinberger

  121. Book Review: Letting Go of the Words, by Ginny Redish

  122. Getting Others to Work for You -- The First Step Toward Scalability

  123. Messages from My Sponsors -- April 6, 2011

  124. Podcast: Content Strategy and Agility, with Noz Urbina

  125. How to Become a Content Strategist [Collaborative Post]

  126. Book Review: Elements of Content Strategy, by Erin Kissane

  127. Book Review: Search Patterns, by Peter Morville and Jeffrey Callender

  128. New Content Strategy Podcast and Other Good Resources

  129. Seven Methods of Classification in a Hymnbook

  130. Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies

  131. Podcast: A Practical Guide to Information Architecture, with Donna Spencer

  132. Arguments for and Against Tripane Help

  133. Podcast -- Visual Composing: Document Design for Print and Digital Media, with Jo Mackiewicz

  134. The Real Source of Findability

  135. Update on the Search for Enterprise Authoring

  136. Podcast with Alan Houser -- Candidate for STC Vice President

  137. Podcast with Victoria Koster-Lenhardt -- Candidate for STC Vice President

  138. Lots of Conferences Taking Place

  139. Trends in Search Engine Optimization -- Shifting from Search to Social?

  140. Post-Publishing Word Count Can Be Three Times as Long

  141. I am perhaps finishing my basement, someday

  142. WordPress Tips: Alternatives to Akismet, Design Software, and Dummy Content

  143. The Enterprise Help Authoring Problem

  144. "Powerful as a consumer, lame as an employee"

  145. Formalizing My Help Strategy

  146. The Problem of Free and the Long Tail of Content Production

  147. From DITA to VITA: Tracing Origins and Projecting the Future

  148. Making Help Content Enjoyable to Read -- Impossible Quest?

  149. Free Ticket to Intelligent Content 2011 Conference

  150. Less Text, Please: Contemporary Reading Behaviors and Short Formats

  151. Minimalistic Callouts Heighten Visual Appeal

  152. WordPress Tip: Add a Calendar to Your WordPress Site

  153. Findability and The Information Paradox

  154. *Don't know how you do it all*: Some Thoughts on Productivity

  155. Structured Authoring Survey from Scriptorium

  156. Are Certificate Programs Helpful for Transitioning into Technical Writing? [Collaborative Post]

  157. My Review of the Old Testament (really)

2010 archives

  1. Martin Luther and Technical Communication

  2. Technical Writing – Making Resolutions for the New Year

  3. When Your WordPress Upgrade Fails

  4. Screencasting Tip: Self-Dub the Audio

  5. Participatory Economics: Are Companies Budgeting for Social Media?

  6. Why I'm So Visible

  7. Content Curation versus Content Creation

  8. Does Tech Comm Fit into Mobile Trends?

  9. Give the Perfect Gift this Season: A Laminated Quick Reference Guide

  10. "Known Limitations": Making the Negative Space of Help Content a Little More Explicit

  11. Do community efforts work?

  12. My Comments on "Best Careers 2011: Technical Writer - US News and World Report"

  13. Simplicity in a 550 page manual?

  14. WordPress Tip: Integrating a WordPress Blog into your Website

  15. The Perfect Voice -- Professional or Authentic?

  16. Doc Plan Pains and Empowerment

  17. Adobe Illustrator and InDesign Integration with Layered Images [Visual Imagination #3]

  18. Technology vs. Content, or Why Teaching WordPress Is Frustrating

  19. Review of Alan Porter's Wiki: Grow Your Own for Fun and Profit

  20. Forum → Wiki → Blog Workflow

  21. Podcast: Educational Programs and Workplace Practices

  22. Tactics for Survival: A Technical Writers Field Guide to Overcoming the Forces of Petty PMs and Broken IT Environments

  23. My Brand Is ...

  24. Diverse Content and the Long Tail of Search Engine Metrics

  25. 10 Quick Tips for Project Managers about Help Content

  26. When Help Content Is Forgotten

  27. Text Matters

  28. "I need your help with some documentation" (Xtranormal Movies)

  29. What Is Chartjunk? [Visual Imagination #2]

  30. Being Contrarian

  31. What's the Statistical ROI of Technical Documentation? [Collaborative Post]

  32. Strategy Versus Tactics and the Ongoing Debate about Roles

  33. Why Help Content Fails and #contentstrategy

  34. Technical Writing Is More Than "Click This, Select That" [Podcast]

  35. Why Tech Comm Is a Career Path of Last Resort for Students

  36. Are Academics Just Talking to Themselves?

  37. Technical Communication Careers: Getting Started and Finding Your Niche (BYU Idaho Presentation)

  38. Guest Post on Firehead Blog -- "Finding a Content Strategy for Your Blog"

  39. Paper.li as an Alternative to Google Reader [Screencast]

  40. Podcast: Finding and Creating Relevant Content -- Strategies for Social Media

  41. Podcast: Developing a Personal Voice in Audio (Intermountain-STC event)

  42. Seeing Before Reading: Messages Encoded in the Design of Information [Visual Imagination #2]

  43. The Increasing Momentum of Content Strategy

  44. Eight Defining Questions that Shape Content Organization [Organizing Content #29]

  45. Students Contemplate Whether a Technical Writing Career Will Be Fulfilling

  46. Visuals Engage Users -- Why Aren't There More Illustrations in Help Content? [Visual Imagination #1]

  47. Organizing Content for Constructivist Learning [Organizing Content #28]

  48. Substandard Wages for Technical Writers: A Growing Trend?

  49. Is Rhetoric Relevant? Considering the "Message in Context" [Organizing Content #27]

  50. WordPress Tip: The Concept of Inheritance with CSS

  51. WordPress Tip: Change Your Post Title Color

  52. Why No One Will Hire You: 40 Professionals Give Advice on Improving a Technical Writer's Resume [Collaborative Post]

  53. Downloading Audio from the STC Summit

  54. WordPress Tip: Changing the Styles on Your WordPres Blog

  55. Instructional Design Versus Technical Communication

  56. Searching STC Resources for Information

  57. WordPress Tip: Making Your WP-CONFIG File Secure

  58. You learn more from users in 5 minutes than you do from 2 weeks of project meetings

  59. WordPress Tip: Editing Posts in Bulk

  60. WordPress Tip: Inserting a Gallery of Images into a Post

  61. WordPress Tip: Adding Custom Fields in Posts

  62. 40 Foundational Books for Technical Writing

  63. WordPress Tip: Implementing Photo Galleries

  64. Why Learning Software Is So Hard, and Organizing Content into Levels [Organizing Content #26]

  65. WordPress Tip: Moving Images with Site Migrations

  66. WordPress Tip: Adding an Edit Link for Each Post

  67. More Students Questions about Technical Writing

  68. The Importance of Visual Communication, or How to Build a Dirt Sifter

  69. WordPress Tip: Showing Ads in Your Sidebar

  70. Answers About the Field of Technical Writing for Students

  71. WordPress Tip: Making Elements Overlap on Your Site

  72. WordPress Tip: Eliminating Spam

  73. New Baby Molly

  74. Organizing for Learnability [Organizing Content #25]

  75. WordPress Tip: Showing the Full Content Versus the Excerpt

  76. WordPress Tip: Improve Your Blog's Loading Speed

  77. Perspectives on a Career in Technical Writing: Responses from 16 Tech Comm Professionals

  78. I miss working with my hands

  79. 100 Rejected Summit Proposals

  80. Best Practices for Writing Interface Text [Organizing Content #24]

  81. The Interface Is Text [Organizing Content #23]

  82. WordPress Tip: When you Forget your WordPress Username and Password

  83. The Technical Writer as an Outsider: How Ambitious Are You? [Organizing Content #22]

  84. WordPress Tip: Embed a Video into a Post Using WordPress's Auto-Embed Feature

  85. Editorial Strategies and Mind Games

  86. Introduction to WordPress -- Recording of WordPress Webinar

  87. Principles for Organizing Print Material [Organizing Content #21]

  88. The Role of the Gatekeeper

  89. Relying on the Wisdom of the Crowds with Help Authoring [Organizing Content #20]

  90. WordPress Tip: Integrate Constant Contact with WordPress

  91. Moving into Technical Writing -- A DICE Article and More Links

  92. WordCamp Utah is August 28

  93. Emergence [Organizing Content #19]

  94. Replaceability

  95. Captivate Versus Camtasia Studio

  96. Message from the Sponsors, July 16

  97. Problem Solving and Sprinkler Repair

  98. WordPress Webinar July 13 with the STC Consulting and Independent Contracting SIG

  99. Add WordPress 3.0 Navigation System to Your Site

  100. Free Copy of Camtasia Studio 7 and Snagit 10

  101. 24 Hours of Screencasts with Camtasia Studio

  102. Showing Youtube Captions by Default in Another Language

  103. Separating Basic from Advanced Topics: How Twitter Organizes Their Help [Organizing Content #18]

  104. Do Some Project Managers Suffer from the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

  105. "Load config.xml failed" message with Notepad++

  106. Does a Technical Writer Need to Understand Web Design?

  107. Save $50 on Registration to Lavacon Conference in San Diego

  108. Breaking Things as a Form of Creativity

  109. Organizing Content as Story [Organizing Content #17]

  110. Tiny Tasks and Content Dilution

  111. With Blog Usability, Provide Context and Avoid Mystery Puzzles

  112. Experimenting with a New STC Chapter Meeting Model

  113. Designing from the Content/Story Out

  114. Can Blogs Work as a Web Platform for Help? [Organizing Content 16]

  115. Madcap Software Launches MadNewz Newsletter

  116. Removing Inline Links to Increase Readability

  117. Lavacon's Web 2.0 Conference Website

  118. Dr.Explain is a Gold Sponsor of the European User Assistance Conference 2010

  119. e-Learning Event Coming Up This Friday (Utah location)

  120. Faulty Assumptions About the Scope of Help Content? [Organizing Content 15]

  121. The Semantic Web and Content Findability: Interview with Patrick Warren [Organizing Content 14]

  122. Using Mediawiki Templates to Organize Content [Organizing Content 13]

  123. New Menu Navigation System in WordPress 3.0

  124. Help Authoring Tool Comparison from Sarah Maddox

  125. From Help Authoring Tools to Web Tools, Especially Wikis [Organizing Content 12]

  126. WordPress Tip: There's a Plugin for That

  127. Search Engine Optimizing Your Help Content for Google [Organizing Content 11]

  128. Figuring Out Search Algorithms [Organizing Content 10]

  129. Browse Versus Search: Stumbling into the Unknown Unknown [Organizing Content 9]

  130. Second-Level Faceted Navigation [Organizing Content 8]

  131. WordPress Tip: Backing Up Your Database

  132. Implementing Faceted Classification/Search with a Help Authoring Tool [Organizing Content 7]

  133. Faceted Classification, Faceted Search [Organizing Content 6]

  134. Topic-Based, Hierarchical Navigation [Organizing Content 5]

  135. Imposing Order Versus Observing Order [Organizing Content 4]

  136. Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold [Organizing Content 3]

  137. Introducing Project Swordfish [Organizing Content 2]

  138. New Series: Organizing Content [Organizing Content 1]

  139. 25 Facets for Navigation [Organizing Content 5]

  140. Changing Your Career to Technical Writing [Guest Responses from Bill Albing and Alyssa Fox]

  141. "Tom Johnson: A Modern Day Technical Writer" -- NIU Article

  142. WordPress Tip: Creating WordPress Themes to Match Existing Sites

  143. A Few Ways to Make the Next STC Summit Better, #stc10

  144. Videocast Gallery from the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  145. Finding Time to Draw: Ben Minson at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  146. New Variables for Technical Writing Project Managers: Larry Kunz at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  147. Tough Situations for Technical Communication Managers: Saul Carliner at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  148. The Do-It-Yourself Philosophy: Saul Carliner at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  149. SXSW Conference Versus STC Summit: Anne Gentle and Janet Swisher at the STC Summit, #stc10

  150. Simple Tips for Website Accessibility: Brenda Huettner at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  151. Old Guard Versus New Guard: Whitney Hess at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  152. Pay-per-Content Versus Free: Char James-Tanny and Bill Swallow at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  153. Upcoming Books from XML Press: Richard Hamilton at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  154. Embedded Links and Online Reading Accessibility: Whitney Quesenbery and Caroline Jarrett, #stc10

  155. Breaking into the Mobile Market: Joe Welinski at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  156. The Art of Questioning: Rich Maggiani at the STC Summit, #stc10

  157. Storytelling for User Experience: Whitney Quesenbery at the STC Summit #stc10

  158. Trending Towards Mobile: Neil Perlin at the STC Summit #stc10

  159. Trust and Transparency: Leadership Day at the STC Summit #stc10

  160. What I'm presenting on at the STC Summit in Dallas, #stc10

  161. The Compulsion to Figure Things Out

  162. Quoted in Technical Writing Careers Blurb in U.S. News & World Report

  163. “Blogs are Still Where Substantive Conversations are Happening.”

  164. Typography for Lawyers

  165. Podcast: From Overlooked to Center Stage (Overlooked)

  166. Message from the Sponsors -- April 27, 2010

  167. Why Tech Comm Professors Don't Teach Video

  168. Story (Overlooked)

  169. Why Usability is Praised and Tech Comm is Ignored

  170. Podcast: “Anyone Can Write”: Changing Roles for Technical Communicators

  171. Podcast: Trends in Technical Communication

  172. Epiphany: Cross Pollination (Overlooked)

  173. Crisis Point: Problems with Multiple Roles (Overlooked)

  174. Catalyst 4: Wiki Manager (Overlooked)

  175. Catalyst 6: QA Testing (Overlooked)

  176. Catalyst 2: User Experience (Overlooked)

  177. Catalyst 1: Audiovisual Role (Overlooked)

  178. The Long Tail Applied to Writing

  179. The Yearning: Career Trajectory (Overlooked)

  180. WordPress Tip: Quick Tip for Reducing Spam

  181. The Problem: "Just a Writer" (Overlooked)

  182. Intro to From Overlooked to Center Stage (Overlooked)

  183. Presenting at the Atlanta Currents Conference (Overlooked)

  184. Podcast: Ten Voiceover Techniques (PodcampSLC)

  185. Why "This American Life" Is My Favorite Podcast

  186. My STC Summit Proceedings paper on voiceover techniques (Voiceover)

  187. Feasibility, Believability, and Fixability: Three Reasons Not to Use a Professional Voiceover Actor

  188. Comparing Creative Writing with Technical Writing (2 min Videocast)

  189. Message from the Sponsors — March 30, 2010 Dr. Explain, Madcap Software, & more

  190. When Social Media Becomes Hollow

  191. Breathing correctly (Voiceover)

  192. Recording with the right microphone (Voiceover techniques)

  193. Adding inflection (Voiceover)

  194. Fixing Fumbled Sentences

  195. WordPress Tip: Integrate Google Calendar into WordPress

  196. Avoiding phlegm in your throat with voiceovers (Voiceover)

  197. Smiling while you narrate (Voiceover)

  198. Avoiding plosives and breathing noises (Voiceover)

  199. Avoiding a sense of rambling (Voiceover)

  200. Sounding natural (Voiceover)

  201. Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover)

  202. Message from the Sponsors

  203. Podcast: What's New in Flare 6 — Interview with Mike Hamilton

  204. Podcast: Documentation in the Cloud

  205. WordPress Tip: Avoid Getting Hacked through Bluehost's cPanel

  206. Finding Space to Breathe: Managing Overwhelming End-of-Project Tasks

  207. Together or Apart: Collaboration Models for Technical Writing

  208. The Art of Asking Questions

  209. Praise: The Worst Feedback You Can Give Developers?

  210. "I never really understood that feature, so I left it alone..."

  211. The Common Language Everyone Speaks

  212. Cures for the Information Exclusion Complex

  213. WordPress Tip: Add More Widget Areas to Your WordPress Theme

  214. What Would a WordPress Template for Chapter Sites Look Like?

  215. Fragmented Communities and the Chapter/SIG Web Site Problem

  216. Madcap Flare's Extensibility: Adding jQuery to Flare

  217. Web Site Critique and WordPress Q&A Webinar This Thursday

  218. Podcast: Riding the Tide of Technical Communications Consulting

  219. Intermountain STC Chapter Meeting This Wednesday at 7 pm

  220. The Turnaround Screencast

  221. DITA Features in Madcap Flare Webcast Tuesday at 11 a.m. EST from Scriptorium

  222. How to Embed Video on a Web Page

  223. Trying to Find a Theater Stage/Voice for an Impossible Situation

  224. Notes on My Latest Screencasts

  225. Implementing Google Custom Search on WordPress

  226. The Case of the Stolen Documentation

  227. Directions I'm Going in 2010

  228. Aligning Yourself with a Cause

2009 archives

  1. A Creative Way to Become a Technical Writer

  2. If No One Reads the Manual, That's Okay

  3. Podcast on getting a job in technical writing (TW Job)

  4. Volunteer for a position in the STC or other organization (TW Job)

  5. Move to a tech hub city to find a job in technical writing (TW Job)

  6. What You Cannot Do Sitting Down

  7. Start a blog (TW Job)

  8. Top Trends in Technical Communication

  9. Podcast: The Myth of Single Sourcing

  10. Put together a portfolio (TW Job)

  11. Learn some tools (TW Job)

  12. WordPress 2.9 Released

  13. Get real experience doing technical writing (TW Job)

  14. Removing ice from a driveway is like .... everything

  15. Learn the basics of technical writing (TW Job)

  16. Trying Out Picture in Picture in Screencasts

  17. PowerPoint from Screencasting Webinar

  18. Upcoming Webinar on Screencasting

  19. WordPress Tip: How to Transfer WordPress to a New Web Host

  20. Design Fixations with Mediawiki Skins

  21. Collaborative Authoring Trends and Costs

  22. Adding the Human Element in Screencasts

  23. Ramping Up on Mediawiki

  24. About My New Site Redesign

  25. Site Critiques and WordPress Q&A -- Community Leaders Webinar Jan 28

  26. What's the Best Microphone for Screencasting?

  27. My Upcoming STC Webinar on Screencasting

  28. Play Chess Online with ChessJam

  29. A Microcosm of Technical Writing in the Kitchen While Cooking a Banana Cream Pie

  30. Why Help Authoring Tools Will Fade

  31. Contingent Senior Technical Writer Opening at LDS Church's ICS Department in Riverton, Utah

  32. What I'm Presenting on at the Dallas Summit

  33. Embedding Videos into Madcap Flare

  34. Podcast about the Podcast Poll

  35. Combining Cinema with Screencasting

  36. How to Incorporate Twitter into Your Presentation

  37. What I've Been Learning in Flare

  38. Why Is It Important for Video Tutorials to Be User-Led?

  39. Minimizing Documentation

  40. 21% of Intermountain Chapter Members Planning to Renew STC Membership

  41. Design Reviews and Posting Without Answers

  42. How Microsoft Visual Studio Is Doing Help

  43. Podcast Roundtable for PodcampSLC Series

  44. Theme Parks and External and Internal Input

  45. Podcast on the seven deadly sins of blogging

  46. The Long Tail of Online Profitability

  47. Wikis and the Holy Grail of Content Independence

  48. Reinventing Yourself Through Your Blog

  49. NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo Start Nov 1

  50. WordPress Tip: Install WordPress Locally

  51. Being inattentive (Sins of blogging)

  52. A Few Surprises in Using a Wiki for Documentation

  53. Being unfindable (Sins of blogging)

  54. Being irresponsible (Sins of blogging)

  55. Being unreadable (Sins of blogging)

  56. Forms of Play

  57. Survey about Framemaker and EMC Documentum Integration

  58. Podcast from BYU Idaho Professional Writing Panel

  59. Being boring (Sins of blogging)

  60. Technical Writer Ranks #5 in Least Stressful Jobs; Also, CNN Money Total Jobs Count Screwy

  61. Choosing Between Academic and Corporate Life: Did I Make the Wrong Choice?

  62. An Interview About Technical Writing

  63. Being irrelevant (Sins of blogging)

  64. My STC Summit Blogging Presentation Is Free

  65. Chrysler Drops Long Car Manuals in Favor of Short Guides + Video

  66. WordPress Tip: Section Widget and Advanced XML Export -- wordpress Plugin Winner and Runner Up

  67. Google Releases Sidewiki and Adds to the Growing Trend of Conversation

  68. Duct Tape Technical Writers

  69. Smashing Magazine Lists 10 Web Usability Guidelines

  70. Dallas STC Summit Proposals Due Oct 5

  71. New Content Strategy SIG

  72. STC 2008 Salary Database -- See Salaries for Technical Writers in Your State

  73. Tips to Get Around Age Discrimination

  74. Information Overload -- Conversation with Ricardo Amigo

  75. Introduction to getting a job in technical writing (TW Job)

  76. "Tell me a story" -- Advice from Writers

  77. Being fake (Sins of blogging)

  78. The Appeal of Adobe InDesign

  79. STC: Quo Vadis? Mike Hughes gets introspective about the STC situation

  80. The Content Wrangler Moves to WordPress

  81. How Do Blogs and Wikis Fit Together?

  82. NY Times criticized for letting Pogue maintain Apple bias

  83. WordPress Tip: WordPress Worm Requires Upgrade to 2.8.4

  84. Writing as Conversation -- Brainsparks Podcast with Ginny Redish

  85. The best time to publish your blog posts

  86. Creativity in the Workplace

  87. Avoiding the Shut Down Mode

  88. STC's Online Certificate Courses

  89. Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

  90. An argument for slowing down in an age of rapid online exchanges

  91. Why teens don't use Twitter

  92. Podcast with Anne Gentle about her Conversation and Community book

  93. Review of Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

  94. Converting Lurkers into Contributors in Online Communities -- Nielsen's 90-9-1 Rule

  95. A Refreshing Angle on the Name of our Profession

  96. Making Spaces in Cluttered Houses and Cluttered Lives

  97. A Few Software Tips to Make Technical Writing Easier

  98. Humor essay about a car manual's diction

  99. "Social Documentation" -- Cool but Problematic

  100. The Importance of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in Job Searches

  101. Students Engaged by Discussion, Not Smart Classrooms

  102. Three Books on DITA

  103. Convert RSS Feeds into a Magazine Format with Zinepal

  104. The Link Between Creativity and Organization

  105. Productivity Tip: Paper Number Piles

  106. Carcast: Friday Thoughts on Reading, Publish2, and Writer River

  107. Applying Strunk and White's "Omit Needless Words" to Life

  108. New Intermountain-STC Chapter Site

  109. All About Technical Writing -- The Writing Show

  110. Every piece of content matters - an interview with Gerry McGovern | Information & Design

  111. Apple blogger makes living from blog

  112. Writing Style Guides and Your Parenting Style

  113. Exporting Documentation to Wikis

  114. Write When Inspired, Rest When Tired

  115. Finding Business Models in the Economics of Free

  116. Why Free Is the Future of Business

  117. Stephen Fry iTunes Festival Keynote on Copyright and Music Piracy

  118. Exactly How Much Does a Wordcamp Cost?

  119. Tech Comm Lobotomies

  120. Discovering Relationship Tables

  121. Blogging as an Outlet for Technical Writers

  122. Perks About Working in an Office Instead of Working from Home

  123. Lying in a Hammock, or, Having a Single Goal without a Purpose

  124. Are You Irrelevant? Engaging, Provocative Video

  125. Screen Captures May Not Make Sense

  126. Tip for Usability in Context-Sensitive Help

  127. UAX (User Assistance Experience): Online vs. on-line

  128. Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

  129. Read This If You Hate Meetings - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

  130. Daring Fireball: Charging for Access to News Sites

  131. My STC Live Webinar on Blogging This Wednesday at 1pm

  132. Podcast on Content Strategy: Interview with Rahel Bailie

  133. Moving Towards a Manifesto About Online Versus Print Formats

  134. Become a Link Journalist for Writer River

  135. What can Technical Authors learn from celebrity chefs and musicians? Cherryleaf Technical Authors Blog

  136. Toward Content Quality :: UXmatters

  137. Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design

  138. My Guest Post on Unstoppability for DMN Communications

  139. Three Questions to Start Thinking Like a Content Strategist

  140. Insight into the theory of mind

  141. New York Times Starts a “What We're Reading” Section

  142. A List Apart: Articles: Content-tious Strategy

  143. Content Strategy - a knol by Jeffrey MacIntyre

  144. Best Practices For Effective Design Of "About me"-Pages | Design Showcase | Smashing Magazine

  145. Is This Meeting Really Necessary?

  146. The Paris Review - Gay Talese: The Art of Nonfiction No. 2

  147. InDesignSecrets » Learn InDesign One Feature at a Time

  148. Keys to Being a Trusted Source of Information: Gryphon Mountain Journals

  149. If You're a Writer, Write

  150. STC's wiki is also scheduled for demolition :: TechCommDood

  151. What Users Don't Care About

  152. Get Set Up

  153. Content Theory: Sheep and Chaos — MK Anderson

  154. A Mile Wide and 30 Seconds Deep: A Metaphor for Help from Mike Hughes

  155. Two New Tools I'm Learning

  156. Biking to Work – A Good Idea, But …

  157. How the Web and the Weblog have changed Writing

  158. Interactive Google Map of Where I Work

  159. Feedburner Add Customizable Subject Lines to Email Subscriptions

  160. Mind Hacks: In our wildest dreams

  161. Implementing a Department Wiki? A Writer Shares Some Dos and Don'ts (Guest Post)

  162. Palimpsest: This is the future of technical communication

  163. I Need Your Human Aggregated Content

  164. Secrecy versus openness in communication

  165. Write Articles, Not Blog Postings (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

  166. PDF Manuals: The Wrong Paradigm for an Online Experience

  167. Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

  168. 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills | Developers Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

  169. How Google Does Help

  170. Real Projects for Entry-Level Writers Trying to Build Their Portfolios

  171. Page Layout and Design Tips from Jean-luc Doumont's Trees, maps, and theorems

  172. Outsourcing vs. offshoring, and how U.S.-based technical writers can stay competitive « Your Writing Dept Blog

  173. "What I'm Reading": A New Feature on My Site and a Tweak of Writer River

  174. Core Dump: STC Floundering?

  175. Technically Speaking » The STC Crisis: the take of a “young” writer

  176. Generation B - Mr. Mom, Father's Day Edition - NYTimes.com

  177. Identity and Authority. Why the Foundation of Documentation is Changing. | The LugIron Software Blog

  178. 4J's Group - THE CONTENT POOL: It's STC not STW

  179. Seeing the World in Clearer, Simpler Ways

  180. It's Time to Shoot Your Blog | Copyblogger

  181. Fictitious Documentation

  182. Inkscape: the free alternative to Adobe Illustrator

  183. The Blockhead Blog: Does the STC deserve to survive?

  184. In Which I Comment on the STC Issue — MK Anderson

  185. Lifelines to the STC

  186. Forms that Work – Interview with Caroline Jarrett (podcast)

  187. Palimpsest: Whither STC?

  188. Speakers and fees: an insiders view | Speaker Confessions

  189. 10 Sites That Produce Quality WordPress Content — Nathan Rice

  190. WordPress Single Post Templates — Nathan Rice

  191. Palimpsest: Flare 5 DITA feature review Part 1: Overview and map files

  192. Extracting Images from Visio and Inserting Them in Indesign

  193. Cartoon 12 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  194. How to Avoid Extinction as a Technical Communicator

  195. Cartoon 11 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  196. Blogging, Podcasting, and Screencasting: Eight Characteristics to Attract Devoted Followers [Part 2]

  197. Blogging, Podcasting, and Screencasting: Eight Characteristics to Attract Devoted Followers [Part I]

  198. Cartoon 10 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  199. Quick reference guide slides from the Transalpine Conference

  200. Social Networks and the TransAlpine Conference

  201. Cartoon 9 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  202. Day 8 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  203. Add Links Using the Publish2 Bookmarklet

  204. Day 7 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  205. Day 6 Cartoon [The 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  206. Day 5 Cartoon [Christmas in June Giveaway]

  207. Thinking About Vienna and the Legacy of Mozart

  208. Day 4 Cartoon [Christmas in June Giveaway]

  209. WordPress Tip: “Crunching” and “Burning”

  210. Day 3 Cartoon [12 Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  211. Day 2 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  212. Day 1 Cartoon -- [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  213. 12 Days of Christmas in June Giveaway

  214. Free video soft: video converter, ipod converter, mp4 converter

  215. Having Fun with Snagit

  216. WordPress Tip: Implement WordPress's Threaded Comments

  217. WordPress Tip: 10 Reasons Why I Like WordPress

  218. Anne Gentle on her Forthcoming Book, Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

  219. Following the NBA Can Make You a Better Technical Writer

  220. Your WordPress Site Can Get Hacked If You Don't Have This

  221. STC Toronto's New Five-and-Five Chapter Model

  222. Richard Hamilton's XML Press Imprint

  223. Converting Readers from Casual Subscribers to Devoted Followers

  224. Sailboats and Cruise Ships, or, How My Work Podcast Was Dwarfed by a Mega Work Podcast

  225. Madcap's Flare-DITA Solution (podcast)

  226. The State of Structured Authoring in Technical Communication (podcast)

  227. Drawing as a Tool for Thinking: The Back of the Napkin

  228. The Best Thing I Did This Week

  229. John Hedtke on Disaster Preparedness and Book Publishing

  230. Starting Points with Quick Reference Guides: Gathering Before Designing

  231. GUI Magnets -- Prototyping User Interfaces with Simple Magnets

  232. Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and the Real Reason You Are a Successful Writer

  233. James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 (Podcast with Alan Porter)

  234. Mother-in-Law Tip for Reading Manuals

  235. STC Summit Atlanta Adventures: The Agony and Ecstasy of Presenting

  236. Ginny Redish -- Letting Go of the Words (Podcast Interview at STC Summit)

  237. Personal Branding: You Are What You Write About

  238. Two Stories About How to Write Help

  239. Going to Atlanta, #stc09

  240. Documentation Usability: A Few Things I've Learned from Watching Users

  241. WordPress Tip: Recording of WordPress Webinar

  242. Can Others Do Your Job?

  243. Making Money from Blogging

  244. The Wind and A Lot of Thoughts About Pessimism and Optimism

  245. Telecommuting into Nonexistent Worlds

  246. Anne Gentle to Give Virtual Presentation on Wikis on Thursday, April 23

  247. What to Blog/Write About

  248. Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Documentation

  249. Quick Reference Guides Right Where You Need Them

  250. Blogging: A New Role for Technical Communicators

  251. Why Most Designers Will Be Freelancers Within 20 Years | Freelance Folder

  252. How Video Can Turn Your Career Around

  253. The Corporate Blogger Story

  254. AP Article Leads to "Helping Husbands and Fathers" Photo Project

  255. Site Name Change

  256. Adobe InDesign and Transparent Images on Color Backgrounds

  257. Have Notebook Will Travel

  258. Some Notes from Podcamp

  259. Interviews that Shaped My Podcasting Style and Approach

  260. InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome

  261. Check Your Site's Loading Time

  262. Survey About Technical Writers' Training Needs for 2009

  263. Introduction to Technical Writing (podcast)

  264. Managing Writers: Interview with Richard Hamilton (podcast)

  265. What To Do When You're Not Picked to Be America's Next Top Tech Writer

  266. New Feature: Regular Guest Posts

  267. Why I Don't Take Freelance Writing Jobs Anymore

  268. WordPress Tip: Introduction to WordPress -- Webinar, April 14

  269. Jane's Presentation, Twitter for Business (podcast)

  270. Examples of Perfect Screencasts

  271. "Like My Own Personal Brand of Heroin"

  272. HD Screencast Example

  273. Managing Your Social Media Profiles and Badges

  274. The Importance of Validation (video)

  275. Notes Watching Senior Users at the Computer

  276. Podcamp Salt Lake City, March 27 -- "Interviewing Remote and Local Guests for Podcasts"

  277. Podcast -- Blogging for Technical Communicators Webinar (Part 2)

  278. Podcast -- Blogging for Technical Communicators Webinar (Part 1)

  279. STC Speaker's Registry | Find experts fast

  280. Emotional States of Computer Users in Times of Frustration

  281. Lessons Learned with Quick Reference Guides: Timing and Truth

  282. STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation"

  283. Translating with the New Madcap Lingo V2

  284. CSS-Tricks #1: Converting a Photoshop Mockup (part 1 of 3)

  285. InDesignSecrets

  286. Trends in Web Design Involving WordPress

  287. WordPress Tip: Rotating Flash Tag Clouds

  288. Blogging Webinar Thursday Evening

  289. WordPress Tip: Podcasts on WordPress: WordPress Weekly from the WordPress Tavern

  290. Communication Preferences and Jane's Voicemail Message

  291. "You know what .chms need? More bling-bling. More flash..."

  292. robfelty.com :: Blog :: Collapsing Pages

  293. Tip: Automatically Push Your Latest Blog Posts Across Twitter

  294. Can SharePoint 2007 Be Used as a Help Authoring Tool?

  295. Embedding HD Quality Screencasts in Your Blog

  296. WordPress Tip: Merging Worlds: DITA and WordPress

  297. Free Screen Sharing Software: Adobe Connect

  298. Documentation Review Techniques (videocast)

  299. TiltViewer - About

  300. Structured Authoring Survey from Scriptorium

  301. 10 Things I Learned from My Last Podcast

  302. Podcast: Make Your Help Indispensable, Safeguard Your Job

  303. A Five-Click Solution to Publishing and Uploading Screen Videos to SharePoint

  304. Customizing a SharePoint Site

  305. Added a Blog Wall to my site

  306. DITA Topics Tutorial

  307. Embracing Opportunity

  308. Premium WordPress Themes, WordPress 2.5 Premium Themes, Premium Wordpress Blog Templates | Blog Oh Blog

  309. Web Design WordPress function list

  310. Where I Stand on DITA

  311. Styling Category Levels in WordPress (video)

  312. Below the Line: Podcasters report their top 3 podcasting tips - part 1

  313. Coding Horror: The Two Types of Browser Zoom

  314. Great Books by Writers Who Aren't Dead Yet

  315. Upcoming Presentations, or, Blogging and Increased Visibility

  316. Thoughts on Troubleshooting and Problem Solving

  317. WordPress TV Launches -- The Appeal of Video Continues to Expand

  318. Screencasting -- Workflow and Presentation, by Collin Turner (Podcast)

  319. Twittering Tips for Beginners - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com

  320. A Technical Writer with Extra Privileges? Responding to a Question about Roles (Videocast)

  321. Poll: What blogging software is available for use at your work?

  322. Top Technical Communication News for January 2009

  323. WritersUA Salary Survey, Tools Survey, and Upcoming Conference

  324. My STC Intercom Article about Writer River and Community-Driven Websites

  325. Tech Comm Toolbox: a Directory of Tools, Consultants, and Conferences

  326. Dilbert animated shorts from your favorite comic strips

  327. Flare Context Sensitive Help – Focusing the Minimized Help Window Back on Top

  328. WordPress Tip: Questions I'm Often Asked About WordPress and Blogging

  329. Wrapping up 2008 – Successes, Failures, and Goals for the Next Year

  330. Tech Comm Toolbox

  331. Podcast: Help Authoring with Doc-To-Help 2009, Interview with Nicky Bleiel

  332. Good Designs Have Strong Contrast

  333. The Pleasure of Language -- Essential Listening for Hyper-corrective Grammarians

  334. How to Create Columns with CSS Float | eHow.com

2008 archives

  1. Quick Reference Guide Formats -- Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts

  2. Generational tech guilt?

  3. WordPress Tip: Integrate WordPress into an Existing Website

  4. A Tech Writer's World: A Killer Manual

  5. Podcast: Technical Writing in Agile Environments -- Interview with Alyssa Fox

  6. Documentation Honesty and Poor User Interfaces -- An Ethical Dilemma?

  7. What I See -- James Hall's Essays and Florida

  8. The Podfading Roller Coaster

  9. Podcast: What Is the Technical Writer's Role in Interface Design? Interview with Bogo Vatovec

  10. WordPress 2.7 Released - XML-RPC and AtomPub Changes || Joseph Scott

  11. When Trust Becomes a Characteristic Flaw in a Project

  12. Twitter Hashtags and Virtual Gatherings

  13. Generations Change, But Help Formats Remain the Same?

  14. Helpful Little Tips for Life

  15. Writers See Stories Where Others Don't

  16. Twitter Part II –- One Step Deeper

  17. The Name of Your Department Does Matter

  18. EServer TC Library: The Most Popular Technical Communication Website in the World

  19. Does Twitter Fit into Your Branding Strategy?

  20. Top 10 Gag Christmas Gifts for Technical Writers

  21. Guy Kawasaki's Alltop Site Now Includes Technical Writing

  22. Snippets Toward a Philosophy of Life

  23. The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials

  24. What Constitutes "Intelligent Content"? Interview with Ann Rockley

  25. Transitioning from Literary Studies to Technical Communication

  26. User Assistance: Will Write for Metamucil

  27. My Tip for Productivity: Tear Up the To-Do List

  28. Usability Newsletter Interview – I'd Rather Be Writing – The Man Behind the Words

  29. Does Design Matter in Comparison to Content?

  30. Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials

  31. Details About the STC Summit Recording -- Interview with Lloyd Tucker

  32. Dawn or Dusk -- Considering the Advantages of Early Morning

  33. You Can Now Advertise on My Blog

  34. Author-it Launches a Blog -- An Interview About the Who, Why, and How

  35. 'Lost the Fire – How to Rekindle It' – A Second Response

  36. My Recommended Training for Corporate Bloggers: Live with a Mommy Blogger

  37. Guest Post: Tech Writing Careers -- The Raw, Unvarnished Truth

  38. Podcast: Debunking the Boredom Myth of Technical Writing

  39. Guest Post: Real Writers in Virtual Worlds

  40. Podcast: Personalities of Technical Communicators -- Interview with Deborah (Shapiro) Hemstreet

  41. Two-Minute Video to Convince Others of the Value of Technical Documentation

  42. Interview with Scott Abel, Conference Organizer Extraordinaire

  43. 10/23 Intermountain STC Meeting: An Informal Discussion of Any Tech Comm Challenges You're Facing

  44. Seamlessly Integrating a Blog into Your Non-Blog Website

  45. Caught in the Current of Writer River: Building and Participating in Community-Driven Websites

  46. 10 Ways to Gather Feedback from Users

  47. What We Learn from Help Authoring Tool Surveys

  48. Like Father, Like Daughter

  49. Becoming a Writer -- Reflections on a Trip to Idaho

  50. Results for My 10 Technical Writing Stereotypes Survey

  51. Answering Reader's Questions: 'My Desire to Write Burns in My Heart Daily'

  52. HelpScribe: Why software is the best technical writing field

  53. Ingenious Technique for Helping Your Child Learn to Ride a Bike

  54. Free Ticket to DITA Tech/Comm Conference in North Carolina Nov 3-6

  55. Ten Technical Writing Stereotypes

  56. WordPress Tip: Using WordPress as a CMS -- Wordcamp Utah

  57. SEO Tips for Your Blog -- Wordcamp Utah

  58. WordPress Tip: WordPress and Podcasting — Wordcamp Utah

  59. WordPress Tip: WordPress 2.7 and Beyond – Keynote by Matt Mullenweg at Wordcamp Utah 2008

  60. Free Doc Train East Ticket

  61. Leaning Towards Longer Topics and Shorter TOCs

  62. Recommended Podcast: "The Enforcers" from This American Life

  63. Podcast: Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing (Single Sourcing)

  64. Users Read Help Manuals Like an Encyclopedia, Not a Novel

  65. Tip: Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Posts to Increase Your Readership

  66. WordPress Tip: Limau-Orange Theme with Navigation Bar from Contempt

  67. STC-Intermountain Meeting Tonight

  68. Watch What Happens When You Copy from Word into a Blog Post

  69. Thinking About an STC Proposal to Submit

  70. What's Convenient Gets Used -- a General Principle That Applies to Nearly Everything

  71. Wordcamp Utah -- Sept 27 in Provo, Utah

  72. How I Create Video Tutorials

  73. Prove My Help Authoring Tools Survey Wrong

  74. Help Authoring Tool Survey: Who, What, and How

  75. How Much Should You Document? Everything? Strategies for an Agile Environment

  76. Podcast: Flare 4 -- Ten New Features, Interview with Sharon Burton

  77. FLOSSmanuals.net: A New Wiki Help Authoring/Publishing Tool Hybrid

  78. Podcast: What's New in the Field of Technical Communication?

  79. Why I Hate Camping -- And Then an Epiphany

  80. Flare 4 Giveway — Enter to Win a Free Copy by Commenting on This Post | I'd Rather Be Writing - Tom Johnson

  81. Explain what you feel is an important feature for a help authoring tool and why (Flare Giveaway)

  82. Everything That Happened Today, or, The Busy Lives We Lead

  83. Utah Technical Writers Group -- Finding the Technical Writing Community in Utah

  84. Resources for Single Sourcing Projects

  85. Comprehensive Podcast Index -- A List of All My Podcasts

  86. On Podcasts -- Reasons for the Break and Plans for the Future

  87. WordPress Tip: WordPress as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Application

  88. Corporate Migration to the Blogosphere

  89. Another Collaborative Site: Read Scriptures Together

  90. How to Listen to Podcasts

  91. Too Connected – Utopias and Dystopias of Communication

  92. With All This Fuss About Tools, Three Best Practice Attitudes

  93. User Assistance: Why I Hate PDFs

  94. WordCamp Utah Registration Is Now Open - Joseph Scott's Blog

  95. Word Macro for Resizing Images that Have a Specific Style

  96. Tapping your creative juices Interesting ...

  97. An Article That Changed My Approach to Help

  98. Instructional Text in the User Interface: Some Counterintuitive Implications of User Behaviors :: UXmatters

  99. Trends in Technical Communication: a review [TechScribe software documentation]

  100. Free PDF Alternatives -- Save Yourself $700 and a Headache

  101. A History of Tech Comm Tools. This is a ...

  102. Echoes from the past: DITA, Help, Single-Sourcing tools -- Looking from the 60s to today

  103. Get Training in Technical Writing

  104. A Career in Technical Writing: End of Part One : PoeWar.com Writer's Resource Center

  105. Thank You Silahsiz Kuvvetler for Showing Me the Light

  106. Personal Essays on a Technical Writing Career -- by John Hewitt

  107. The Myth of Simplicity and Complexity in Help Authoring

  108. WordPress Tip: Show the Latest Post in Full, Then Summaries of the Other Posts

  109. WordPress Tip: WordPress' Biggest Mistake

  110. Reader Question: Creating Online Help for Touch-Screen Applications?

  111. New Site Policy About How I Respond to Questions

  112. Organizing Large Photo Collections Online -- Use the NextGen Gallery WordPress Plugin

  113. When you don't feel like blogging, is it time to blog?

  114. Tips for Distributing the Workload Among Your Team -- Answering a Reader's Question

  115. Venn Diagram of What a Blog Should Be About

  116. When can I say "janky" in my on-screen text?

  117. WordPress Training This Saturday 9 am to Noon

  118. WordPress Tip: WordPress Image Galleries — Give Your Photo Galleries a Lightbox/Slideshowesque Display

  119. WordPress Tip: Woopra — Enough Live Site Stats to Write a Dissertation

  120. Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing

  121. The Intersection of the Personal and Professional, or, Why My Attempts at Nonfiction Essays in Grad School Bombed

  122. Approaching Help as Solutions to Problems — An Interesting Format from the CSS Cookbook

  123. Interview with Me in TechCraft

  124. "What's Next?" -- A Nice Way to End Help Topics

  125. 14 Widespread Myths about Technical Writing

  126. My Compromise with SharePoint -- What Works and What Doesn't

  127. My WordPress Site Was Hacked

  128. Customizing Your SharePoint Site? Read These 10 Concepts/Gotchas First

  129. Podcast: Five Books to Add to Your Technical Communication Library

  130. The Kind of Documentation Users Really Want

  131. "How can I become a successful TECHNICAL WRITER?"

  132. Systems that Get Better the More People Use Them

  133. Announcing WriterRiver.com, a Digg-like Social News Site for Technical Communicators

  134. Technical Writer as Conversation Stopper, and Other Notes from the STC Summit in Philadelphia

  135. My First Guest Post -- And Best Writing Tip

  136. Playing with Sound -- Adding Downbeat Tempo to a Discourse on Shakespeare

  137. Follow the STC Conference Twitterers at http://twemes.com/stc2008

  138. Marketing Yourself and Your Experience to Others in a Web 2.0 World

  139. Podcast: Using Video in Training and Documentation, Interview with Todd O'Neill

  140. Podcast: Analyzing Your Users and Needs Before Creating the Help Deliverables; Interview with Nicky Bleiel

  141. My STC Summit Presentation and Panel -- "The Art of the Podcast" and Marketing Yourself in a Web 2.0 World

  142. Podcast: How to Create User-Centered Documentation, Interview with Joe Sokohl

  143. Exploring Web 2.0 Possibilities in a SharePoint-Endorsed Environment

  144. Integrating All Library Content into One

  145. Thinking About a More Personal Style of Podcasting

  146. Podcast: Workspaces, Collaboration, and Information Sharing -- Interview with Emma Hamer

  147. Podcast: Why Content Management Projects Fail, Interview with Rahel Bailie

  148. Podcast: How XML Enables Information Sharing and Reuse -- Interview with Joe Gollner

  149. Feedback on the Podcast From a German Listener

  150. Poewar Giving Away $250 to the Guest Blogger Who Brings in the Most Traffic

  151. Scott Nesbitt Interview with Stewart Mader on Wikis

  152. Musings of a Tech Writer Podcast -- Mark in Canada Reflects on The Content Wrangler Versus the STC

  153. Podcast: XSL, Flash, and Live Blogging -- Interview with Sarah O'Keefe

  154. Podcast: Document Engineering, Interview with Robert Glushko

  155. SharePoint Wikis: Both Liberating and Frustrating

  156. Giving a Virtual Presentation to STC-Phoenix on Tuesday, May 13

  157. Post Doc-Train Thoughts While Sitting in the Vancouver Airport

  158. Podcast: Living Multiple Lives -- The New Technical Communicator, Interview with Noz Urbina

  159. Podcast: Embracing Wikis -- Interview with Stewart Mader

  160. Changing the Rules of the Game for the Benefit of the User

  161. Social Media 101: Now Everyone's a Technical Writer

  162. Podcast: Moving 50,000 Pages of Unstructured Content to DITA

  163. The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint That I Wish Everyone Followed

  164. Podcast: Leading Your Company into the Wikis, Blogs, and Social Networks of Web 2.0

  165. WordPress Tip: Using WordPress to Build Websites Instead of Blogs

  166. WordPress Tip: My WordPress Quick Start Guide — Now Available on the WordPress Codex

  167. WordPress for Beginners Course

  168. The Broken STC Model -- and What's Replacing It

  169. Updated Date and Time for WordPress Course -- Wednesday Evening, April 30

  170. Madcap Blaze's Topic Review Feature: A First-of-a Kind Feature with an Interesting Workflow

  171. Podcast -- DITA: From the Perspective of Someone Actually Using It

  172. WordPress for Beginners Course -- Wednesday Evening, April 30

  173. Why Software Applications Need Product Blogs, and Why They Don't Get Them

  174. How Much Time Do You Spend in Web 2.0 -- Interesting Article from the Read/Write Web

  175. Find a Way to Have Fun in Your Writing

  176. Looking for Corporate Examples of Web 2.0 Engagement

  177. Podcast -- Social Networking and the Value of User Communities for Technical Communicators

  178. Guest Post -- From Blogging Veterans: Three Keys to Successful Blogging

  179. The Right Way and Wrong Way to Teach People WordPress: Notes from a Wordcamp Utah Planning Meeting at Applebees

  180. Podcaster Meetup at Doc Train West Conference in Vancouver

  181. Technical Writing -- Worth it? Interesting? Creative? Well-Paid? Hours? Answering a Few Questions from Saudi Arabia

  182. Keep an Open Mind: Detention Without Amanda Jones Isn't Necessarily Bad

  183. NY Times Article Suggests Effects of Blogging = Weight Loss/Gain, Sleep Disorder, Exhaustion, Heart Disease, and Nervous Breakdown

  184. How to Get Your Blog Mentioned in the Society for Technical Communication's Intercom: Include the Word "Technical Communicator"

  185. A Recipe for More Engaging Software Demos

  186. Podcast -- Transitioning from Technical Writing into Usability

  187. My Podcast in iTunes -- The iTunes Gods Have Granted Me Mercy

  188. The Question No One Asked Me at the Career Advice Panel, Thank Goodness

  189. The Best and Worst of Times with a Hard Headed Woman

  190. Twitter Tools and Uses: The Most Comprehensive Listing of Twitter Resources I've Seen

  191. A Creepy Widget I Absolutely Had to Add to My Blog

  192. I Enjoy a Good Alien Podcast Now and Then

  193. How to Get Everyone and Their Dog/Family/Friends Reading and Subscribing to Your Blog -- 10 Tips

  194. What's the Best Thing You've Done to Grow Your Career?

  195. I'm Planning to Offer WordPress Training -- Are You Interested?

  196. Four Simple Ways to Avoid Totally Botching an Interview

  197. Podcast -- Tackling Godzilla: A Writer/Usability Consultant Reflects on the Largest Project of her Career

  198. Virtual Meetings: A Lofty Yet Impractical and Unwanted Ideal? or Exactly What We Need?

  199. Seven Reasons Why I'm Twittering -- Especially During Conference Time

  200. Are You One of the 824 Technical Communicators on Ning Yet?

  201. Uncooperative Subjects: A Comparison of Two Failed Interviews and How to Turn Them Around

  202. Body Hacks and Optimization

  203. 10 Alternate Tests for Evaluating Technical Writing Job Candidates -- A List for Hiring Managers

  204. Six Ways I'm Using the H4 Zoom Recorder to Do Technical-Writing Related Things

  205. Lots of 2008 SXSW Podcasts Now Available

  206. My 5 Pet Peeves with Reading Blogs (mostly surrounding comments and feeds)

  207. Deciding When to Speak Up and When to Shut Up

  208. Two Types of Posts in the Blogosphere: Knowledge Posts and Creative Posts

  209. Recording SME Demos -- It's Easier Than You Think

  210. How to Record Live Presentations with the Zoom H4 Digital Recorder

  211. My Blogging and Podcasting Presentation -- the MP3 and Video Recording

  212. Stoking the Creative Muse: How Finding Ideas to Write About Is Similar to Remembering Your Dreams

  213. How My BlackBerry May Benefit You

  214. A blogging family

  215. Eight stitches for Susan

  216. CNN Producer Fired for His Blog -- A Growing Discontent for Mainstream Media

  217. 10 Ways to Bomb Your Presentation

  218. My Love Affair with Drop-Down Hotspots Ends

  219. Have a Blog? a Podcast? Want one? Come learn everything you need to know

  220. Why You Should Send Me (and Other Bloggers) Your Products for Free

  221. A Glimpse into the World of Agile Technical Writing, a.k.a. Extreme Technical Writing (XTW)

  222. Welcoming Camtasia Studio as a New Blog Sponsor

  223. Two New Blogs to Add to Your Reader: Craig Haiss' Helpscribe and Sharon Burton's Madcap Blog

  224. "Selection Beats Damping": A Compelling Argument About Why Blogs Trump Print Media

  225. Technical Writing Careers -- Answering 13 Questions about Technical Writing Jobs

  226. Top 10 Workspace Configurations for Technical Writers

  227. Free Doc Train Ticket ($899) for Your Response to a Question About Innovation

  228. Survey Results: How I'm Changing My Blog Based on Your Responses

  229. Jing Screencast: Getting Up and Running with Jing

  230. Are Gerunds in Topic Titles Problematic in Search Results?

  231. How Jing Can Benefit Technical Writers

  232. Will you take my short survey?

  233. Answering Questions on the "Practicalities of Blogging"

  234. A Web 2.0 Documentation Idea Gone Wrong

  235. I wish all companies provided tech support like this

  236. Blogger Compiles Extensive Examples of Unnecessary Quotation Marks

  237. Interview with STC President Linda Oestreich: Directions the STC Is Heading

  238. Notes from My First WordPress Meetup

  239. Camtasia Versus Captivate: Thinking About Screen Real Estate Problems in Video Captures

  240. Madcap Flare Review: 45 Things I Love About Flare, 31 Things I Hate About It

  241. 2008 WritersUA Salary Survey Published: $76K Is Average

  242. Going Beyond Technical Writing: Practical Advice for Diversifying Your Skillset -- Podcast Interview with Mark Hanigan

  243. Blogging Jobs for Technical How-to Articles

  244. PodcastFAQs.com: A New Information Resource for Podcasters

  245. President Hinckley Passes

  246. Clearplay: An Ingenious DVD Player That Filters Movies Without Altering Them

  247. WordPress Meetup in Salt Lake City with Matt Mullenweg

  248. Upcoming PodCamp in Salt Lake City on March 15

  249. The Art of Interviewing — 10 Tips for Perfecting the Most Important Element of Podcasting

  250. Innovation in Technology -- During Research, Unexpected Findings Lead You Down New Paths

  251. All About Madcap Flare: Podcast Interview with Paul Pehrson, MVP in Madcap Software Forums

  252. How to Share Everything with Everyone (well, a few things anyway)

  253. How to Get Out of a Slump, and Handle Pressure Situations Calmly

  254. The Impact of Social Media on Technical Communication -- Podcast Interview with Bill Albing

  255. "Regular Sloggers Trying to Make a Living"

  256. Three Notable Characteristics of Top 10 Posts: Lists, Headings, Images

  257. Malcolmn Gladwell's Blink: Your First Impression Is Usually Correct in Complex Situations

  258. Why Some Leaders Don't Blog: The Untold Story

  259. The #1 Reason Why People Fail at Their Goals

2007 archives

  1. "The great new tool for writing a book today is a blog ..."

  2. My Blog and Podcast Site Are Now Merged into One -- Steps on How I Did It

  3. Jeter Interviews Mike Hamilton at Former Blue Sky Software Office in La Jolla, Calif.

  4. "Could you please tell me what the job of a technical writer is like?"

  5. Adventures with the New Technical Communication Suite from Adobe (mostly RoboHelp 7 and Captivate)

  6. The Hardest Part About Blogging: Coming Up With Something Interesting to Say

  7. Why People Think Help Is Useless, and How To Change This Thought

  8. Myths of Innovation: Brilliant Ideas Come From Constant Reflection, Not Random Chance

  9. Interesting Technique for Discovering Software Changes and Building Rapport with developers

  10. Reading this post made me want to be a workaholic

  11. A Good Response to "No One Reads the Help Anyway"

  12. Goodbye Podpress, it's time for a new mp3 player

  13. Technical Communication Suite from Adobe -- Interview with RJ Jacquez

  14. Adding a Send Feedback link to Your Online Help / RoboHelp Project

  15. 99% of people who buy iPods don't realize several simple things ...

  16. Show Me Demos and Captivate -- Interview with Kevin Siegel

  17. Sample Integration of Captivate Screen Demos in RoboHelp Hotspots

  18. Free Copies of SnagIt 7 and Camtasia 3

  19. Musicophillia -- The Brain's Unexplainable Affinity for Music

  20. Thoughts on Adobe's New Technical Communication Suite

  21. Embracing the New Vernacular Instead of Pursuing the Holy Grail of Single Sourcing

  22. Special DMN Communications Podcast with Tech Writer Voices (me): Are you Hurting Your Career By Not Blogging or Podcasting?

  23. Top 10 Worst Things SMEs Say or Do -- Interview with Brenda Huettner

  24. IT Author Podcast -- Two Podcasts on Flare, One on the Making of a Technical Writer, and a Dogcast on User Psychology

  25. Online Anonymous Rating Sites: Empowering Individual Voices

  26. Building Online Communities: Interview with Svi Ben-Elya about Elephant.org.il

  27. Is Podcasting Dead? Jason Van Orden Versus Read/Write Web

  28. MadCap Software Sponsors the Tech Writer Voices Podcast

  29. Brain Waves and the Stimulation of Motivation/Creativity

  30. Three Excellent Podcasts on Networking, Outsourcing, and DITA

  31. Tech Writer: "Someone who writes as opposed to someone who rides something"

  32. WordPress Automatic Upgrade -- Recommended WordPress Plugin

  33. Innovation, Imagination, Creativity -- Google VP of Search Products Tells Story of Gmail

  34. "A self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration"

  35. Reflections on Allison Reynold's Talk on Job Skills for the Workplace

  36. Getting Excited About the Upcoming STC Summit in Pennsylvania

  37. WordPress Tip: Recommended Plugin: Better Comments Manager

  38. Answering Tough Questions About Wikis -- Interview with Anne Gentle

  39. The Rockley Group Blog Is Here! I have a couple of DITA questions

  40. My TechCraft Article: Should You Sit Near SMEs?

  41. Implementing WordPress 2.3's New Tagging Feature

  42. Counterpoints to "7 Blogging Beginner Mistakes"

  43. LunarPages Sponsors the Tech Writer Voices Podcast

  44. Usability Research Behind Microsoft's Ergonomic Keyboard

  45. New WordPress Plugin Enables One-Click Installation of Plugins and Themes

  46. News Posts versus Thought Posts

  47. Five Skills Every Technical Writer Needs

  48. My STC Intercom article: "Top 5 Podcasts for Technical Communicators"

  49. Why you shouldn't be afraid of offending others and racking up a few penalties

  50. Location is everything when it comes to getting information from SMEs — Carcast

  51. A blog worth adding to your feeds -- and reasons why

  52. My Shared Items from Google Reader

  53. Virtual Ways of Communicating — Char James-Tanny

  54. Recommended Podcast: This American Life's "Devil in Me" -- Explores a strategy for overcoming your inner demons

  55. A Quick Way to Unsubscribe from Feeds in Google Reader

  56. Cool Example of AJAX in a Blog -- Increases Usability

  57. Is technical writing a calling or a job? Recommended DMN Communications podcast

  58. Extracting information from SMEs

  59. Three new resources to check out

  60. My online absence isn't a permanent vacation

  61. Thoughts on the Accumulation of Stuff [Junk]

  62. Closing One Chapter, Opening a New One

  63. Rethinking the Importance of Screenshots, Diagrams, and Other Visuals

  64. Tom is moving to Utah

  65. Gigzig: Shows Where You Were 5 Years Ago and Where You're Headed 5 Years From Now

  66. A Perfect Model for Online Tutorials -- MS Visio Shapes Course

  67. Survey for New USF Tech. Comm. Program -- Would These Courses Create Highly Qualified Tech Writers?

  68. Best Tech Writing Tip Ever: Watch a User Try to Follow Your Instructions

  69. Grasshoppers that Look Like Aliens

  70. Small and Simple Things -- The Best Kind of Goals

  71. Rethinking the Term "Users"

  72. Three Simple Mistakes Non-Technical Writers Make

  73. Thoughts on the Rapidly Changing Pace of Technology

  74. Tips for Avoiding a Sedentary Lifestyle in the Workplace

  75. Four-Wheeling in the Wasatch Front

  76. Resolving Browser Display Discrepancies Between IE and Firefox

  77. If I Had Ten Days to Live ...

  78. The Paradox of White Space: Some Research and Examples of White Space in Web Design

  79. Making Special, Hidden Categories Separate From Your Home Page and Feed

  80. Evening Fishing at the North Pier

  81. Counterargument to the Importance of Categories in Blogs

  82. Switching from Desktop to Online Tools

  83. Accessibility for Blogs? New Audio Feature: Listen to Posts

  84. Nicely Designed WordPress Blog — Simple, Lots of White Space

  85. Converting Your WordPress Blog into a CMS (Content Management System)

  86. David Pogue's Review of the iPhone -- Engaging Videocast Worth Watching

  87. Economic Prosperity Tied to Openness and Tolerance, says Richard Florida; Also, Thoughts on Inclusive, Distributed Leadership

  88. Search Engine Optimization for Your Blog: Three Easy Techniques, and also Drawbacks to SEO

  89. Wikis in Documentation: Ann Gentle Asks, Can Wikis Stand Alone, or Must They Be Supplements?

  90. Information Architecture: Organizing Chaos, Metadata, Taxonomy vs. Folksonomy, and the Dublin Core

  91. Lucy Smiles for the Camera -- Funny Photo

  92. Context-Sensitive Help -- An Easy Method Using Javascript

  93. POPURLS -- Consolidated News Aggregation From Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Tailrank, Newsvine, and 20 Other Sites

  94. Special Father's Day Post: Description of My Dad

  95. Google Reader's Shared Items Feature -- Allows You to Easily Share Selected Posts from Your Feeds

  96. PostSecret -- a Postcard Confession Site, Fathers Theme

  97. Survey Results of My Blog's Readership and My Accompanying Analysis

  98. TechCrunch Founder Interview on iinnovate -- Arrington Talks About How Blogging Is a Treadmill

  99. Intro to Information Architecture -- Reflections on the Different Roles We Can Play

  100. My Podcast Picks

  101. Installing Mediawiki Is Much Easier Than The Instructions Suggest -- My Quick 10 Step Tutorial for Installing Mediawiki

  102. Madcap Flare Spotlight -- "Six Persistent Flare Problems" Post by Paul Pehrson

  103. A New Approach: Tech Comm News

  104. Google Master Plan Video -- Speculations on the Hidden Purposes Behind Google's Information Collection

  105. Everything Is Miscellaneous -- The Problem with Classifying Information

  106. Writing Style to Keep in Mind for Blog Posts -- Be Clearer Than Usual, State Main Point Up Front

  107. Punishing by Rewards -- Motivational Techniques That Don't Work

  108. Leadership Lesson: After Building Some Trust, Make Direct Invitations

  109. How Information Travels in the Blogosphere -- a funny anecdote

  110. Making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- Recommended Podcast

  111. How to Record Conference Calls -- Answering Reader's Question

  112. Lip Dub Video Clip Captures Essence of the Web -- Spontaneity, Authenticity, Participation, Fun

  113. Vista Help Emphasizes Concepts in Effort to Create Power Users

  114. Who are you? A one-question survey to identify my readers

  115. How Scoble Reads 622 RSS Feeds -- Thoughts and Reactions

  116. Installing Multiple Versions of WordPress on the Same Account, But Masking Them to Appear as Different Domains

  117. Vista and Office 2007: Presentation by David McNamee from Microsoft

  118. Google Maps Offers Mind-Blowing Street View -- It's Like Walking Around Virtually in a City

  119. Alan Houser Starts a Blog -- Check Out the Group Wellesley Wire

  120. The Return of the Newsletter — How to Keep the Newsletter Concept Without the Work

  121. How to Break into Technical Writing

  122. The Death of Associations -- Declining STC Statistics Prompt Innovation, Realigning of Value

  123. Usability Tip from Ricecooker Critiques Podcast -- Print the Documentation on the Product

  124. Former HP CEO Talks About Corporate America and Why Constant Innovation Drives Success

  125. WordPress 2.2 -- Here's Why It's Worth the Upgrade

  126. Be Careful When Upgrading to WordPress 2.2 If You Have the WP-Cache Plugin — Adventures in Backing Up and Restoring WordPress Databases

  127. My Podcasting Method for Face-to-Face Interviews

  128. Podcasting at the STC Conference: Reasons, Methods, and Reflections

  129. STC Conference: Jack Molisani on Trends in Technical Communication

  130. STC Conference: Geoff Sauer on tc.eserver.org, the Largest Tech Comm Index Online

  131. STC Conference: Rob Houser on Creating Nontraditional E-Learning

  132. STC Conference: Scott Abel on Web 2.0

  133. STC Conference: Ann Rockley on the Rockley Group Blog and a New CMS Report

  134. STC Conference: Chris Thompson on Searching for a Content Management System

  135. STC Conference: Caroline Jarrett on User Interface Design

  136. STC Conference: Whitney Quesenbery on the Five E's of Usability

  137. STC Conference: Harry Miller on Multimedia Documentation

  138. STC Conference: Stephanie Bryant on Videoblogging

  139. STC Conference: Mike Brazill on Writing for Developers

  140. STC Conference: John Daigle on RoboHelp 7

  141. STC Conference: Debbie Kennedy on Modular Writing and Reusability

  142. STC Conference: Joan Lasselle on Adopting Content Management

  143. STC Conference: Cindy Skawinski on Activity Diagrams (Uniform Modeling Language Artifacts)

  144. STC Conference: Adrienne Escoe on Recruiting

  145. STC Conference: Teresa Lipus, Snake River chapter, Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon

  146. STC Conference: Deanne Levander, Twin Cities, Minnesota Chapter, and John Garison, Vermont

  147. STC Conference: Laurel Bowen, Oakridge Tennessee Chapter

  148. STC Conference: Brad Simmons, Ames, Iowa

  149. STC Conference: Michael Gernes, Central Iowa STC Community

  150. Leadership Day: Jackie Damrau, Dallas, Texas, and Rachel Houghton, Willamette Valley, Oregon

  151. Leadership Day: Jeanette Rogers, Seattle, Instructional Design & Learning SIG

  152. Leadership Day: Lorrie Corbett, Philadelphia Metro Chapter

  153. Leadership Day: Hillary Hart, Austin Chapter

  154. Leadership Day: Todd Race, Toronto chapter, Canadian Issues Group

  155. Leadership Day: Dan Dornbrook, Chicago Chapter

  156. Leadership Day: Melanie G. Flanders, China; Beau Cain, Director 8

  157. Leadership Day: Paul Sinasohn, Berkeley Chapter, California

  158. Leadership Day: Holly Harkness, Al Hood, and Howard Speck — Atlanta Chapter

  159. Leadership Day: Rhevati Sampath and Wendy Tung, Berkeley Chapter, California

  160. Leadership Day: Kelly Schrank & Lou Martindale — Mid-South Chapter in Memphis and Suncoast Chapter in Tampa

  161. Leadership Day: Sue Kloster, Willamette Valley Chapter, Oregon

  162. Three Things to Avoid When Doing Face-to-Face Podcast Interviews

  163. Blog Carnivals and my 'Makes-Me-Smile Monday' Post

  164. On My Way to the STC conference in Minneapolis

  165. Graduating Kindergartener Asks Difficult Interview Questions

  166. Creating Help in the Web 2.0 Age — Presentation by Neil Perlin

  167. STC Atlanta Launches Podcast — Michelle Schoen Is Atlanta's Resident Podcaster

  168. Wikis in Action — The Top 57 Wikis by Rank

  169. Special Announcements: Add your blog to techwriterblogs.com wiki, and also support Tech Writer Voices

  170. Presentation on Writing and Web 2.0 by Keith Hoffman — Given at the University of Wisconsin

  171. Wikis Are Coming: An In-Depth Exploration of Using Wikis in Documentation — Interview with Katriel Reichman (Israel)

  172. Setting Up a Wiki in a Few Minutes — Installing Dokuwiki

  173. Help Support Tech Writer Voices — Consider this Our Spring Membership Campaign

  174. Calling All Tech Writing Bloggers: List Your Blog in the New Tech Writing Blog Directory Wiki

  175. Neil Perlin Enters Blogosphere and Gives Away Free Flare Stylesheets

  176. Advertise on the Podcast

  177. Google 411 -- Free Information Listings via Phone

  178. Perfect Explanation of RSS -- Engaging Video Tutorial

  179. A Few Conversations at Doc Train — User Personas, Data Conversion, and Simplified Technical English

  180. My First Carcast: Driving Home from Vancouver After the Doc Train Conference

  181. Free Conference Call Recording/Podcasting Service at FreeConferencing.LiveOffice.com

  182. Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools — Interview with the authors

  183. How Blogs Dominate Google — One Highly-Linked-To Blog Can Rule the World

  184. Jott—a Free Voicemail to Transcribed Text Memo Service

  185. Podcast Downloads Report -- About 8,500 downloads so far

  186. Interview with George Hayhoe, editor of Technical Communication Journal, on Technical Writing in China and Korea

  187. Podcast Site Redesign -- I'm Now Using the Leia Theme

  188. If you missed my presentation, here it is online (delivered through WordPress)

  189. Where I'm Going, My Aspirations -- Everything Seems to Align with Web 2.0

  190. More Topics

  191. Basic Tutorial

  192. WordPress as a CMS

  193. Different Uses of WordPress

  194. Why Blog?

  195. Twenty Ways to Make Your Blog More Usable: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at WordPress

  196. Blog Usability Checklist

  197. Glamorous Careers Turn Out to Be Boring--This American Life Podcast

  198. WordPress Plugins: Take Your Blog's Functionality To a New Level

  199. Going to Vancouver on Tuesday for Doc Train Conference!

  200. New Theme Viewer: 39 WordPress Themes I Like

  201. WordPress Themes Crash Course: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started with Themes

  202. Unraveling the Geologic Stratum of the Blogosphere: Why We Blog

  203. RockYou—Create Dynamic Slideshows with Music for Your Site

  204. On Writing Better: Tips from a South by Southwest Panel

  205. Twenty Usability Tips for Your Blog — Condensed from Dozens of Bloggers' Experiences

  206. Defining Experiences: Five STC Candidates Share Influential Stories from the Tech Comm Field

  207. Making Help More Human, and other discussions

  208. Former MySpace Exec. Explains How Experience Can Be an Impediment to Success

  209. A Case for Corporate Transparency: How Channel 9 Changed Microsoft from the Darth Vader of Tech to Downright Visionary

  210. STC Candidates: Submit a Story about a Defining Moment in Your Career

  211. Answering Reader's Question: Can you give me a little information about the blogging section of your Web site?

  212. Susan Burton Provides an Inside, In-Depth Look at STC's Most Pressing Issues

  213. Google CEO's Advice for People Entering a Technology Career: Stay Engaged, Keep Learning and Trying Things

  214. How to Subscribe to RSS Feeds with Internet Explorer 7

  215. Single Sourcing Wiki Tools for the Enterprise — Traction TeamPage5?

  216. MySQL CEO Says, "It is dangerous to hire someobody who has too much experience."

  217. WordPress vs. Movable Type: The Advantages of Open Source and What It Means for Technical Writers

  218. Special STC Elections Podcast: Interview with Nicky Bleiel, Candidate for Director

  219. Broken Days and Perfect Days

  220. Yahoo Pipes and the Mashed Up World of Aggregated, Filtered, Blended Information

  221. Three New Features for this Blog: a Post Index, Inbound Links Display, and Public Web Stats

  222. Finding Work You Love Vs. Loving the Work You Find

  223. Florida Competition Winner Explains Principle of Success: Brevity

  224. Corporate Blogging: Five Rules for Success in the Blogosophere

  225. Answering Reader's Questions: How To Keep Up with Work/Family Balance, and Which Tools to Use

  226. WritersUA Publishes 2007 Salary Survey; 73k Is Average

  227. Sierra Says Help Needs to Be Human, Conversational, and Geared Towards Panicky Users

  228. Special STC Election podcast: Call for Participants

  229. Dan Rather Podcast from South by Southwest: "Journalism needs a spine transplant; it has lost its guts"

  230. Is Technical Writing Boring? Tech Writers as Information Architects

  231. TECHWR-L and Technical Editing SIG Implement Drupal and WordPress

  232. The Evolutionary Strategy of Web 2.0 — It's Like Having 100 Personal Researchers Working For You

  233. Embedding an Audio Player into Your Site Without WordPress

  234. Nine Lessons for Would-be Bloggers -- Great Advice from Josh Porter on Overcoming Blogging Hangups

  235. Microformats and the Semantic Web

  236. Second Life: A 3-D Space for Virtual Meetups and Instruction?

  237. Wikinomics: Combining Wikis with Economics; the More You Share, the More You Win

  238. Librivox: Open Source Audio Books; You Contribute Your Own Readings

  239. Online Communities, Member Maps, Virtual Chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and More

  240. Plagiarism and Cannibalism Both Natural and Necessary, say Writers and Musicians

  241. Creating Passionate Users Explains How to Make the Best User Manual Ever

  242. Starting Your Own Blog: Tips for Non-profits

  243. Free Podcasts at Open Culture: Informational Podcasts on Almost Everything

  244. Looking at the Past; Exploring Directions for the Future

  245. Number One Issue for Technical Writers Today: Keeping Pace with Rapidly Evolving Technology

  246. Chapter Chat Results: It Went Well, But Only 4 Participated

  247. OPML Files — What Feeds Are You Following?

  248. Design good websites by following principles of technical writing style

  249. Examples of companies integrating podcasts into their mix of technical communication deliverables?

  250. 37 Signals, To Do Lists — Printable To Do Lists To Get Organized

  251. My First Virtual Administrative Meeting

  252. "I don't have time to listen to podcasts..."

  253. Review of Word 2007, Tool vs. Industry Experience, the Slow Movement, E-mail Tips, and More

  254. Grammar Girl Podcast — Some Thoughts on Grammar as a Topic for a Podcast

  255. Spinvox: The Next Killer App. for Cell Phones

  256. Integrating Google Adsense into this Blog

  257. Never Listen to Voicemail via Cell Phone Again — Callwave.com & Spinvox Deliver Voicemail to Email for Free

  258. Suncoast Member Map Finished

  259. Guy Kawasaki's Impossible Burden: After Blog and E-mail, There's No Time to Write the Book

  260. Matt Mullenweg Explains Genius of Akismet and Appeal of Fast Development Cycles

  261. Eric Schwartzman Talks About Integrating Podcasts into the Marketing Mix

  262. Virtual Meetings? Chat Feature

  263. Blogging for Your Future Employer

  264. Are Newsletters Dead?

  265. WordPress Easter Egg Defies Logic by Removing Styles

  266. Boagworld Shares Advice on Podcasting

  267. Ze Frank's Show — STC Speaker in Minneapolis Conference

  268. Doug Davis on the Job Side of Technical Writing — Location, Industry Experience, and Salary

  269. Two more surveys — Innovations and WritersUSA

  270. Podcast Revenue Idea: Provide 20 second Job Listing Spots in Place of Ads

  271. Reflections on the First Cohost Podcast

  272. First Cohost Podcast — A Natural Conversation about Technical Writing

  273. Is technical writing boring?

  274. DMN Comm. Podcast Gives Thumbs Down on RoboHelp; But More Interesting Is Shift in Style

  275. 10 Ways to Make Your Blog More Appealing

  276. Take Clyde's Blogging Survey

  277. Tech Writer Voices Switching to Co-Host Style

  278. Writing Blog Posts by E-mail

  279. Forrester Podcast Recommended — Web 2.0 Is About Building Relationships

  280. Making a Chapter Member Map Mashup with Google Maps

  281. 10 Reasons Not to Upgrade to Robohelp 6

  282. Podcasting Reader's Comments — The Pilotless Drone

  283. Video on SharePoint 2007 Wiki, Blog, and RSS Functionality from Microsoft's Channel 9

  284. Getting Started with WordPress — Video Tutorial on Installation

  285. RoboHelp to Wiki Conversion Tool

  286. Installing WordPress -- a Quick Video Tutorial

  287. Discussion about RoboHelp 6 — Interview with Rick Stone

  288. Using Wikis as Project Documentation Tools

  289. Recommended Podcast: 43 Folders on Kung Fu, Meditation, and Sex

  290. Blogs that Lose Direction and Go from Blog to Blah?

  291. Survey Gizmo: The best tool/thing I have used/done

  292. Are We Moving Toward GooOS, the Google Operating System?

  293. User Paradox with Not Reading User Manuals

  294. Using Ajax Shelf to Help Users Find Pages on Suncoast Site

  295. 10 pet peeves of technical writing

  296. Tips from the Frederator: Pursue Life's Passion Online, and Blog Often, Short, and with Pics

  297. Adobe Enters Blogosphere

  298. Adobe Seminar -- Nice Connection and Demo, But Questions Seemed Filtered

  299. Dealing with the Documentation Aspects of Bad Software -- My Response to the Latest DMN Communications Podcast

  300. Wordpress 2.1 Review

  301. Allure of New Media Requires Strict Bedtime Control or Else Sleep Deprivation Will Set In

  302. The Curse of Knowledge -- The More You Know, the Worse You Become At Communicating That Knowledge

  303. Recommended Podcast: Boagworld > Community Websites, by Paul Boag

  304. How to Create a Site Where Users Can Actually Find Information — Interview with Thom Haller

  305. Latest Podcast Is Posted on Tech Writer Voices

  306. WordPress 2.1 Released -- This is a major release

  307. Survey on Blogging -- Darren Barefoot

  308. Applying Web 2.0 to Podcasting

  309. Trying to Create Tech Writer Voices Logo

  310. Technorati Blogosphere Report -- 1.3 million new posts per day, so what are people writing about?

  311. Reading Blogs versus Reading Traditional Print Media

  312. RoboHelp 6 Not Compatible with Word 2007

  313. Preview Images of Link Destinations with Snap

  314. Create RSS Feeds From Any Site With Ponyfish

  315. Ten Tips for Problem Solving and Troubleshooting

  316. WordPress = Bliss: The Joy of Customization

  317. RoboHelp 6 launched — List of New Features

  318. Web Developer Firefox Extension Makes CSS Editing Easy

  319. Ten Lessons Learned as a Technical Communicator — Interview with Rahul Prabhakar

  320. Patience Thresholds for Technology

  321. Listening to Podcasts Without Dedicating Any Time for Them

  322. Why Software Sucks, by David Platt

  323. Read a Book by E-mail, a Little Each Day with Daily Lit

  324. Recording your chapter presentations

  325. Dynamic Help in Visual Studio .NET

  326. Podcasting article in STC Intercom magazine

  327. Inexpensive Screencast Software: Blueberry Flashback Express Recorder

  328. Talkr service converts text-only blogs into podcasts

  329. Google Talk

  330. Mike Hamilton Gives Flare Demo to the Suncoast Chapter

  331. WIFM and Blogging

  332. The Concept of Trackbacks

  333. Year in Review -- "You" Chosen as Most Important Person

  334. The Convergence of Web 2.0 with Help Documentation — Tom Johnson

  335. Help 2.0: The Convergence of Help with Web 2.0

  336. Rating Feature Now Available

  337. WordPress Shopping Carts

  338. Understanding Principles of Usability, Part 2 — Karen Bachmann

  339. New Look and New Approach to Blog/Podcast

2006 archives

  1. Wikipedia -- indisputable Web 2.0 triumph

  2. The Challenge of Web 2.0 Documentation: WordPress's Immense Codex

  3. Payscale: a Web 2.0 salary comparison tool

  4. How many of these Web 2.0 sites do you know?

  5. Make your computer run faster by disabling all the auto-startup programs

  6. Reading Tech News: Digg

  7. Google Groups Rocks — Find Answers to Almost Everything

  8. Web 2.0 dieting and nutrition site: Sparkpeople.com

  9. WordPress as Budgeting Software: Mo.neytrack.in

  10. Why Blogger is more popular than WordPress: Ease of Use

  11. Using Gmail to read Threaded Conversations from Listservs

  12. Designing for "Web 2.0" audiences

  13. Understanding Principles of Usability, Part 1 — Karen Bachmann

  14. Skype Firefox Exention Changes Phone Numbers into Buttons

  15. First Blog Post Using Word 2007

  16. Open Source Folder Compression Utility -- 7 Zip

  17. Word 2007 Features and Demo -- offers style sets to quickly transform documents

  18. Creating Word templates with customized help delivered by Clippy

  19. Posting Youtube Videos — A Required Tone for Internet Audiences?

  20. Creating your own RSS Feed

  21. Keith Hoffman Interviews Susan Burton, Exec. Director of the STC

  22. Looking up IP addresses

  23. Web 2.0, CMS, and DITA — Interview with Ann Rockley

  24. New Podcast on Web 2.0, DITA, CMS

  25. Podcasting article and my 15 favorite podcasts

  26. Wordpress to offer Enterprise Edition

  27. How to Increase Collaboration and Performance — Interview with Emma Hamer

  28. Open Source Software and Wikis

  29. Checking out Youtube: A Few Fun Videos to Watch

  30. Firefox and Deepest Sender are superior to IE7

  31. The coolest thing ever -- Total Tech Writer Blog Aggregation

  32. First survey results with Survey Gizmo

  33. Recommended podcast: Facilitating Collaboration

  34. Top 100 blogs and top 100 podcasts

  35. Two useful tools for surveys and webinars

  36. Getting Ideas for Your Blog: Oneword.com

  37. Podcast metrics analysis for Tech Writer Voices

  38. Technical Writing in India — Interview with Sandeep Balakrishna

  39. Corporate Blogging

  40. Wordpress releases first official Wordpress Multi-User Edition

  41. Another Perspective on Single-Sourcing — Interview with Sarah O'Keefe

  42. Recommended Podcast: Alistair Christie's IT Author Podcast

  43. Calling all potential podcasters...

  44. How To Create a Usable Index — Interview with John McGhie

  45. Being Interviewed Is Fun

  46. Podcasting 101 — by Tom Johnson

  47. How to Implement Single Sourcing — Interview with Neil Perlin

  48. Figuring out Audio

  49. Podcasting FAQs

  50. Tech Writer Voices Podcast

  51. Joomla, an Open-Source Content Management System Solution — Interview with Sean Wheller about Joomla

  52. Knowledge Management and Technical Writing — Janet Foley

  53. Flare 2.0 and MadCap Software — Interview with Mike Hamilton

  54. Content Management Professionals — Interview with Scott Abel

  55. Writing for the Web — Ian Koss, Founder of Ink19.com

  56. The popularity of how-to podcasts

  57. Online SIG links to TechWriterVoices

  58. Podcasting site is finished

  59. Combining Podcasting with Technical Writing

  60. Podcast site almost ready

  61. DITA Structured Blogging and Online Help

  62. Recording Phone Interviews

  63. Advantages of using Wordpress for blogging

  64. Websort -- Testing out the Logical Taxonomy of your Site

  65. Using the Yahoo Maps API

  66. Recording STC Chapter Presentations

  67. A restful Labor Day weekend; thoughts on podcasting

  68. Hard Drive Totally Crashed

  69. FTCC launches its site and call for entries today

  70. We need an IT Conversations for Tech Writers

  71. Barry Schwartz — Less is More — Why Too Many Options Leads to Dissatisfaction

  72. Malcolm Gladwell — Why People Can't Express What They Really Mean and Feel

  73. Motivations for Hackers [and Technical Writers?] -- Paul Graham speech

  74. Teddy Roosevelt's River of Doubt

  75. Why this blog, separate from the Suncoast Blog?

About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.

If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the tech comm, be sure to subscribe to email updates below. You can also learn more about me or contact me. Finally, note that the opinions I express on my blog are my own points of view, not that of my employer.