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. Podcast: The Myth of Single Sourcing

  9. Put together a portfolio (TW Job)

  10. Learn some tools (TW Job)

  11. WordPress 2.9 Released

  12. Get real experience doing technical writing (TW Job)

  13. Removing ice from a driveway is like .... everything

  14. Learn the basics of technical writing (TW Job)

  15. Trying Out Picture in Picture in Screencasts

  16. PowerPoint from Screencasting Webinar

  17. Upcoming Webinar on Screencasting

  18. WordPress Tip: How to Transfer WordPress to a New Web Host

  19. Design Fixations with Mediawiki Skins

  20. Adding the Human Element in Screencasts

  21. Ramping Up on Mediawiki

  22. About My New Site Redesign

  23. Site Critiques and WordPress Q&A -- Community Leaders Webinar Jan 28

  24. What's the Best Microphone for Screencasting?

  25. My Upcoming STC Webinar on Screencasting

  26. Play Chess Online with ChessJam

  27. A Microcosm of Technical Writing in the Kitchen While Cooking a Banana Cream Pie

  28. Why Help Authoring Tools Will Fade

  29. Contingent Senior Technical Writer Opening at LDS Church's ICS Department in Riverton, Utah

  30. What I'm Presenting on at the Dallas Summit

  31. Embedding Videos into Madcap Flare

  32. Podcast about the Podcast Poll

  33. Combining Cinema with Screencasting

  34. How to Incorporate Twitter into Your Presentation

  35. What I've Been Learning in Flare

  36. Why Is It Important for Video Tutorials to Be User-Led?

  37. Minimizing Documentation

  38. 21% of Intermountain Chapter Members Planning to Renew STC Membership

  39. Design Reviews and Posting Without Answers

  40. How Microsoft Visual Studio Is Doing Help

  41. Podcast Roundtable for PodcampSLC Series

  42. Theme Parks and External and Internal Input

  43. Podcast on the seven deadly sins of blogging

  44. The Long Tail of Online Profitability

  45. Wikis and the Holy Grail of Content Independence

  46. Reinventing Yourself Through Your Blog

  47. NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo Start Nov 1

  48. WordPress Tip: Install WordPress Locally

  49. Being inattentive (Sins of blogging)

  50. A Few Surprises in Using a Wiki for Documentation

  51. Being unfindable (Sins of blogging)

  52. Being irresponsible (Sins of blogging)

  53. Being unreadable (Sins of blogging)

  54. Forms of Play

  55. Survey about Framemaker and EMC Documentum Integration

  56. Podcast from BYU Idaho Professional Writing Panel

  57. Being boring (Sins of blogging)

  58. Technical Writer Ranks #5 in Least Stressful Jobs; Also, CNN Money Total Jobs Count Screwy

  59. Choosing Between Academic and Corporate Life: Did I Make the Wrong Choice?

  60. An Interview About Technical Writing

  61. Being irrelevant (Sins of blogging)

  62. My STC Summit Blogging Presentation Is Free

  63. Chrysler Drops Long Car Manuals in Favor of Short Guides + Video

  64. WordPress Tip: Section Widget and Advanced XML Export -- wordpress Plugin Winner and Runner Up

  65. Google Releases Sidewiki and Adds to the Growing Trend of Conversation

  66. Duct Tape Technical Writers

  67. Smashing Magazine Lists 10 Web Usability Guidelines

  68. Dallas STC Summit Proposals Due Oct 5

  69. New Content Strategy SIG

  70. STC 2008 Salary Database -- See Salaries for Technical Writers in Your State

  71. Tips to Get Around Age Discrimination

  72. Information Overload -- Conversation with Ricardo Amigo

  73. Introduction to getting a job in technical writing (TW Job)

  74. "Tell me a story" -- Advice from Writers

  75. Being fake (Sins of blogging)

  76. The Appeal of Adobe InDesign

  77. STC: Quo Vadis? Mike Hughes gets introspective about the STC situation

  78. The Content Wrangler Moves to WordPress

  79. How Do Blogs and Wikis Fit Together?

  80. NY Times criticized for letting Pogue maintain Apple bias

  81. WordPress Tip: WordPress Worm Requires Upgrade to 2.8.4

  82. Writing as Conversation -- Brainsparks Podcast with Ginny Redish

  83. The best time to publish your blog posts

  84. Creativity in the Workplace

  85. Avoiding the Shut Down Mode

  86. STC's Online Certificate Courses

  87. Clive Thompson on the New Literacy

  88. An argument for slowing down in an age of rapid online exchanges

  89. Why teens don't use Twitter

  90. Podcast with Anne Gentle about her Conversation and Community book

  91. Review of Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

  92. Converting Lurkers into Contributors in Online Communities -- Nielsen's 90-9-1 Rule

  93. A Refreshing Angle on the Name of our Profession

  94. Making Spaces in Cluttered Houses and Cluttered Lives

  95. A Few Software Tips to Make Technical Writing Easier

  96. Humor essay about a car manual's diction

  97. "Social Documentation" -- Cool but Problematic

  98. The Importance of LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in Job Searches

  99. Students Engaged by Discussion, Not Smart Classrooms

  100. Three Books on DITA

  101. Convert RSS Feeds into a Magazine Format with Zinepal

  102. Productivity Tip: Paper Number Piles

  103. Carcast: Friday Thoughts on Reading, Publish2, and Writer River

  104. Applying Strunk and White's "Omit Needless Words" to Life

  105. New Intermountain-STC Chapter Site

  106. All About Technical Writing -- The Writing Show

  107. Every piece of content matters - an interview with Gerry McGovern | Information & Design

  108. Apple blogger makes living from blog

  109. Writing Style Guides and Your Parenting Style

  110. Exporting Documentation to Wikis

  111. Write When Inspired, Rest When Tired

  112. Finding Business Models in the Economics of Free

  113. Why Free Is the Future of Business

  114. Exactly How Much Does a Wordcamp Cost?

  115. Tech Comm Lobotomies

  116. Discovering Relationship Tables

  117. Blogging as an Outlet for Technical Writers

  118. Perks About Working in an Office Instead of Working from Home

  119. Lying in a Hammock, or, Having a Single Goal without a Purpose

  120. Are You Irrelevant? Engaging, Provocative Video

  121. Screen Captures May Not Make Sense

  122. Tip for Usability in Context-Sensitive Help

  123. UAX (User Assistance Experience): Online vs. on-line

  124. Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

  125. Read This If You Hate Meetings - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com

  126. Daring Fireball: Charging for Access to News Sites

  127. My STC Live Webinar on Blogging This Wednesday at 1pm

  128. Podcast on Content Strategy: Interview with Rahel Bailie

  129. Moving Towards a Manifesto About Online Versus Print Formats

  130. What can Technical Authors learn from celebrity chefs and musicians? Cherryleaf Technical Authors Blog

  131. Toward Content Quality :: UXmatters

  132. Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design

  133. My Guest Post on Unstoppability for DMN Communications

  134. Three Questions to Start Thinking Like a Content Strategist

  135. Insight into the theory of mind

  136. New York Times Starts a “What We're Reading” Section

  137. A List Apart: Articles: Content-tious Strategy

  138. Content Strategy - a knol by Jeffrey MacIntyre

  139. Best Practices For Effective Design Of "About me"-Pages | Design Showcase | Smashing Magazine

  140. Is This Meeting Really Necessary?

  141. The Paris Review - Gay Talese: The Art of Nonfiction No. 2

  142. InDesignSecrets » Learn InDesign One Feature at a Time

  143. Keys to Being a Trusted Source of Information: Gryphon Mountain Journals

  144. If You're a Writer, Write

  145. STC's wiki is also scheduled for demolition :: TechCommDood

  146. What Users Don't Care About

  147. Get Set Up

  148. Content Theory: Sheep and Chaos — MK Anderson

  149. A Mile Wide and 30 Seconds Deep: A Metaphor for Help from Mike Hughes

  150. Two New Tools I'm Learning

  151. Biking to Work – A Good Idea, But …

  152. How the Web and the Weblog have changed Writing

  153. Interactive Google Map of Where I Work

  154. Feedburner Add Customizable Subject Lines to Email Subscriptions

  155. Mind Hacks: In our wildest dreams

  156. Implementing a Department Wiki? A Writer Shares Some Dos and Don'ts (Guest Post)

  157. Palimpsest: This is the future of technical communication

  158. I Need Your Human Aggregated Content

  159. Secrecy versus openness in communication

  160. Write Articles, Not Blog Postings (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

  161. PDF Manuals: The Wrong Paradigm for an Online Experience

  162. Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

  163. 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills | Developers Toolbox | Smashing Magazine

  164. How Google Does Help

  165. Real Projects for Entry-Level Writers Trying to Build Their Portfolios

  166. Page Layout and Design Tips from Jean-luc Doumont's Trees, maps, and theorems

  167. Outsourcing vs. offshoring, and how U.S.-based technical writers can stay competitive « Your Writing Dept Blog

  168. "What I'm Reading": A New Feature on My Site and a Tweak of Writer River

  169. Core Dump: STC Floundering?

  170. Technically Speaking » The STC Crisis: the take of a “young” writer

  171. Generation B - Mr. Mom, Father's Day Edition - NYTimes.com

  172. Identity and Authority. Why the Foundation of Documentation is Changing. | The LugIron Software Blog

  173. 4J's Group - THE CONTENT POOL: It's STC not STW

  174. Seeing the World in Clearer, Simpler Ways

  175. It's Time to Shoot Your Blog | Copyblogger

  176. Fictitious Documentation

  177. Inkscape: the free alternative to Adobe Illustrator

  178. The Blockhead Blog: Does the STC deserve to survive?

  179. In Which I Comment on the STC Issue — MK Anderson

  180. Lifelines to the STC

  181. Forms that Work – Interview with Caroline Jarrett (podcast)

  182. Palimpsest: Whither STC?

  183. Speakers and fees: an insiders view | Speaker Confessions

  184. 10 Sites That Produce Quality WordPress Content — Nathan Rice

  185. WordPress Single Post Templates — Nathan Rice

  186. Palimpsest: Flare 5 DITA feature review Part 1: Overview and map files

  187. Extracting Images from Visio and Inserting Them in Indesign

  188. Cartoon 12 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  189. How to Avoid Extinction as a Technical Communicator

  190. Cartoon 11 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  191. Blogging, Podcasting, and Screencasting: Eight Characteristics to Attract Devoted Followers [Part 2]

  192. Blogging, Podcasting, and Screencasting: Eight Characteristics to Attract Devoted Followers [Part I]

  193. Cartoon 10 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  194. Quick reference guide slides from the Transalpine Conference

  195. Social Networks and the TransAlpine Conference

  196. Cartoon 9 [The Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  197. Day 8 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  198. Day 7 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  199. Day 6 Cartoon [The 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway]

  200. Day 5 Cartoon [Christmas in June Giveaway]

  201. Thinking About Vienna and the Legacy of Mozart

  202. Day 4 Cartoon [Christmas in June Giveaway]

  203. WordPress Tip: “Crunching” and “Burning”

  204. Day 3 Cartoon [12 Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  205. Day 2 Cartoon [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  206. Day 1 Cartoon -- [The Twelve Days of Christmas in June Giveaway]

  207. 12 Days of Christmas in June Giveaway

  208. Free video soft: video converter, ipod converter, mp4 converter

  209. Having Fun with Snagit

  210. WordPress Tip: Implement WordPress's Threaded Comments

  211. WordPress Tip: 10 Reasons Why I Like WordPress

  212. Anne Gentle on her Forthcoming Book, Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation

  213. Following the NBA Can Make You a Better Technical Writer

  214. Your WordPress Site Can Get Hacked If You Don't Have This

  215. STC Toronto's New Five-and-Five Chapter Model

  216. Richard Hamilton's XML Press Imprint

  217. Converting Readers from Casual Subscribers to Devoted Followers

  218. Sailboats and Cruise Ships, or, How My Work Podcast Was Dwarfed by a Mega Work Podcast

  219. Madcap's Flare-DITA Solution (podcast)

  220. The State of Structured Authoring in Technical Communication (podcast)

  221. Drawing as a Tool for Thinking: The Back of the Napkin

  222. The Best Thing I Did This Week

  223. John Hedtke on Disaster Preparedness and Book Publishing

  224. Starting Points with Quick Reference Guides: Gathering Before Designing

  225. GUI Magnets -- Prototyping User Interfaces with Simple Magnets

  226. Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and the Real Reason You Are a Successful Writer

  227. James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 (Podcast with Alan Porter)

  228. Mother-in-Law Tip for Reading Manuals

  229. STC Summit Atlanta Adventures: The Agony and Ecstasy of Presenting

  230. Ginny Redish -- Letting Go of the Words (Podcast Interview at STC Summit)

  231. Personal Branding: You Are What You Write About

  232. Two Stories About How to Write Help

  233. Going to Atlanta, #stc09

  234. Documentation Usability: A Few Things I've Learned from Watching Users

  235. WordPress Tip: Recording of WordPress Webinar

  236. Can Others Do Your Job?

  237. Making Money from Blogging

  238. The Wind and A Lot of Thoughts About Pessimism and Optimism

  239. Telecommuting into Nonexistent Worlds

  240. Anne Gentle to Give Virtual Presentation on Wikis on Thursday, April 23

  241. What to Blog/Write About

  242. Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Documentation

  243. Quick Reference Guides Right Where You Need Them

  244. Blogging: A New Role for Technical Communicators

  245. Why Most Designers Will Be Freelancers Within 20 Years | Freelance Folder

  246. How Video Can Turn Your Career Around

  247. The Corporate Blogger Story

  248. AP Article Leads to "Helping Husbands and Fathers" Photo Project

  249. Site Name Change

  250. Adobe InDesign and Transparent Images on Color Backgrounds

  251. Have Notebook Will Travel

  252. Some Notes from Podcamp

  253. Interviews that Shaped My Podcasting Style and Approach

  254. InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome

  255. Check Your Site's Loading Time

  256. Survey About Technical Writers' Training Needs for 2009

  257. Introduction to Technical Writing (podcast)

  258. Managing Writers: Interview with Richard Hamilton (podcast)

  259. What To Do When You're Not Picked to Be America's Next Top Tech Writer

  260. New Feature: Regular Guest Posts

  261. Why I Don't Take Freelance Writing Jobs Anymore

  262. WordPress Tip: Introduction to WordPress -- Webinar, April 14

  263. Jane's Presentation, Twitter for Business (podcast)

  264. Examples of Perfect Screencasts

  265. "Like My Own Personal Brand of Heroin"

  266. HD Screencast Example

  267. Managing Your Social Media Profiles and Badges

  268. The Importance of Validation (video)

  269. Notes Watching Senior Users at the Computer

  270. Podcamp Salt Lake City, March 27 -- "Interviewing Remote and Local Guests for Podcasts"

  271. Podcast -- Blogging for Technical Communicators Webinar (Part 2)

  272. Podcast -- Blogging for Technical Communicators Webinar (Part 1)

  273. STC Speaker's Registry | Find experts fast

  274. Emotional States of Computer Users in Times of Frustration

  275. Lessons Learned with Quick Reference Guides: Timing and Truth

  276. STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation"

  277. Translating with the New Madcap Lingo V2

  278. CSS-Tricks #1: Converting a Photoshop Mockup (part 1 of 3)

  279. InDesignSecrets

  280. WordPress Tip: Rotating Flash Tag Clouds

  281. Blogging Webinar Thursday Evening

  282. WordPress Tip: Podcasts on WordPress: WordPress Weekly from the WordPress Tavern

  283. Communication Preferences and Jane's Voicemail Message

  284. "You know what .chms need? More bling-bling. More flash..."

  285. robfelty.com :: Blog :: Collapsing Pages

  286. Tip: Automatically Push Your Latest Blog Posts Across Twitter

  287. Can SharePoint 2007 Be Used as a Help Authoring Tool?

  288. Embedding HD Quality Screencasts in Your Blog

  289. WordPress Tip: Merging Worlds: DITA and WordPress

  290. Free Screen Sharing Software: Adobe Connect

  291. Documentation Review Techniques (videocast)

  292. TiltViewer - About

  293. Structured Authoring Survey from Scriptorium

  294. 10 Things I Learned from My Last Podcast

  295. Podcast: Make Your Help Indispensable, Safeguard Your Job

  296. A Five-Click Solution to Publishing and Uploading Screen Videos to SharePoint

  297. Customizing a SharePoint Site

  298. Added a Blog Wall to my site

  299. DITA Topics Tutorial

  300. Embracing Opportunity

  301. Premium WordPress Themes, WordPress 2.5 Premium Themes, Premium Wordpress Blog Templates | Blog Oh Blog

  302. Web Design WordPress function list

  303. Where I Stand on DITA

  304. Styling Category Levels in WordPress (video)

  305. Below the Line: Podcasters report their top 3 podcasting tips - part 1

  306. Coding Horror: The Two Types of Browser Zoom

  307. Great Books by Writers Who Aren't Dead Yet

  308. Upcoming Presentations, or, Blogging and Increased Visibility

  309. Thoughts on Troubleshooting and Problem Solving

  310. WordPress TV Launches -- The Appeal of Video Continues to Expand

  311. Screencasting -- Workflow and Presentation, by Collin Turner (Podcast)

  312. Twittering Tips for Beginners - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com

  313. A Technical Writer with Extra Privileges? Responding to a Question about Roles (Videocast)

  314. Poll: What blogging software is available for use at your work?

  315. Top Technical Communication News for January 2009

  316. WritersUA Salary Survey, Tools Survey, and Upcoming Conference

  317. My STC Intercom Article about Writer River and Community-Driven Websites

  318. Tech Comm Toolbox: a Directory of Tools, Consultants, and Conferences

  319. Dilbert animated shorts from your favorite comic strips

  320. Flare Context Sensitive Help – Focusing the Minimized Help Window Back on Top

  321. WordPress Tip: Questions I'm Often Asked About WordPress and Blogging

  322. Wrapping up 2008 – Successes, Failures, and Goals for the Next Year

  323. Tech Comm Toolbox

  324. Podcast: Help Authoring with Doc-To-Help 2009, Interview with Nicky Bleiel

  325. Good Designs Have Strong Contrast

  326. The Pleasure of Language -- Essential Listening for Hyper-corrective Grammarians

  327. How to Create Columns with CSS Float | eHow.com

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.