Date-based archives
Reader Question: "My Wish List for Technical Writing Tools" | Dec 31, 2012
Moving Between the Agora and the Desert | Dec 16, 2012
7 Ways to Increase Flare's Search Engine Optimization in Google's Results | Dec 15, 2012
Knowledge Has a New Shape, and It's Not the Book | Dec 12, 2012
Podcast: Include It All, Filter It Afterwards -- Interview with Mark Baker | Dec 11, 2012
The Rebirth of My Podcast | Dec 11, 2012
My Upcoming Presentations at User Assistance Europe in Manchester, England | Dec 8, 2012
A Few Notes from Too Big To Know | Dec 6, 2012
What Does "Every Page Is Page One" and "Include It All, Filter It Afterward" Mean? | Dec 4, 2012
Five Ways to Avoid the "Congratulations" Cliche as You Start a User's Guide | Nov 29, 2012
Book Review: Your Brain at Work, by David Rock | Nov 27, 2012
Incorporating Learning into Tech Comm Deliverables | Nov 26, 2012
Implementing Highlighting in Madcap Flare's HTML5 Output | Nov 25, 2012
Creating Video Tutorials for Android and iPhone Mobile Apps | Nov 20, 2012
Exploring Flare's Mobile Webhelp Format in Depth | Nov 11, 2012
Retina Display and Screen Capture Sizes in Online Help | Nov 10, 2012
10 Realizations While Writing Documentation for a Mobile App | Nov 8, 2012
Staying Out of Maintenance Mode | Oct 29, 2012
Writing in the Trenches Versus Writing on the Sidelines | Oct 27, 2012
Upcoming STC Editing SIG Webinar: Writing and Editing Scripts for Video Tutorials | Oct 27, 2012
Halloween Human Organ Donation Station | Oct 27, 2012
Company Strategies for Blog Content That Avoids Controversy | Oct 22, 2012
PowerPoint Slides from Lavacon Presentation on Producing Professional Sounding Audio in Video Tutorials | Oct 17, 2012
The Double-Edged Sword of Hiding Controversial Information | Oct 16, 2012
Podcast on Technical Writing | Oct 15, 2012
Professional Technical Writing Careers -- Answers to Questions, by Cheryl Landes | Oct 15, 2012
Book Review: No Easy Day | Oct 12, 2012
Specializing in the Next Big Thing: A Few Lingering Thoughts from Lavacon | Oct 11, 2012
Professional Technical Writing Careers -- Questions and Answers, by Steve Goldberg | Oct 7, 2012
Exploring the Tech Comm Paradox | Oct 1, 2012
How to Create Video Tutorials -- A Five Step Process | Sep 27, 2012
How to Change the World | Sep 24, 2012
Incorporating Elements of Speech into Writing | Sep 18, 2012
Keeping Scripts Fluid When Recording Video Tutorials | Sep 17, 2012
Why Isn't Spoken Language Easier for Writers? | Sep 15, 2012
Bringing the Scientific Mind to Tech Comm | Sep 11, 2012
Quick Reference Guide Gallery | Sep 9, 2012
Comparing Zumba to Technical Writing | Sep 5, 2012
First Day of School | Sep 2, 2012
The Blame Game of RTFM | Aug 30, 2012
Blending Tech Comm with Support | Aug 26, 2012
Messages from Sponsors -- August 2012 | Aug 22, 2012
Summer Is Over, School Begins Again | Aug 20, 2012
Guest Post: Core Skills for Technical Writers Often Overlooked | Aug 16, 2012
Using the Proximity Principle to Design Online Help Navigation | Aug 13, 2012
Why Glossaries Help Users Find Information | Aug 9, 2012
This Theme Is Now Responsive | Aug 9, 2012
Applying Progressive Information Disclosure to Online Help Navigation | Aug 9, 2012
Misconceptions about Topic-Based Authoring | Jul 31, 2012
The Importance of Contextual Navigation, or Cross References in Topics | Jul 23, 2012
Unconscious Meaning Suggested from the Structure and Shape of Help | Jul 18, 2012
Why Do We Need Navigation At All? | Jul 12, 2012
Writing as a Holy Calling | Jul 9, 2012
Taxonomy, Metadata, and Search: Notes from Seth Earley's Confab Workshop | Jun 25, 2012
Returning to Findability | Jun 25, 2012
How Can Newbies Learn Tech Comm Tools Given Their Cost? | Jun 21, 2012
Writing User-Centered Documentation, or, My Best Days as a Technical Writer | Jun 21, 2012
Turning Point (Wikis) | Jun 17, 2012
Writing Is Harder Than Most Think (Wikis) | Jun 16, 2012
A Guiding Metaphor (Wikis) | Jun 15, 2012
Community and Collaboration (Wikis) | Jun 14, 2012
Some Wiki Basics (Wikis) | Jun 13, 2012
Is Collaborative Authoring Over-Hyped? | Jun 12, 2012
The Need for Constant Updates (Wikis) | Jun 12, 2012
My Journey To and From Wikis: Why I Adopted Wikis, Why I Veered Away, and a New Model | Jun 11, 2012
Upcoming STC Webinar: Creating Help in a Wiki Environment | Jun 5, 2012
An Ingenious Way to Solicit Community Contributions, or, How to Replace the Screen for an Asus Laptop UL50AG | Jun 1, 2012
Content Strategy Workshops: Interview with Rahel Bailie | May 25, 2012
When Wikis Succeed and Fail | May 23, 2012
Confab 2012: Thoughts and Reactions | May 19, 2012
15 Tips for a Successful Conference Experience | May 18, 2012
How Character Drives Story -- Book Review of Ann Patchett's State of Wonder | May 14, 2012
Q&A: What should my major be for a career in technical writing? | May 12, 2012
Trying New Things, Changing Interests | May 9, 2012
Book Review: Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson | May 8, 2012
Stuck in a system | May 7, 2012
Asking questions is more important than finding answers -- why? | Apr 27, 2012
Differences between blogs and wikis, and why you might need both | Apr 19, 2012
Leveraging the wisdom of the 80/20 rule: Focusing on content that matters | Apr 17, 2012
A Love Affair with Grapefruit | Apr 15, 2012
Guest Post: Why I Love Wikis | Apr 14, 2012
Finally Biking to Work | Apr 11, 2012
Subpage Titles on Wikis -- Challenges, Conventions, and Compromises | Mar 22, 2012
Guest Post: Wikis Are the Future of Technical Documentation | Mar 20, 2012
Guest Post: A Week in My Life as a Technical Writer (with some humor) | Mar 17, 2012
Guest Post: Is Technical Writing Creative? | Mar 14, 2012
Thinking About a Social Media Strategy: A Few Elements to Consider | Mar 8, 2012
Technical Communication Metrics: What Should You Track? | Mar 2, 2012
Conferences I'm Attending This Year | Feb 28, 2012
Why don't technical writers use wikis — or do they? | Feb 24, 2012
Incensed at "Laid-back" Categorization of Technical Writing Career | Feb 24, 2012
Why I Love Audible | Feb 21, 2012
My New Email Strategy: The Email Game and ActiveInbox | Feb 20, 2012
Webinar Recording: Designing Quick Reference Guides | Feb 18, 2012
Webinar Recording -- Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies | Feb 18, 2012
Looking at The Peter Principle, Dilbert Principle, and Parkinson's Law | Feb 15, 2012
On Being an Individual Contributor | Feb 10, 2012
A Life of Its Own: An Essay About an Article That Was Never Published | Feb 8, 2012
A Reverse Approach to Help Authoring: Writing Documentation Post-Release | Feb 2, 2012
Brainstorming Solutions to Volunteer Management/Engagement | Feb 1, 2012
Messages from Sponsors -- January 2012 | Jan 30, 2012
STC Certification: An In-Depth Interview with Steve Jong | Jan 26, 2012
Interview with Ugur Akinci about Technical Communication | Jan 23, 2012
Upcoming Webinar: Designing Quick Reference Guides | Jan 23, 2012
Graduate Research Findings about Technical Communication and Blogs in the Workplace | Jan 22, 2012
Using JIRA to Track Writing Assignments | Jan 18, 2012
A Lifetime of Reading Versus a Lifetime of Writing | Jan 13, 2012
The "Home Depot Model" of Findability, or, Social Search | Jan 10, 2012
Looking at Breadcrumbs in a New Way | Jan 5, 2012
About 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.