2016 archives

1. Generalist versus specialist: What should you focus on with knowledge building in your tech writing role? | Dec 20, 2016

2. Write the Docs Podcast Episode 2 (which Focuses on Findability) Now Available | Dec 18, 2016

3. Updating a single page versus updating the documentation as a whole | Dec 14, 2016

4. Write the Docs Podcast episode 1: New podcast from the Write the Docs community | Nov 23, 2016

5. Recording of Open Authoring -- Collaboration Across Disciplines presentation, by Ralph Squillace | Nov 15, 2016

6. Review of Coding for Writers course by Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy | Nov 13, 2016

7. Should you ever apologize for something product-related in your documentation? Looking at Apple's dongle documentation | Nov 6, 2016

8. How to avoid becoming extinct in your technical writing career | Nov 6, 2016

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 | Nov 1, 2016

10. Markdown or reStructuredText or DITA? Choosing the right format for tech docs | Oct 28, 2016

11. How to tell if you're a content strategist | Oct 26, 2016

12. Apple's Two-Step Verification versus Two-Factor Authentication, or, When Marketing's lingo makes it impossible to communicate with plain speech | Oct 25, 2016

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 | Oct 23, 2016

14. How to deliver newsletters for your Jekyll site | Oct 23, 2016

15. Coding the sidebar navigation element for documentation websites | Oct 23, 2016

16. From podcasts to audio books and now back to podcasts -- experimenting with a new angle | Oct 22, 2016

17. Saving Your Sanity Through Better Client Relations -- with Alisa Bonsignore | Oct 18, 2016

18. My gravity towards tools | Oct 17, 2016

19. Zooming out and in with navigation | Sep 25, 2016

20. Kanban may be a better fit than scrum when you support large numbers of engineers | Sep 23, 2016

21. How can technical writers thrive in agile environments? Event recording and details | Sep 20, 2016

22. Implementing Swagger in your API documentation -- My ISTC article | Sep 8, 2016

23. Recording of Let's Tell a Story -- Scenario-Based Documentation, by Matt Ness (STC Silicon Valley Presentation) | Sep 2, 2016

24. Balancing the never-ending list of documentation to write with your natural interests and passions | Sep 2, 2016

25. The variety of tools tech comm professionals use | Aug 21, 2016

26. Presentation recording: Hunting for API developer documentation jobs in the San Francisco Bay area, by Andrew Davis | Aug 15, 2016

27. The complexities of translation and the need for dynamic variables in the build process | Aug 15, 2016

28. Will the docs-as-code approach scale? Responding to comments on my Review of Modern Technical Writing | Aug 1, 2016

29. The Story of Paligo: A new browser-based CCMS with all the features you'd ever want | Aug 1, 2016

30. Review of Andrew Etter's ebook on Modern Technical Writing | Jul 26, 2016

31. Applying Tim Ferriss' 4-hour work week rules to tech comm projects | Jul 20, 2016

32. Thoughts on Transforming Documentation Processes presentation at WTD: Evaluating the trend to treat documentation as code | Jul 15, 2016

33. Context switching and efficiency -- Kanban to the rescue? | Jul 13, 2016

34. Why Programming Sucks and the fallacy of documentation in the context of code chaos | Jul 12, 2016

35. Thoughts on Documentation Avoidance for Programmers | Jul 9, 2016

36. How the Solve This! meetup format turned out -- plus some unachieved parallels with the Dead Poet Society | Jun 30, 2016

37. The difference between marketing writing and technical writing in one small sign | Jun 28, 2016

38. A jump in Google traffic due to content quality? | Jun 23, 2016

39. Attend the "Solve This!" Write the Docs Meetup tomorrow (June 23, 2016) | Jun 22, 2016

40. Examples of visual communication in developer documentation with the Android Vocabulary Glossary | Jun 21, 2016

41. My technical communication contribution to the UX Careers Handbook | Jun 21, 2016

42. Advanced formatting with Markdown using Jekyll and Includes | Jun 6, 2016

43. More complex user process maps in documentation systems | Jun 3, 2016

44. Interested in working as a technical writer at Amazon? | Jun 3, 2016

45. Examples of linear workflow user maps built with JS and CSS | May 30, 2016

46. 8 image translation issues for tech doc — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone | May 26, 2016

47. 11 images issues for tech doc systems — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone | May 26, 2016

48. Presentation recording: Move Fast And ... Document Things? Lessons learned in building documentation culture at a startup, by Ruthie Bendor | May 22, 2016

49. Recording of 'Move fast and ... document things,' by Ruthie Bendor at Write the Docs | May 22, 2016

50. Recording of 'Two great teams that work great together: Bridging the gap between documentation and support,' by Neal Kaplan at Write the Docs | May 22, 2016

51. Some post-STC Summit thoughts | May 20, 2016

52. Slides for Writing Tech Docs Like a Hacker with Jekyll presentation | May 17, 2016

53. Slides for Documenting REST APIs Workshop — 2016 STC Summit Anaheim, Calif. | May 14, 2016

54. How do you establish more context in a topic-based writing model? | May 11, 2016

55. Getting sharp, clear text in screen captures — and making sense of Retina displays | May 10, 2016

56. Jekyll Conf 2016 slides and video: Overcoming Challenges in Using Jekyll for Tech Docs | May 7, 2016

57. Creating professional looking graphics in the easiest, simplest way possible | May 5, 2016

58. Visual communication overview | May 1, 2016

59. Three types of knowledge every technical writer needs to be successful | Apr 27, 2016

60. Recording of WTD presentation on Video Documentation, by Alicia Avrach | Apr 24, 2016

61. Recording of STC-SV presentation on the Shape of a Modern Technical Communication Organization, by Sanborn Hodgkins | Apr 24, 2016

62. Seeing things from the perspective of a learner | Apr 20, 2016

63. Eight reasons why documentation fails for users, and what to do about it | Apr 12, 2016

64. API documentation workshop opportunity at the STC Summit | Apr 7, 2016

65. Lightning talks from San Francisco Write the Docs meetup | Apr 3, 2016

66. Xeditor, a CMS editor for XML content | Mar 30, 2016

67. REST API documentation workshop recording (STC Sacramento) | Mar 27, 2016

68. Version 5.0 of my Documentation Theme for Jekyll now available | Mar 23, 2016

69. Hi there – Let’s get casual… Guest post by Lavanya Krishnamurthy | Mar 21, 2016

70. Shannon got into Stanford's MA Liberal Arts program | Mar 13, 2016

71. Selling Girl Scout cookies | Mar 13, 2016

72. Starting a new series on visual communication | Mar 12, 2016

73. 10 minute podcast on API technical writing with Ryan Weber on Stitcher | Mar 12, 2016

74. Retrospective — Looking back at the good and bad of previous experiences | Feb 27, 2016

75. So People Don't RTFM? Write a FM That's Worth R'ing — Guest post by Marcia Riefer Johnston | Feb 24, 2016

76. Lightweight DITA article in Technical Communication Journal | Feb 23, 2016

77. I'm starting a new job at Amazon Lab126 | Feb 21, 2016

78. Answering questions in James Gill's upcoming book, How to Get Started as a Technical Writer | Feb 21, 2016

79. What is the ideal tool for developer documentation environments? | Feb 21, 2016

80. Updating from redcarpet and Pygments to Kramdown and Rouge on Github Pages | Feb 21, 2016

81. Why didn't WordPress take off with tech docs? | Feb 16, 2016

82. Two upcoming API documentation events this Thursday | Feb 16, 2016

83. Is the only way to plug into a documentation CCMS through DITA/XML? | Feb 12, 2016

84. Three models for single source publishing — and challenges with each | Feb 11, 2016

85. My YAML tutorial in the context of Jekyll | Feb 8, 2016

86. The third API course from Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy | Feb 8, 2016

87. Upcoming REST API documentation workshop in Sacramento | Feb 8, 2016

88. New section in API documentation course: The Job Market for API technical Writers | Feb 8, 2016

89. Challenges in documenting long JSON objects | Jan 21, 2016

90. How to apply agile processes to manage your life's projects | Jan 21, 2016

91. The problem with adopting bleeding-edge tools | Jan 10, 2016

92. Spec-driven Development with RAML -- presentation by Michael Stowe to STC Silicon Valley chapter | Jan 9, 2016

93. First video for API documentation course -- your feedback? | Jan 7, 2016

94. Are technical writing blogs growing or dying? | Jan 5, 2016

95. What is the technical writer's role in content marketing? | Jan 4, 2016

96. Analyzing top posts on my blog during 2015 — Deciding between brand versus readership | Jan 1, 2016