2016 archives
Generalist versus specialist: What should you focus on with knowledge building in your tech writing role? | Dec 20, 2016
Write the Docs Podcast Episode 2 (which Focuses on Findability) Now Available | Dec 18, 2016
Updating a single page versus updating the documentation as a whole | Dec 14, 2016
Write the Docs Podcast episode 1: New podcast from the Write the Docs community | Nov 23, 2016
Recording of Open Authoring -- Collaboration Across Disciplines presentation, by Ralph Squillace | Nov 15, 2016
Review of Coding for Writers course by Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy | Nov 13, 2016
Should you ever apologize for something product-related in your documentation? Looking at Apple's dongle documentation | Nov 6, 2016
How to avoid becoming extinct in your technical writing career | Nov 6, 2016
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
Markdown or reStructuredText or DITA? Choosing the right format for tech docs | Oct 28, 2016
How to tell if you're a content strategist | Oct 26, 2016
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
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
How to deliver newsletters for your Jekyll site | Oct 23, 2016
Coding the sidebar navigation element for documentation websites | Oct 23, 2016
From podcasts to audio books and now back to podcasts -- experimenting with a new angle | Oct 22, 2016
Saving Your Sanity Through Better Client Relations -- with Alisa Bonsignore | Oct 18, 2016
My gravity towards tools | Oct 17, 2016
Zooming out and in with navigation | Sep 25, 2016
Kanban may be a better fit than scrum when you support large numbers of engineers | Sep 23, 2016
How can technical writers thrive in agile environments? Event recording and details | Sep 20, 2016
Implementing Swagger in your API documentation -- My ISTC article | Sep 8, 2016
Recording of Let's Tell a Story -- Scenario-Based Documentation, by Matt Ness (STC Silicon Valley Presentation) | Sep 2, 2016
Balancing the never-ending list of documentation to write with your natural interests and passions | Sep 2, 2016
The variety of tools tech comm professionals use | Aug 21, 2016
Presentation recording: Hunting for API developer documentation jobs in the San Francisco Bay area, by Andrew Davis | Aug 15, 2016
The complexities of translation and the need for dynamic variables in the build process | Aug 15, 2016
Will the docs-as-code approach scale? Responding to comments on my Review of Modern Technical Writing | Aug 1, 2016
The Story of Paligo: A new browser-based CCMS with all the features you'd ever want | Aug 1, 2016
Review of Andrew Etter's ebook on Modern Technical Writing | Jul 26, 2016
Applying Tim Ferriss' 4-hour work week rules to tech comm projects | Jul 20, 2016
Thoughts on Transforming Documentation Processes presentation at WTD: Evaluating the trend to treat documentation as code | Jul 15, 2016
Context switching and efficiency -- Kanban to the rescue? | Jul 13, 2016
Why Programming Sucks and the fallacy of documentation in the context of code chaos | Jul 12, 2016
Thoughts on Documentation Avoidance for Programmers | Jul 9, 2016
How the Solve This! meetup format turned out -- plus some unachieved parallels with the Dead Poet Society | Jun 30, 2016
The difference between marketing writing and technical writing in one small sign | Jun 28, 2016
A jump in Google traffic due to content quality? | Jun 23, 2016
Attend the "Solve This!" Write the Docs Meetup tomorrow (June 23, 2016) | Jun 22, 2016
Examples of visual communication in developer documentation with the Android Vocabulary Glossary | Jun 21, 2016
My technical communication contribution to the UX Careers Handbook | Jun 21, 2016
Advanced formatting with Markdown using Jekyll and Includes | Jun 6, 2016
More complex user process maps in documentation systems | Jun 3, 2016
Interested in working as a technical writer at Amazon? | Jun 3, 2016
Examples of linear workflow user maps built with JS and CSS | May 30, 2016
8 image translation issues for tech doc — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone | May 26, 2016
11 images issues for tech doc systems — guest post by Jeanine Shepstone | May 26, 2016
Presentation recording: Move Fast And ... Document Things? Lessons learned in building documentation culture at a startup, by Ruthie Bendor | May 22, 2016
Recording of 'Move fast and ... document things,' by Ruthie Bendor at Write the Docs | May 22, 2016
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
Some post-STC Summit thoughts | May 20, 2016
Slides for Writing Tech Docs Like a Hacker with Jekyll presentation | May 17, 2016
Slides for Documenting REST APIs Workshop — 2016 STC Summit Anaheim, Calif. | May 14, 2016
How do you establish more context in a topic-based writing model? | May 11, 2016
Getting sharp, clear text in screen captures — and making sense of Retina displays | May 10, 2016
Jekyll Conf 2016 slides and video: Overcoming Challenges in Using Jekyll for Tech Docs | May 7, 2016
Creating professional looking graphics in the easiest, simplest way possible | May 5, 2016
Visual communication overview | May 1, 2016
Three types of knowledge every technical writer needs to be successful | Apr 27, 2016
Recording of WTD presentation on Video Documentation, by Alicia Avrach | Apr 24, 2016
Recording of STC-SV presentation on the Shape of a Modern Technical Communication Organization, by Sanborn Hodgkins | Apr 24, 2016
Seeing things from the perspective of a learner | Apr 20, 2016
Eight reasons why documentation fails for users, and what to do about it | Apr 12, 2016
API documentation workshop opportunity at the STC Summit | Apr 7, 2016
Lightning talks from San Francisco Write the Docs meetup | Apr 3, 2016
Xeditor, a CMS editor for XML content | Mar 30, 2016
REST API documentation workshop recording (STC Sacramento) | Mar 27, 2016
Version 5.0 of my Documentation Theme for Jekyll now available | Mar 23, 2016
Hi there – Let’s get casual… Guest post by Lavanya Krishnamurthy | Mar 21, 2016
Shannon got into Stanford's MA Liberal Arts program | Mar 13, 2016
Selling Girl Scout cookies | Mar 13, 2016
Starting a new series on visual communication | Mar 12, 2016
10 minute podcast on API technical writing with Ryan Weber on Stitcher | Mar 12, 2016
Retrospective — Looking back at the good and bad of previous experiences | Feb 27, 2016
So People Don't RTFM? Write a FM That's Worth R'ing — Guest post by Marcia Riefer Johnston | Feb 24, 2016
Lightweight DITA article in Technical Communication Journal | Feb 23, 2016
I'm starting a new job at Amazon Lab126 | Feb 21, 2016
Answering questions in James Gill's upcoming book, How to Get Started as a Technical Writer | Feb 21, 2016
What is the ideal tool for developer documentation environments? | Feb 21, 2016
Updating from redcarpet and Pygments to Kramdown and Rouge on Github Pages | Feb 21, 2016
Why didn't WordPress take off with tech docs? | Feb 16, 2016
Two upcoming API documentation events this Thursday | Feb 16, 2016
Is the only way to plug into a documentation CCMS through DITA/XML? | Feb 12, 2016
Three models for single source publishing — and challenges with each | Feb 11, 2016
My YAML tutorial in the context of Jekyll | Feb 8, 2016
The third API course from Peter Gruenbaum on Udemy | Feb 8, 2016
Upcoming REST API documentation workshop in Sacramento | Feb 8, 2016
New section in API documentation course: The Job Market for API technical Writers | Feb 8, 2016
Challenges in documenting long JSON objects | Jan 21, 2016
How to apply agile processes to manage your life's projects | Jan 21, 2016
The problem with adopting bleeding-edge tools | Jan 10, 2016
Spec-driven Development with RAML -- presentation by Michael Stowe to STC Silicon Valley chapter | Jan 9, 2016
First video for API documentation course -- your feedback? | Jan 7, 2016
Are technical writing blogs growing or dying? | Jan 5, 2016
What is the technical writer's role in content marketing? | Jan 4, 2016
Analyzing top posts on my blog during 2015 — Deciding between brand versus readership | Jan 1, 2016
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.