Lately I've been creating context-sensitive help for an online application. As part of my strategy, I've been trying to follow Theresa Putkey's advice in "Usability in Context-Sensitive Help." In her article, Theresa recommends providing more than just the steps for a specific task in the context-sensitive help window. Instead, she says to show more contextual links, including answers to why, when, and who questions, because too frequentl...
Ben Minson reflects on the value of having a blog when your day job is technical writing. Blogging can be an outlet to practice your own literary voice, rather than always be trapped in a style guide.
An engaging article about the benefits of working in the office. Makes working from home seem lonely and dull. (Found on tc.eserver.org.)
Every week our team has a team meeting. In our manager's office, we sit around a table and talk about our projects, our concerns, and whatever else we want to talk about. Recently, during one of my colleague's turns, he talked about his goals. Apparently he'd made some goals about video tutorials, and I can't remember exactly what they were, just that he was reporting on them, his progress, what he needed to do to achieve some of the subs...
I saw this video on the Content Wrangler Community. The original source is on youtube. Talk about engaging. I completely agree with the person here. In a day when I'm arguing for the merits of moving the Intercom online, this video couldn't be any more apropo.
Paul Masalsky argues that screen captures in documentation introduce more trouble than they're worth. Localization is the main difficulty. Another is size and the fact that many times the screenshots duplicate what the user already sees in the interface. This post raises a lot of issues that are worth exploring. While I agree that screenshots are problematic, I also think that without them, your documentation's usability goes down. When I...
Theresa Putkey explains how to make context-sensitive help more usable. Don't just present a single task to the user that relates to the page the user is on, but rather present a variety of topics spanning the how, when, why, and other related issues for the page.
Mike Hughes explains for the advantages of making content easily accessible and searchable online rather than trapped in a PDF. Very engaging voice and style in this post.
I love this essay. Paul Graham distinguishes between the "maker's schedule" and the "manager's schedule" and talks about the dilemma between offending someone or losing half a day's work. Fits me perfectly, especially since some of my meetings are half a mile away. His point about the difficulty of switching modes is right on: "For someone on the maker's schedule, having a meeting is like throwing an exception. It doesn't merely cause you...
Freakonomics summarizes Paul Graham's argument that programmers and writers are more disrupted by meetings than managers because of the nature of the tasks programmers and writers are involved in. I completely agree. One hour-long meeting can blow apart my entire afternoon.
Gruber points out that free access to news content means news organizations will need to lighten their staffing models, requiring every one in the organization to contribute content. The old model with executives and a heavy number of employees in a company is going the way of the dinosaurs.
I'm giving an STC webinar on blogging this Wednesday, July 29, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET. Here's the title and description: Converting Readers from Casual Subscribers to Devoted Followers: Best Practices for Blogging Although many people feel blogging is an activity with no best practices or rules—you publish what you want, when you want, and how you want—these same bloggers usually crave readership, comments, and visibility. They want to...
Listen here: In this podcast, Rahel Bailie, a content strategist from Vancouver, B.C., talks about content strategy in the context of technical communication. I briefly alluded to my conversation with Rahel in my post last week titled Three Questions to Start Thinking Like a Content Strategist. In this podcast, Rahel goes into much more depth. Rahel starts by defining content strategy as a "repeatable process or methodol...
As part of the solution to STC's financial situation, some members have talked about making Intercom an online magazine only, removing the printed version that is mailed out to thousands of members each month. Many people think the move from paper to online would be a tremendous blow to the STC, one that would significantly decrease member value towards one of STC's most attractive assets. Sometimes people talk about this potential move, ...
Writer River is a collaborative social news site that allows technical communicators to both find and share links to interesting content they find online. As more people contribute to the site – sharing links to blog posts, magazine or journal articles, podcasts, books, videos, and even literature -- the more engaging the site becomes. The dozens of highly relevant, useful articles that flow through Writer River each week can help you sta...
