In this poll, I'm trying to find out what blogging software is available to technical communicators in the workplace (for publishing product information, building user communities, and doing other work-related tasks -- not personal publishing). It's a short, one-question poll. If you have any additional comments to add, please add them in the comments section below the post. Thanks. Online Surveys & Market Research ...
Listen here: In this podcast, I cover the top 10 technical communication news items during the past month. This is a different type of podcast than I've normally done. The show notes below are excerpts of what I cover, but without any commentary. 1. Techcomm toolbox One of the most common questions heard on many forums is “What tool do you use for [purpose]?” Answers vary, of course, because everyone has their own favor...
WritersUA has their annual salary and tools surveys going on. Their survey results are among the most influential of surveys, so be sure to participate. Click the following links to take the surveys: WritersUA Tools Survey WritersUA Salary Survey Additionally, WritersUA has a conference coming up at the end of March. Although I've never been, everyone I've met who has attended has praised the conference. As if this all weren't enough, t...
The STC Intercom published an article I wrote about Writer River called "Caught in the Current of Writer River: Building and Participating in Community-Driven Websites." If you're a member of the STC and you have access to the Intercom, check your latest copy (January 2009) or log in to stc.org and download the article here (PDF). If you don't have access, you can read the original post I wrote, which is nearly the same article but withou...
Tech Comm Toolbox is a brilliant website by Char James Tanny that provides a directory of tools, consultants, and conferences. The site offers several ways to find what you're looking for: by category, by alphabetical name, or by search. Char used WordPress to create the site, relying heavily upon categories to organize the information. Users can submit entries to be added, and they can comment on everything that's listed. The next time y...
Dilbert animated shorts from your favorite comic strips. I love Dilbert -- I never realized there were animated Dilbert cartoons. It's addictive to sit there and watch these -- watch out.
Context-sensitive help in Madcap Flare is pretty easy to set up – you just follow the steps in Flare's context-sensitive help instructions. However, there's a usability problem that you must work around for the context-sensitive help to be successful. Let me explain. When the user clicks a context-sensitive help link, a help window appears, as it should. But suppose the user doesn't close the help window, but instead clicks back to the ap...
Common questions I receive about WordPress blogs My WordPress consulting side business has been getting a lot of attention lately. In fact, I've been struggling to keep up. (I do this, by the way, mainly on the weekends.) Over the last several projects, I've noticed a common trend of questions about WordPress and blogging. Here's what everyone asks. I already have a site. How can I add a WordPress blog to it? Although it's possible to cus...
As 2008 ended, I neglected to write a year-end wrap-up post because it seemed so trendy and cliché at the time, but now that 2009 has started, my muse has been prodding me to write it. A lot of good things happened in 2008. We bought a house in Eagle Mountain, moving from an apartment to a two-story home that fits our little family of five perfectly. Shannon started blogging more frequently, writing witty, engaging posts about so many thi...
Tech Comm Toolbox
Listen here: ComponentOne recently released Doc-To-Help 2009, which introduces a complete redesign of their user interface. In this podcast, I talk with Nicky Bleiel, who works for ComponentOne, in depth about Doc-To-Help. Nicky has been a technical communicator for fourteen years and is now a director at large for the STC. I've met Nicky several times at Doc Train and STC conferences, and have interviewed her for othe...
Since I've been reading The Non-Designers Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Novice, I've started to see the importance of contrast everywhere. The author, Robin Williams, argues that contrast is one of the four pillars of design, and that most people don't include enough of it. As a result, rather than contrast, they end up with conflict. Williams writes: A design is in conflict when you set two or more typefaces on t...
Stephen Fry on the pleasure of language This podcast from Stephen Fry on language is one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, well-read essays on language I've ever heard. In the podcast, Fry says he often encounters people who consider themselves high-minded grammarians, who assume he is on their side when they express their disgust of common grammar errors, such as "12 Items or Less" signs in grocery stories (rather than "fewer"...
How to Create Columns with CSS Float | eHow.com I see so many sites that structure everything with tables. News flash: tables are out. Divs and floats are in.
Quick reference guides 1.0 Quick Reference Guides: The Poetry of Technical Writing 1.1 → Quick Reference Guide Formats -- Tips for Finding Attractive Layouts 1.2 STC Presentation this Thursday: "Quick Reference Guides: Short and Sweet Technical Documentation" ...
