Free Doc Train East Ticket

Are you interested in going to Doc Train East in Massachusetts at the end of October? I have a free ticket that Scott Abel allowed me to give to one of the readers of my blog. If you're interested, send me an email at [email protected]. Update: Lots of responses this morning -- thanks. I've now given it away. Actually, I ended up giving away about 10.

Leaning Towards Longer Topics and Shorter TOCs

Everyone knows it's a good practice to chunk your help material into discrete topics, but how granular should you chunk it? Take a look at this Microsoft Word 2007 help topic on inserting headers and footers. Example of a Quick Menu Although inserting headers and footers is the main task, the topic really has 11 related tasks: Insert the same header or footer on each page Make the first page header or footer different from the rest of th...

Recommended Podcast: "The Enforcers" from This American Life

Act 1 of this American Life's latest episode, The Enforcers, mesmerized me. I highly recommend listening to it. Here's the description: Three guys who go by the names Professor So and So, Jojobean and YeaWhatever spend part of each day running elaborate cons on Internet scammers. They consider themselves enforcers of justice, even after they send a man 1400 miles from home, to the least safe place they can bait him: the border of Darfur. ...

Podcast: Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing (Single Sourcing)

Listen here: In this podcast, Liz Fraley, founder of Single Sourcing Solutions, talks to the Intermountain STC chapter about "Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing." See this flyer for a more detailed description of the presentation. Liz Fraley is the founder of Single Sourcing Solutions. You can read her full bio here. To contact Liz, send her an email at [email protected].

Users Read Help Manuals Like an Encyclopedia, Not a Novel

On Linkedin, I've been reading an excellent thread of answers to the question, "Do you read user manuals?" Of the 50 people who answered, the resounding response is No, I don't read the manual. I try to figure out the application on my own. I only turn to the manual when I get stuck and can't figure out a feature. Or I turn to the manual when I want to learn more advanced functions. One of the responders, Robert Poulk, put it best when he...

Tip: Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Posts to Increase Your Readership

When you search-engine-optimize your blog posts, you can increase your blog's subscribers in a long-term way. You don't have to stiffen your prose to apply search engine optimization -- you just have to apply keywords in the right places. For example, my post on "Technical Writing Careers -- Answering 13 Questions About Technical Writing Jobs" targeted searches for "technical writing careers." My post on "How I Create Video Tutorials" ta...

WordPress Tip: Limau-Orange Theme with Navigation Bar from Contempt

Sapphire writes, I had a small question about your blog's template. I really liked the template as soon as I saw it and went ahead and downloaded it. Could you let me know how you added the navigation tabs on the top? I am not much of a programmer but I can work with php and css to an extent. I'd be highly obliged if you could help me set up the same :) And I hope you that you keep posting GREAT content - I love it! All the best, Sapphire...

STC-Intermountain Meeting Tonight

After a summer hiatus, the Intermountain STC is gathering tonight (Thursday, Sept 18) for another meeting. The topic is on repurposing content for multi-channel publishing. See more details.

Watch What Happens When You Copy from Word into a Blog Post

Watch what happens when you copy and paste two sentences from Word into a new blog post. [kml_flashembed movie="https://idratherbewriting.com/jing/wordcodebloat.swf" height="600" width="500" /]

Thinking About an STC Proposal to Submit

Did you see the STC's call for proposals for the next annual conference in Atlanta? Last year I presented on podcasting. The 55 people who commented on my session rated it higher than average (the rating was around 4.6 as opposed to the 4.3 average). I think my presentation was good, but most people wanted me to connect it more to technical communication. They wanted to see how technical material could be presented as a podcast, I believ...

What's Convenient Gets Used -- a General Principle That Applies to Nearly Everything

Recently I switched from using the iRiver I bought two years ago to my wife's iPod Nano, which she only uses intermittently. I don't know why I used my iRiver for so long. The iPod is superior in every way, but mostly because it offers convenience. For example, New podcasts download automatically when I merely plug it in to my computer and click Sync. Its small size allows me to clip it onto my belt and easily hide the headphones in my p...

Wordcamp Utah -- Sept 27 in Provo, Utah

Wordcamp Utah, Sept 27 Wordcamp Utah will be held Sept 27, 2008 in Provo (at Novell). If you're a blogger living in Utah and you're interested in immersing yourself in a full day of WordPress presentations, conversations, and other exchanges, be sure to attend. See the Wordcamp Utah site for more details. Cost is $20 per person and you need to register. A looooong time ago I attended a planning meeting for this Wordcamp. Joseph Scott is t...

How I Create Video Tutorials

September 2012 update: I wrote a new post detailing my process for creating video tutorials here: How to Create Video Tutorials -- A Five Step Process. Creating video tutorials is no trivial task. When you sit down to create 20+ video tutorials for a project, you're faced with dozens of questions. What screen size should the videos be, what recording tool should you use, what microphone is best, how long should the videos be, what file si...

Prove My Help Authoring Tools Survey Wrong

The Help Authoring Tools survey in my blog's sidebar has been the source of no little controversy, and I've left it up there for a reason. I've been telling myself that when 1,000 people participate, I'll officially analyze the results. (So far 784 have voted.) However, Char James-Tanny announced a new help authoring tools survey, this one sponsored by the HAT-Matrix (not to be confused with the Matrix movie). The new HAT-Matrix's survey ...

Help Authoring Tool Survey: Who, What, and How

Help Authoring Tool Survey: Who, What, and How