In the latest episode of This American Life, the show explores how glamorous jobs really turn out to be boring. It's one of the best audio podcasts/shows I've ever heard, and fits right in with some of my previous posts on Is Technical Writing Boring? The episode has several profiles of people in desirable careers, such as astronaut, actor, and cartographer. In the first segment, the host explains that most astronauts never see space; in...
WordPress plugins are scripts you install to extend the functionality of your WordPress blog. For example, one common plugin is Subscribe to Comments. When added, it allows readers to keep track of responses to their comments. When someone responds to a reader's comment, the reader receives an e-mail. WordPress doesn't ship with this feature already included — you must install it via a plugin.
I'll be attending and presenting at the Doc Train Conference in Vancouver, B.C. this Tuesday. Let me know if I'll see you there. I'm hoping to do a lot of blogging and podcasting from the conference, so keep your eyes on this blog and the Tech Writer Voices podcast.
I created a theme viewer here: www.idratherbewriting.com/themes. Most of the themes are attractive and well-designed. You navigate the theme viewer by clicking the links in the Themes section of the sidebar. Each theme wraps its own formatting around the same posts. To download a theme's files, see the instructions on the first post on the theme viewer site. Enjoy the themes—they were created by more than a dozen different designers. Let ...
I recently received an e-mail from someone who wrote, 'I liked your blog extremely and was wondering if you customise one for me with the same theme and layout.' Readers often don't realize that most WordPress blogs are free themes that you can apply in a few minutes. This post offers a little crash course on WordPress themes.
Everytime I meet non-bloggers and encourage them to start a blog, they ask, what's in it for me? what's the benefit? why should I blog? Even I ask myself these questions from time to time. Why do I blog? Why do we blog? In thinking about the reasons for blogging, I thought of geology and rock stratum. If you could slice through rock cliff, you would see various layers, with different textures, compositions, colors, and constituencies for...
RockYou, a photo sharing service that compiles your photos into a dynamic slide show set to music, has taken off with my wife, Shannon, and her friends. Instead of posting several pictures on your blog or website, you can create an endless slide show of pictures in one small space. The pictures rotate in a pleasing, dynamic way and can be set to music. Admittedly, the RockYou site is a bit gaudy, and looks like something that fits into M...
In "Writing, Better," a presentation at the South by Southwest conference in Austin last month, the presenters offer some good tips for writing: Greg Storey says to focus on the structure of your story most of all. Browyn Jones, says to try writing drafts in unsent e-mails as a way to feel more comfortable writing and also to write conversationally. Erin Kissane, an editor for A List Apart, says most writers' manuscripts aren't reject...
I've been doing research on what distinguishes good blogs from poor ones, especially by reading "lessons learned" posts by bloggers. I've come up with 20 principles I think are worthwhile. Let me know which ones you agree or disagree with.
Listen here: In this podcast, five STC candidates share stories about the defining experiences that shaped their current views about technical communication. The five candidates who shared their experiences in this podcast include: Leah Guren Steve Jong Robert Young Nicky Bleiel Katherine (Kit) Brown Other links: You can read about all candidates here. See the initial invitation for the candidate's stories. Music is f...
Listen here: In this episode of Tech Writer Voices, Heidi and I talk about a number of cool trends in the technical writing world, particularly the need to make help more human by adopting conversational tones and addressing the angry/frantic state of the user. A few of the topics we cover include the following: Kathy Sierra's keynote at the South by Southwest conference How to make help more human The state of mind of ...
Mark Jung, former chief operating officer of MySpace, made an intriguing comment in this iinnovate podcast about how experience in an outdated marketplace can impede your success today, where the factors for success may be based on different rules. The interviewer asks Jung, "If you were an MBA student today, what kind of opportunities would you be looking for?" Jung says: It's a great time, frankly, to come out as an MBA student. I thin...
Wired magazine's April issue has an excellent article on the benefits of corporate transparency, which some refer to as "getting naked." In "Operation Channel 9," Fred Vogelstein explains the origin of Microsoft's Channel 9 project and its effects. Channel 9 consists of video clips of Microsoft engineers talking candidly about the software they're building. The clips are available on a public website, called Channel 9, for anyone to see a...
After I published the podcast interview with Nicky Bleiel, STC candidate running for director, I received a handful of emails from other candidates also asking to participate on the podcast. Some felt I wasn't providing fair election coverage, and others were just sorry to have missed the opportunity. Tech Writer Voices is all about listening and showcasing the voices of all technical writers, so I want to give everyone a chance to be hea...
A reader asked me the following: Hi Tom - Can you give me a little information about the blogging section of your Web site? I'm a member of the [...] chapter of STC - and I'd like to help add blogging to our Web site. Can you give me some pointers on how you developed your blogging pages? - Is this a home-grown program? - Are you using a commercial program? I'm just starting to learn about this - I'd appreciate any help you can give me! I...
