Listen here: In this podcast, Peter Gruenbaum talks about automating REST API documentation. Here are a few questions I asked Peter during the podcast: What do people mean when they use the term "automated documentation"? Is automated documentation preferable to manual documentation? Why is it more difficult to automate REST API documentation than it is with platform API documentation? What are some tools used to autom...
I usually renew advertising on I'd Rather Be Writing at the beginning of the year. I just updated my Advertising page with more details. This year I'm hoping to try something new. In the past, I've only done advertising based on the number of impressions. That is, each time my site loads, an ad appears and makes an impression for the year. Over the course of 2014, there were about 588,000 impressions (I equate each page load with one impr...
On New Years day I posted a spoof of trends because I think trends posts get to be a bit ridiculous. During this time it's like the Mardi-Gras of free and wild speculations. However, I did receive some great comments on the post. One of my favorites was this one: Wow and Wow. At age 76, as a recently minted Journalism major, with a minor in geomorphology, and with a $103,786 education debt, (no matter mostly from gambling) your obviously...
Here's a look at the top 10 posts, podcasts, and tweets published in 2014 on I'd Rather Be Writing. After the lists, I explain my takeaways from looking at the metrics. Top 10 posts written in 2014 Based on Google Analytics, these 10 posts written in 2014 received the most traffic: A simple way to write, edit, and publish documentation online using Google Docs and Markdown 10 technical writing principles to live by Do I n...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
Predictions about technical writing trends always abound near the beginning of a new year. In the past, we've heard predictions about the ubiquity of mobile, responsive design, cloud authoring, collaborative solutions, content strategy, localization, the "Internet of Things," augmented reality, video, DIY, and more. Some predictions turn out to be true, others false. This year, based on a lot of feedback I've received over the year, alon...
I made a few updates to my WordPress site recently. Nothing major, but it might be of interest especially if you're into WordPress. Added dynamic third column I added a third column on the left that contains dynamic content based on what you're viewing. Currently new column shows either a list of categories or a specific page (containing a list of items). Here's how the sidebar changes: If you're viewing my DITA quick reference guide, th...
I recently received a question about API documentation jobs for technical writers. A reader asks, For the next phase of my career, I'm looking to break into API documentation. Do you know of any other regions besides Silicon Valley where API doc is hot? I'm in the Boston area, and I see some API writing jobs posted, but not as many as I would have thought. Do you expect these jobs to become more popular outside of Silicon Valley in the fu...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
Listen here: In this podcast, I talk with Joe Malin about a variety of topics within API documentation, including how developers think, best practices, and more. Joe is a former software engineer who turned to technical writing many years ago. He has worked at a variety of companies in API documentation roles, including 7 years at Google. Here are a few of the topics we cover in the podcast: Why Joe turned from software...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 → API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
API documentation survey 1.0 I need your responses to my API Documentation Survey 1.1 → API doc survey: The most popular type of APIs that technical writers document 1.2 API doc survey: The most common programming languages tech writers know ...
Listen here: Getting a job in API documentation can be tricky. What programming skills do you need to know? How in-depth does your technical knowledge need to be? What kind of authoring tools and methods are relevant for jobs in API documentation? In this podcast, I talk with Andrew Davis, a former technical writer who turned to recruiting for technical writers. Andrew specializes in helping companies find technical writ...
