WordPress Tip: How to Transfer WordPress to a New Web Host

When you transfer WordPress from one web host to another, you have to go through quite a few steps, especially if your current web host owns the domain name. Transferring the domain name is the biggest hassle, because it requires a handful of special codes and verifications, but just understanding what's involved in a site transfer can be somewhat overwhelming. I just helped a person with Yahoo web hosting move to Bluehost, but there are ...

Design Fixations with Mediawiki Skins

I spent much of last week with my head inside a Mediawiki skin (when I probably should have been working on another project). I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I sometimes get fixated by technical problems I can't seem to solve. I first customized the FraternalRelief Mediawiki skin to match my organization's home page. My customization wasn't too bad, but I saw a few errors, and when I queried a forum, they told me FraternalRelief was...

Collaborative Authoring Trends and Costs

How do you go from 5 authors to 47, all collaborating on the same documentation? This is the issue Anne Gentle wrestles with in her post Collaborative Authoring -- Tools and Costs. She explores everything from Author-it Live to Drupal, Mediawiki, Alfresco, and SharePoint, including cost breakdowns for each tool. Anne also cites research from Forrester about the rising trend of collaborative authoring: 37% of organizations surveyed in Forr...

Adding the Human Element in Screencasts

Brooks Andrus has a good post and video about including the human element in screencasts. Brooks writes: Screen video alone is not enough. You need to humanize your content by getting in front of the camera and engaging your audience. And no, I'm not talking about long-winded monologues either. Several 5-7 second talking-head elements can go a long way toward winning over and maintaining the interest of your audience. Let people see your ...

Ramping Up on Mediawiki

I mentioned in a previous post that I think traditional help authoring tools are becoming less and less viable for robust software projects in which multiple subject matter experts in distributed locations need to collaborate, and when these same subject matter experts need to own the documentation after release. I think traditional help authoring tools (HATs) will fade in place of more collaborative tools like wikis This wasn't just a fl...

About My New Site Redesign

12/9/09 update: I changed it back. I recently decided to change my blog theme. I know that people are interested in content more than design, but it's worth a post explaining why I changed this theme. I recently switched blog themes I've had the Limau Orange theme on my blog for about two years now. I grew tired of looking at it, and the design seemed a little out of date. Woothemes.com was running a Black Friday 50% off deal, and since ...

Site Critiques and WordPress Q&A -- Community Leaders Webinar Jan 28

I'm giving a webinar for STC community leaders on January 28 titled "Site Critiques and WordPress Q&A." Here's the description: Because most communities have far more virtual participants than physical participants, establishing a strong web presence where members can find information, interact with each other, and access resources is critical. In this community webinar, we'll review a handful of chapter or SIG sites and discuss what'...

What's the Best Microphone for Screencasting?

The other week I visited Performance Audio in downtown Salt Lake to see what recommendations they had for microphones. The clerk asked me what audio interface I was using. I said I was just plugging my mixer directly into the computer. He looked shocked and said no matter how good of a microphone I bought, the real increase in performance would come with an audio interface. The Audio Interface An audio interface converts the analog signal...

My Upcoming STC Webinar on Screencasting

I'm presenting an STC webinar titled Screencasting: Video Tutorials for the Web on Dec. 16. Screencasting webinar Dec 16 Here's the description: Screencasts refer to short video tutorials usually embedded on a blog, uploaded to Youtube, or otherwise displayed on the web. Screencasts are part of the explosion of video and other multimedia on the web, and users are growing more accustomed to watching screencasts to learn how to use softwa...

Play Chess Online with ChessJam

The other week I visited my brother-in-law Sean in Tampa, Florida. Sean is an interactive web designer who creates everything from flash games for Disney to augmented reality applications for the Adobe marketplace. While I was there, he showed me his latest creation: ChessJam. Usually when I think of chess, I think of two people sitting around a small round table in moments of intense concentration, staring at the chessboard for hours as ...

A Microcosm of Technical Writing in the Kitchen While Cooking a Banana Cream Pie

As part of my contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner, Shannon tasked me to cook a banana cream pie. She had a simple recipe already printed out. The banana cream pie recipe All the ingredients were available in the kitchen. The kitchen even had a double oven. I thought this would be easy, except it wasn't. Because I suck at cooking. I hate cooking. If I cook, I need a "man's cookbook," one that cuts through the jargon and explains cookin...

Why Help Authoring Tools Will Fade

I read a blog post the other day that I can't stop thinking about. In the Myth of Single Sourcing, Michael Hiatt writes, The main issue for me is between authoring static in-house documents using single-sourcing methods before publishing, or capturing information sources dynamically after publishing from online social networks, linked data sources, and knowledge mashups. The myth of single-source authoring is that it actually has a life i...

Contingent Senior Technical Writer Opening at LDS Church's ICS Department in Riverton, Utah

We're looking for a contingent senior technical writer to join our User Education team, part of the LDS Church's Information and Communications System department in Riverton, Utah. This is an opportunity to work in an agile environment with about 600+ talented IT professionals. As a member of our team, you'll also get to work with Gryphon Mountain, Doc Guy, other cool people, and me. The job has a few requirements you should be aware of. ...

What I'm Presenting on at the Dallas Summit

At the STC Summit in Dallas this year (May 2-5), I'll be giving a presentation titled "Developing a Personal Voice in Audio." I'm moving in the direction of screencasts, focusing on the audio component in this presentation. 2010 STC Summit in Dallas, Texas Here's the presentation description: Narrated video tutorials -- both scripted and spontaneous -- are a powerful tool tech writers can employ to help users learn software. But the audio...

Embedding Videos into Madcap Flare

One of Flare's shortcomings is the inability to easily embed video files. However, if you use the Camtasia Studio's Express Show format as your video format (and you choose the SWF option), you can insert the video into Flare by inserting the video as if it were a picture. Here's a two-minute screencast showing the processing for inserting a video into Flare. You can also put the video in a drop-down hotspot.