EServer TC Library: Recent Additions

Professionalism is a recurrent topic of discussion - formally and informally - among technical communication scholars and practitioners. In the diversity among our programs and approaches to technical communication, the difficult issues surrounding certification in technical communication is a professional goal that major stakeholders have typically considered too complex to...

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Since 2001, harsh criticism of PowerPoint’s presentation slide structure has surfaced in several popular publications. Because Microsoft PowerPoint controls 95% of the market for presentation slideware (Parker 2001), its default structure certainly deserves scrutiny. However, what is more important than analyzing the default structure of PowerPoint is to analyze the...

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This is a truly special issue of Technical Communication. It is the last hybrid issue that will be published in print and online. As of the Febru- ary 2010 issue, Technical Communication will be an online journal with a print-on-demand subscription option. I normally think of our journal in terms...

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In the past, we’ve been told not to use serif fonts due to its readability on low resolution monitors and poor rendering in WindowsXP. Now, with display technology advancing and IE7+ supporting ClearType by default, I think it is about time to change that rule. Take a look at the...

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I'm not a Flash fanboy, far from it, but I hope we can put an end to talk of HTML5 killing Flash. Despite the fact that most people agree the internet would be a better place without plug-ins, while browsers continue to support different standards, and the people pushing said...

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Goals can vary in size and effort, but successful goal setting relies on the following six factors. When you combine these simple, yet effective factors and allow them to work together you will find lasting goal setting success. ...

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One of my biggest problems when narrating a screencast is that my throat gets all clogged up. I have to hit the pause and resume key every minute or so to clear my throat. Voiceover actors have learned to deal with this problem, since they often don’t have the benefits...

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Any usability testing is better than no testing. And cheap usability testing is ideal for developers squeezed on time and budget. Why cheap usability testing? If its cheap, you might actually do it. Just like a writer is blind to their typos, we’re blind to the unnecessary complications in our...

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Big changes and big ideas usually sail through the group with little effort. This is because many do not feel comfortable challenging another persons authority on these big complex ideas–they feel they don’t have enough of a clue. But when the discussion gets down to the little things, the discussion...

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The beauty of the internet is that it makes information available to everyone. Well, almost everyone. Sometimes we put up unnecessary barriers that make our content unavailable to those with disabilities. Fixing this is the right thing to do and it’s the law for those doing business with the U.S....

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The secret of social media has nothing to do with signing up for a bunch of services and spamming your links. In fact, you probably don’t need to sign up for every new service. It helps if you already have a following–these services give your followers a way to connect....

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A FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions” document) can be one of the best investments a project makes in terms of educational payoff. FAQs are highly tuned to the questions users and developers actually ask—as opposed to the questions you might have expected them to ask—and therefore, a well-maintained FAQ tends to...

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In this post I’ll share interesting tips and ideas for keeping consistent. Some may work for you, some may not. ...

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Make it easier to write. I like to think of this as making your writing process usable for you. The more usable your writing process is, the more you’ll do it. So what tools can make your writing process easier? ...

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People who are studying technical communication in school should also take courses in detective work and investigative journalism, because all tech writers are really detectives and reporters. Brooke, Andrew...

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Making Flash accessible is a good thing. However, accessible Flash is not perceivable by screen-reader users if they don’t use Windows. If a screen-reader user needs information that is contained in a Flash presentation, that user needs to be on Windows. Oops. Mardahl, Karen...

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Voiceover professionals often recommend that you smile while you narrate. Smiling injects a touch of warmth and charisma in your voice. Just a few touches here and there can make the entire tone of your voice noticeably warmer. Johnson, Tom H....

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Perhaps our headings should focus a bit more on user benefits? For example, "Overview of batch printing - Save time and improve document organization" is a bit more engaging, especially if your customer is struggling with those issues. ...

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E-readers are portable, low-power, high-resolution devices that display digital versions of written material from books, magazines, newspapers, and other printed sources. They typically use e-ink, a display technology designed to simulate printed paper that offers similar resolution as newsprint and, relative to an LCD screen, eliminates glare and reduces eyestrain....

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In the TREAD Act of November 1, 2000, Congress required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop a rule requiring all new light vehicles to be equipped with a warning system to indicate to the driver when a tire is significantly underinflated. Research was conducted to assess the...

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Getting close to your microphone usually results in something called “the proximity effect.” As you get close, most microphones amplify your voice in a rich, deep way. The proximity effect can make you sound like a late-night DJ. Some microphones give you the best proximity effect when you’re practically kissing...

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Whether magician or crook, the ability to manipulate the contents of a deck of cards, making the right card appear at the right moment, is the key to their success and takes a long time and a lot of practice to perfect. The obvious take away here is that hard...

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Come to think of it, technical writers are pretty weird individuals. And proud of it. You’d have to be, um, unusual, to actually enjoy writing. What goes into the making of someone who does technical writing all day? Rumours are that we’re intensely interested in the exact placement of a...

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Carliner tells a history in two parallel strands, first how TC evolved in a large IT company (IBM), and then how technological developments changed the TC workplace. Telling the histories one after the other makes for some redundancy; I’ll merge the strands into one in my summary. Weber, Kai...

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You’ve probably heard that Apple recently released the iPad. The absence of Flash Player on the device seems to have awakened the HTML5 vs. Flash debate. Apparently, it’s the final nail in the coffin for Flash. The arguments run wide, strong, and legitimate on both sides. However, the issue is...

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Wondering how to improve your chances of getting that ideal next (or first) job as a technical communicator? This article explains some of our views on one of the most important elements of your job search. ...

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When you write a script for a video (or when you create a general outline), you can avoid the problem of the eternal video — which I refer to as a sense of rambling — by simply keeping the video short. Don’t try to cover too much ground. You can...

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Most questions have been asked before. This isn’t a profound statement; most of us would consider it obvious. Just ask anyone on your Product Support team. Chances are the majority of calls they receive are fielded with canned answers. Why? Because we all seem to ask the same questions. By...

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Since its inception in 1996, CSS has provided a way of displaying these other weights through use a numerical scale with the font-weight property. This is still almost entirely broken in every current browser except Firefox 3 on Mac. ...

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The internet did not replace television, which did not replace cinema, which did not replace books. E-books aren’t going to replace books either. E-books are books, merely with a different form. The electronic book is the latest example of how HTML continues to win out over competing, often nonstandardized, formats. E-books...

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"Should everybody write?" That's the question to ask when looking at the cyberjunk permeating the World Wide Web. Some critics find the glut of internet prose obnoxious, scary, even dangerous. They see too many people, with too little talent, writing about too many things. Baron, Denis...

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Given the disconnections between technical communication classroom assessment and professional workplace assessment, the author suggests that technical communication programs learn from workplaces’ best practices to develop authentic classroom assessment and better prepare students for workplace performance. Authentic classroom assessment also generates meaningful student learning evidence, which can be used in...

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A recent blog post by Craig Mod, a self-titled computer programmer, book designer and book publisher, offers a thoughtful and distinctive perspective on the move of books from paper to interactive devices like Apple’s iPad. Mr. Mod summarizes his argument in the subtitle of his post: “Print is dying....

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This article analyzes how and why technical communication programs can and should integrate courses within general education curricula, discussing relevant scholarship and our own case study. We address the rationale for positioning a course among traditional liberal arts offerings, the cultural challenges that pose obstacles to doing so, and the...

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The last decade has seen a surge in the number of professional communication doctoral programs. This sudden growth has led to new program administrators around the country rethinking how best to approach graduate study in professional communication. One area is the status of courses taken outside the home department, also...

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As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over? We’re losing the dregs of the publishing world: disposable books. The book printed without consideration of form or sustainability or longevity. The book produced to be consumed...

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Extreme programming showed developers that there was power in self-determination, and in reaction to all that old defensive stuff, many programmers have finally said “Enough is enough”. They emerged from their bunkers to become proactive in *guiding* the development process rather than just doing what they were told (and then...

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We know we need to fold necessary constraints back in to our design solution as we iterate it, but lifting them for a bit can provide inspiration or even just some much-needed levity as we tackle a particularly challenging design problem. Thompson, Suzy...

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Working with long lists of information over a network, like web email, can be problematic. If a user needs to hunt for something, she’s going to need access to other pages, and this article is about how those controls should look and behave. Noessel, Chris...

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On a recent project a client confessed some small degree of envy of Cooper’s team structure. He was the sole designer at a medium sized software company doing good work, but unsatisfied doing it alone. In our short project he was able to see the value of paired design and...

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The editors are working diligently to introduce GNLE as an accepted mode of education. The book appears to be an early attempt to define the scope and nature of GNLE theory and practice. Sauer, Geoffrey...

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Here’s a quick tip for you as you conduct your goal-directed interviews with users and potential users: Leave a four-second pause after your interviewee pauses their response, allowing them to add more information or additional detail. Noessel, Chris...

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Cynthia Selfe developed Resources in Technical Communication with a very specific purpose and audience in mind—to provide resources on key performance outcomes so teachers of introductory technical com- munication courses may assemble a set of outcomes for their local situation. She does an excellent job of fitting the volume’s pedagogical...

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Interviewing school-aged children isn't too different from interviewing adults. But as I learned, there are a few do's and don'ts you might do well to keep in mind. McCoy, Tim...

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Just after Adobe’s CS4 suite was released, I decided to have another look at Fireworks – a package I had looked at a few times in earlier versions, but repeatedly given up on – each time falling back to Photoshop. I played with it, and I was impressed by a...

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With the features incorporated into Flash CS4, designers may create fully-accessible online multimedia. This presentation introduces how. ...

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For the last two years I’ve focused my attention on the growth and success of agile development methods. There is nothing in the history of software quite as significant as the agile revolution. While I’m thrilled by the awesome potential of this new way of thinking, I remain aware that...

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The profession of Technical Author in the UK is yet to be recognised as a distinct profession under the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities, so it’s very hard to determine how many people work as Technical Authors. Pratt, Ellis...

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Quality content or appearance? My choice is the former. No matter how beautifully laid out and typeset a piece of documentation is, if the information that it contains isn’t accurate or useful fine typography and design can’t paper over those deficiencies. What’s wrong with a wiki? Overall, not much. But...

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Since the publication of the animated presentation Creating Accessible Sites in Flash for the Adobe Accessibility Resource Center, we've been thrilled to see an overwhelming response from people requesting more details about the presentation itself and how it was made. In this article, I discuss some of the necessary steps...

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Technical writers need to be involved in the creation of usable error messages. After all, it’s the technical writer who is the first advocate for the customer in any technology company, and often, the last line of defense for quality. ...

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I’ve used the BlackBerry and the iPhone on a regular basis, and I believe the BlackBerry continues to trump the iPhone in terms of its suitability in the enterprise. Here are three reasons why. Mah, Paul...

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Visitors who are new to your site come with many questions and few answers. In a few moments they answer the questions to their satisfaction and move on or become your customer. ...

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This article is for software developers who have never implemented context-sensitive help. It explains the concepts and the basic types of context-sensitive help. A demonstration application with context-sensitive help is available. ...

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The term Electronic Performance Support System first appeared in 1991. Although technology has changed, the original definition is useful. ...

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Single sourcing is used successfully for large documentation projects thousands of pages or help topics. However, single sourcing is not useful for most small documentation projects. ...

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Digital printing technology ('print on demand') is excellent for producing printed software documentation. ...

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For practical purposes, a printed document needs to stay flat on a desk. This limits the binding that you can use. The basic options are explained here. ...

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International standards are becoming more and more prevalent in the business world, and their development and implementation offer new opportunities for technical communicators working in policies and procedures (P&P). Depending on the industry in which it operates, a company could find itself required to meet the dictates of international standards...

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Plain English helps to make text clear, but plain English does not make sure that text is as clear as possible. Plain English does not minimise the cost of translation. ...

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I’ve been asked what the biggest surprise was for me when I went full-time into the field of technical communication following university graduation. Honestly, not a lot surprised me; I knew how to write procedures, gather information, and use Web, print, and graphics tools. I had even worked in a...

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One of my goals in creating engaging video tutorials is to develop a warm, personable, natural voice, like the voice of an encouraging friend or mentor. In search of this more personable voice, last year I attended a voiceover workshop in my area. The voiceover coach explained that good voiceover...

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Lately, when I’m writing for training, I’m thinking of actually having a conversation, of talking to a real person. When I write other documents, for some reason I’m not thinking this way. It’s a problem because my user assistance content probably comes out dry as a desert in summer. In...

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Author-It Webhelp output is built using HTML templates (for the layout and structure), CSS (for the styling) and is powered using Javascript. If you are competent in HTML and CSS you can do a lot of tweaking of the templates. McLean, Gordon...

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I am very comfortable with using Notepad to write in DITA. But there are times when I forget if a particular DITA tag can be used at a particular place. For example, I regularly forget if <prereq> should precede <context> or follow. At such times, an XML editor that...

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The IBM Information Architecture Workbench is an Eclipse-based freeware that I find marvellously handy for organising my thoughts and then committing those thoughts to DITA files. With it, I can model my ditamaps, generate DITA stub files* for the ditamap nodes, and edit the DITA files. Plus, if I draw...

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A disturbing, humorous, and memorable guide to ten words you should remember how to spell correctly, if you don't wish to annoy technical communicators. ...

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For a website, a heat map is a graphical representation of where visitors interact with the page. The more interaction (i.e., clicks) the "hotter" that area is. This is especially useful in determining what parts of the page attract the most visitors. Sapir, Rick...

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As the web becomes increasingly social, distributed, and search driven, the paths that users take to find content grow ever more varied, and that, according to Luke Wroblewski, has important implications for web page design and usability. Lufkin, Patrick...

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The emphasis being placed on a plethora of new delivery technologies and content management systems--XML, DITA, XHTML, RoboHelp, Author-it and more-has led many to view information as just "content." When this happens, we lose sight of the importance of efficient communication, which only comes through craft. Lufkin, Patrick...

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What this book provides is the foundation for the incredibly broad spectrum of User Interface Design. It focuses more on the what and the why, using a rich collection of insights, observations, experiences, and advice. All of this is backed up by research in all matters of user analysis and...

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Despite the great need for rigorously evaluating documentation, there is no doubt that far too little evaluation, especially empirical evaluation, is performed. The problem, of course, is limited resources, limited time in the schedule, limited amounts of salaried time the organization wishes to invest, lack of expertise in evaluation, and...

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Donna Spencer's new book, Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories (2009, Rosenfeld Media) may be a breeze-through read, but don't be fooled by the direct, plain-language style into thinking that you can skim it and walk away a card-sorting expert. The book is meant to be read, used, then read again...

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Many of the rapid advances in user interfaces have been shaped by the contrasting visions of researchers and designers, which have sometimes broken out into heated controversies. There have been continuing debates over which directions would be most fruitful. In each case, there is room for victory claims by all...

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Indi Young, a cofounder of Adaptive Path design consultancy, tells us what we should do before we create personas, scenarios, user profiles, or task workflows if our goal is to design based on how people actually behave. In a wonderfully concise book filled with vignettes from her long experience as a...

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In this column, we'll discuss consistency. Consistency is all about how we identify and re-use visual and textual elements and behaviors. Actions should always be performed in similar ways, reducing the need to learn the same thing twice. Hughes, Eric...

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While Google Analytics is easy to use for beginners, it's also a very powerful tool in the hands of knowledgeable users. Qualified users will be effective at leveraging Google Analytics within their organizations and at helping others to do the same. The online course is free to everyone. ...

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We define navigation and structure as providing clear ways of moving forward, going back, getting Home, and finding what is relevant; always letting visitors know where they are and where they can go; and visually grouping related information together. Quality navigation and structure results from a smart mix of information...

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Because learners are trying to pay attention to the visuals, the need to move their eyes to focus on the accompanying caption is a distraction. Having a voiceover explain the visual enables the learner to absorb the audio and visual information at the same time. So my decision to turn off...

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The book is both idealistic about what people need to do and realistic about the complex, daunting tasks we face. Somehow, an optimistic tone emerged, perhaps due to Shedroff's enthusiasm, fresh perspective, and suggestions for moving toward solutions. His high expectations for designers and developers were especially evident when discussing...

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For several months I’ve been looking for a quiet room to record screencasts at my work. Our building has four floors for more than 600 IT professionals. I investigated more than 20 conference rooms, poked my head in empty offices, walked around unfamiliar floors, inquired here and there. When people...

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