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Looking for a royalty-free photo?
Then head on over to this list of some 40 sources of royalty-free stock images: http://www.instantshift.com/2009/03/03/40-sources-to-download-high-quality-royalty-free-stock-images/ I was familiar with a couple of them (MorgueFile and Flickr’s Creative Commons photos), but most were new to me. Also, take a look at PhotoXpress: http://photoxpress.com/ [Link last checked March 2010; thanks to @dmnguys who Tweeted...
Telstra: User experience FAIL!
Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications company. It used to be the ONLY Australian telecommunications company — and it was government-run — until deregulation some years ago. They still think they are #1 dog in town, but they’re not. Complaints about their telephone, mobile and internet services (known as Bigpond) are...
Are you good with people, or good with ideas? Then check out who you really are on this cute Venn diagram from Jessica Hagy at Indexed: (from: http://thisisindexed.com/2010/02/whos-in-your-office/) [Links last checked March 2010] Filed under: Business/Work, Humor ...
Word: Remove formatting from cross-references
Sometimes you’ll add a cross-reference to a figure or table, and part of it (the number usually) will display in bold text. Or perhaps you’ve inserted the cross-reference in a table but the font used in the table is smaller than that used in the body text, yet the cross-reference...
Blogging and Tweeting at conferences
Next week I leave for the US to attend WritersUA, the annual Conference for Software User Assistance, to be held in Seattle from March 21-24, 2010. For the past few years, I’ve used this blog to write summaries of the sessions I’ve attended at various conferences. Last year, I observed others...
Did you know that Wikipedia has an extensive Manual of Style (MoS)? In it, you can find guidance on pretty much anything you want to know about writing articles for Wikipedia. The main Wikipedia MoS is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style For more detail on specific areas — such as capital letters — check the...
ffeathers -- a technical writer's blog
We held our first doc sprint a few weeks ago, and it was awesome. Even the moderately stressed organiser (that’s me, folks) had a lot of fun! We wrote some very shiny tutorials. My earlier post was about the people and the results, so now I thought you might like...
We held a doc sprint and it was awesome
We’ve just held a “doc sprint”. We put twenty developers in a room for three days with some computers. And some chocolate. We didn’t know whether to expect some shiny new tutorials or the complete works of Shakespeare. Or perhaps a new motif for a chocolate wrapper. So, what did happen?...
Students requesting participants in survey of authoring tools
A student has posted a comment on my blog, asking for any technical writers who are willing to fill out a survey on authoring tools. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. I’ve filled it in and it seems harmless so I’m letting you know, in case...
Sharing responsibilities in agile technical writing
Recently we shuffled responsibilities in our technical writing team. Andrew Lui and I now share responsibility for a number of products and documentation sets, instead of each person “owning” separate products. I’m totally enjoying it, for a number of reasons. One of them is that Andrew is awesome! Another is...
Did you ever buy anything just because of the writing on the package?
Have you ever bought something purely because of what’s written on the package? Today I saw this small, medical-looking box in a store’s confectionery section: It’s a bar of chocolate! It was expensive and I already had a couple of bars in my basket. Even so, I bought it. Why? Because I...
Last week I wrote about getting started as a blogger. Now I’d like to tell you how I go about writing a blog post, in the hope that this will give you some tips on getting those blog posts written. While I was writing these two posts, the DMN guys published...
2moroDocs
Twitter Hashtags: Which Ones to Use – and When
You’ve seen them on tweets, no doubt. The hashtags. They provide a way to group and organize tweets, to bring them front and center, and to enable one to participate in a discussion with the Twitter community at large. In case you’re wondering about using some, but not sure which, I’ve...
Two facts: we have to try and keep up with all the changes in IT, and we don’t have much time, if any, to do so. What can you do? Here are some ideas. They’ve been working well for me. Hopefully they will for you as well. Blogs Bloggers are out there...
5 Reasons to Write Procedures in Twitter
Recently, I’ve been exploring the need for writing procedures in real-time, focusing on Twitter in particular. This is the fourth post in the series. In my last post, I was asked by Larry Kunz in a comment for thoughts on situations in which one might write procedures in Twitter. Five...
Lessons Learned: Procedure Written in Twitter
Last week, I thought I’d experiment and write a quick procedure in Twitter. This goes right along with my thoughts that new methods should be used for creating docs. Given that microblogging is here to stay, as is real-time, I decided to give it a try. There were two main...
My First Procedure Written in Twitter
All I’ve been thinking about the past week, it seems, is real-time and how it affects docs. Yesterday I wrote a post about it. Today, I tested it out. I wrote a procedure in Twitter. Tech writers – take a look at it and let me know what you think. Tweets...
Real-time: it’s sooooo last second
Who has time to think? These days, actions do speak louder than words. The world has changed to an immediate, need-it-now mentality. Real-time is turning into all-the-time, and tech writers need to address it. Can’t ignore this one! The luxury of time is slipping away from us. Time to research. Time...
A Tech Writer's World
It's always entertaining to read about non-lethal lapses in security at a major event. Remember the debacle at the 2010 Winter Olympics? A man with false ID got within a few yards of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden before being arrested at the opening ceremony. You'd figure after spending almost...
I recently attended an STC conference where one of the topics discussed was user-centred design. I met with usability experts and interaction designers whose sole job is ensuring that a product is intuitive and easy to use from a user's perspective, and not from the business's....
We all know (and love) our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Apparently, these senses are not enough. Science, psychology, and the arts have been on the hunt for a sixth sense since the time people knew they had senses.Candidates for a sixth sense include:intuitionemotionintelligenceextra-sensory perception (ESP)equilibrioception -...
I admit I'm not a huge hockey fan. For me, the ability to insert a small, black plastic cylinder into a mesh just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. However, even I have to admit it is remarkable that Canada won gold in both the men's and women's hockey at...
Karl Rabeder is an Austrian millionaire. But he's sad - so sad that he's giving away his entire $5 million fortune, to charity."My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he said. "Money is counterproductive --it prevents happiness."Karl continues: "For a long time I believed that more wealth...
Apple has given technical communicators a new mantra.The Apple slogan is: There's an app for that, to market the fact they have an app for everything and then some, for their ubiquitous iPod touch and iPhones.Our new slogan should be: There's a doc for that, to market the fact...
EServer TC Library: Recent Additions
Approaches to Professionalism: A Codified Body of Knowledge
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...
Common Use of PowerPoint versus the Assertion-Evidence Structure
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...
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...
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...
Why HTML5 Isn't a Flash Killer
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...
Six Simple Factors for Successful Goal Setting
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. ...
HelpScribe
How to write interesting headings for documentation
Ok, I'm going out on a limb with this suggestion. However, I've seen a lot of scary statistics lately about how infrequently consumers read documentation. So please suspend your judgement while I think this through; there may be some benefit if you would like your users to actually read your...
Technical writing tips via Twitter
As you can see, I've added Twitter to the HelpScribe blog. I'll use this feature to share short technical writing tips with those who follow my feed. So far, I really like the format. Also, I am impressed with how friendly everyone is in the Twitter community. It seems much more...
Screencasts | How to add your brand
Screencasts are often linked to from multiple locations. Help topics, marketing web pages, knowledgebase and support articles, and more may all be launch points for your screencast. Additionally, the SWF and HTM files may be downloaded by users. Because there are so many entry paths, you may want to include...
Templates are an essential tool in the technical writer's arsenal. Whether you work in MS Word, Frame Maker, or another word processing program, you'll find that a collection of well-structured templates helps you to create professional documents more efficiently. In this post, I'll start a running list of free templates available...
SEO for Technical Writers | Optimizing your content for search engines
Technical writers are seeing an increasing amount of their documentation move from print and local installation to online (server-based) formats. As your documents move online, you'll need to consider how to help your users find the information they need. Grab a fresh cup of coffee, this is a long and information-packed...
Technical writing | A dying field?
Over the last decade, the nature of my job has shifted considerably. I remember flipping through thousands of pages of proofs to make sure our user manuals were ready for the printer. Many hours went into these printed manuals, and piles of paper covered my desk on most days. Anyone who...
Computer Books / Human Readers
4 Types of Fun for Technical Books
This slide show, on slide 8, talks about 4 different kinds of fun: hard fun, easy fun, serious fun, and people fun. Most of the things you enjoy doing probably fall into one of those categories: Hard fun: trying...
Everything You Wanted to Know about Royalties, but were Afraid to Ask
If you deal with publishers as an author, you'll need to understand a bit about royalties -- it's the main way that you have to make money from your work. There's a lot that you need to take into consideration before you can really understand what the...
Can you really teach yourself programming in 21 days?
There's a lot of fusty programmers who take exception to books that claim they can teach you programming in a fixed period of time. These spoilsports think that titles like "Learn C++ in 21 Days" are a scam. Of course these...
Not fond of sprouts? Scroll down for something sweeter... When you were young, your mother told you that you couldn't have pudding until you'd eaten your greens. There was always a mountain of the stuff. If only she knew the damage she was doing to your career as a...
#XNA #book idea looking for an author: XNA Cross-Platform Cookbook
Have you seen this video showing the same game played on 3 different platforms -- Xbox, PC, and phone? Finally, the XBox makes sense as a classic Microsoft software platform play. Microsoft wants to own a games platform "software stack". Eventually, anybody will be able to build...
What Ed Emberley's Make a World Can Teach Every "How To" Author... the Illustrated Guide!
The sprightly Barnes Blog's writing advice robot vanquishes the shambling beast of boring technical books. It occurred to me this morning, as I lay unable to get back to sleep after my son woke for a feed, that Ed Emberley's drawing books are the perfect How To Cookbook. It just...
Metalique
We have had a wonderful experience blogging all through this year. Even though we have had some rough times when our systems crashed and we were not able to blog for a long time, we got back up and started blogging again. Wee would like to thank a few people...
It seems as if new real time web start-ups are popping up each day. The reason for this is that Internet users have begun to show an affinity for real time data. In the past, search engines would show static search results based on relevancy. Today, users can find out...
Top 15 must follow Search Engine Optimization Blogs
Every one wants to learn and optimize their blogs and website and rank better on search engines. What better than following some of the top 15 blog that we consider the best in providing information on Search Engine Optimization. Be it an e-commerce website or an information blog or a...
AWESOME 18×24” Rolled Poster Print giveaway from LargeFormatPosters.com
Thanks to LargeFormatPosters.com for offering Metalique and my blog readers an opportunity to win an AWESOME 18×24” Rolled Poster Print. It even gets better, this giveaway is a 100% FREE GIVEAWAY. That’s right! No shipping or handling fees will be charged to claim prizes for this week’s Giveaway. Awesome isn’t...
21 top blogs that inspired me to blog
Three years ago, I was not aware of something called blogging. But today, I’m blogging and also making money doing so. I’ve learnt a lot and am still learning and find it interesting. The process of making money makes the process of blogging much more interesting. Today I’m sharing with...
Greet your visitors with a Welcome message – WP Greet Box
Welcoming a visitor as they enter is a good habit and also creates a positive feel. Always wanting to greet my site visitors, I stumbled upon WP Greet box a Plug-in that greets visitors for you. It’s simple and easy to install. This is plug-in is built on WordPress CMS...
Anything Tech
Now, the technological age has begun. In the past few years technology has taken a major leap. Nowerdays a lots of home improvement gadgets have made life simpler and easier. Such as the Automatic washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, LCD TV, Plasma, High defination HD TV, laptops, netbooks, digital camera, microwave...
The revolution of the Compact Disk
The compact disk, commonly known as CD, is an optical disk used to store digital data. It was originally invented to only hold audio but later on it can store video, software, text, and graphics. The compact disk contains transparent coating, which allows information to be received from a laser...
Microsoft and Apple have been in competition since Bill Gates and Steve Jobs shared a dorm room together. The advance in technology is directly due to their battle for market share. Out of their rivalry the computer was born and the lap top later on. The newest gadgets are cell...
Virtual Reality: The Techno Trend
(Enter the dream world of virtual reality—find yourself in a different world—very much like what you see in a video game. But this is different. You are inside the game yourself.) Imagine this. You put on goggles on your eyes. Then you wear a glove on your right hand. The goggles...
External Terabyte Hard Drives - The Perfect Solution to Storage Aches and Pains
Most people like to keep things. Whether we are organized about it or not, many of us find it hard to part with souvenirs, mementos, photographs, magazines… items that may have a sentimental meaning but that also take up space that may be at a premium. We don’t all have...
The Apple Laptop Family Affair
Apple’s laptop family constitute the mac pro, mac mini, macbook, macbook pro, macbook air and the imac. In normal circumstances, the computer is manufactured by one company and all the software that run on it including the operating system is built by another. Mac laptop’s come with one of the...
Your Writing Dept Blog
Technical Writer ranks No. 13 with top jobs for 2010
According to an analysis conducted by CareerCast.com, the job of Technical Writer ranks as one of the best jobs to have in 2010. For the complete list of the top 20 best and the top 20 worst jobs, see the Reuters article. Top Jobs for 2010: Actuary Software engineer Computer systems analyst Biologist Historian Mathematician Paralegal assistant Statistician Accountant Dental hygienist Philosopher Meteorologist Technical...
Web site, web site or website? A quick poll.
Time for a quick poll. Which is your preference? Web site (W in caps) web site (w in lower) website (w in lower and one word) Respond with your preference and explanation, and I will compile the results. Your Writing Dept is a Sacramento-based writing firm that specializes in developing technical manuals and user guides....
Quick Reference Guides are more useful than a 150-page user doc
By Ron Creel Tom Johnson’s blog, I’d Rather Be Writing, posted Minimizing Documentation not a moment too soon. I’m working on a project to boil a 150-page software user document down to a one-page reference guide that can be tacked to a CSR’s cube wall. Our goal with the one-page reference guide...
More InfoPorn: Our new favorite site
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love InfoPorn. This is what we consider the presentation of what could be considered dull information in interesting and fascinating presentations. Trust me, these are not your typical MS Excel bar charts. The site Information is Beautiful seems to have it...
Technical Writing Jobs: Salary Information
Interesting reading: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) (free and available to the public) about how technical writers are paid. This provides some interesting reading for anyone wishing to determine where their state ranks regarding salaries or job availability. There’s a lot of information available,...
Where To Go To Become a Tech Writer or To Find One To Hire?
By Tom Guarnera Related posts… How Do I Become a Technical Writer? What Are the Characteristics of a Good Technical Writer? Finding a single place to learn about Technical Writing is not the easiest task. Because of this, it is even trickier to find a good source for locating potential candidates for the job....
Just Write Click
Here’s a question and answer writeup that I have had squirreled away for a while. Q: You recently published a book entitled “Conversation and Community“. If you could pick just one thing from your book about interacting with the community, what would it be? A: I actually blame Whurley and Michael Cote’...
Respondents needed for user research authoring-tools
Today’s post is from four graduate students from communication and information sciences at Radboud University in the Netherlands. If you work, or ever worked, with Author-it, RoboHelp, MadCap Flare or Help&Manual, we hope that you are willing to participate in user research. You can participate by responding to all answers in...
Content tidbits from a Community Roundtable report
I’m reading (with vigor!) the The State of Community Management Report: Best Practices from Community Practitioners from the Community Roundtable, and finding so many wonderful tips about content from people who are community managers. I had to start a list of items that are relevant to technical communication and web writing...
Google Analytics: Learning about Conversions at their University
I can’t help but admire the design of Google’s Conversion University for learning Google Analytics. They’ve built presentations with voiceovers that alternate between a male narrator and a female narrator. Most lessons are about 3 minutes to 7 minutes long, and I am learning as I go in a...
I’ve put together a Facebook page for my book, Conversation and Community. I’ve had requests for a place for people to talk about the ideas in the book, and after talking it over with others, I settled on Facebook as a good place to bring together all the different sorts...
DITA for Publishers with Eliot Kimber
For this month’s Central Texas DITA User Group meeting we played host to Eliot Kimber. I took some scattered notes, mostly jotting down the great phrases Eliot handed out while nodding and chuckling. He’ll be doing this presentation as a webinar for Really Strategies, Inc. on March 10th, and you can...
TVGuide.com: Breaking News
Guy Fieri on Why He Was Born to Host Minute to Win It
Food Network star Guy Fieri is known for his signature bleach blond hair and his skills in the kitchen. But above all, he's known for his high-octane energy which makes Fieri a perfect match for NBC's new game show Minute to Win It (premiering Sunday at 7/6c). In fact, Fieri...
Celebrity Apprentice's Bret Michaels Faces Biggest Challenge Yet: Donald Trump's Boardroom
Bret Michaels has performed in front of thousands of screaming fans, night after night, for more than twenty years, and proudly put his crazy love life on national television. But the Poison lead singer says nothing has been more nerve-wracking than Donald Trump's boardroom. "I never sweated as much as I...
Demi Lovato Admits to Dating Joe Jonas, Well, Sort Of
Is Demi Lovato dating a Jonas brother? Umm...Lovato, 17, was cagey when asked by Billy Bush, but it sounds like yes. "Umm, maybe," Lovato... Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Demi LovatoJoe JonasCamp Rock ...
Prosecutor Links Haim Prescription to Illegal Drug Ring
California investigators have linked a drug prescription belonging to the late Corey Haim to a "massive" illegal prescription drug ring, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said. "Corey Haim's death is yet another tragedy linked to the growing problem of prescription drug abuse," Brown said in a statement. "This problem is increasingly...
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy Split
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy's relationship has moved to the afterlife. The Ghost Whisperer co-stars have split... Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Jamie KennedyJennifer Love HewittGhost Whisperer ...
Bachelorette's Jillian Harris on Fiance Ed: "I Forget We Met in Such a Bananas Way"
Bachelorette Jillian Harris swore she'd never do television again, but as soon as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Sun, 8/7c, ABC) came knocking, she immediately went back on her word. As a restaurant designer, Harris fit right in with the crew, hanging up pictures and even digging out trenches. The now-engaged...
The Humane Experience
Dug, you gotta love him! But I seem to get involved in discussion threads where it seems a cyber squirrel runs through the conversation and everyone gets distracted. It's a good thing we didn't have discussion groups in the old days.Churchill: Things are looking rough on the continent, the axis...
Neil Perlin is looking for participants for the "Beyond the Leading Edge" presentation at the STC Summit in May. Where I stand (click to enlarge):Click to enlarge....
The winter Olympics are here and so again is curling. I polish my miniature curling stone paperweight and put on my team USA curling sweat shirt and I'm in my quadrennial state of euphoria.I discovered it about 10 years ago in Canada watching the women's national final on TV in...
In my previous blog I throw some (well-padded) elbows at experts, and Isaac Rabinovitch rightfully takes me to task a bit. He makes the points that sometimes the gnarly explanation is needed--true, see my post on G2G (Geek-to-Geek) communication--and that technical communicators should not cut off experts during their...
As user experience professionals, we deal with experts a lot in the form of Subject Matter Experts. And in doing so, we become experts. Plus we deal with experts and expertise in a dozen different forms in our routine lives every day, so it is good to stop and talk...
In my book Iron Hoop I portray a conversation between the local junk man and a crony about how the junk man arranges things in the junk yard. It is a very thinly disguised metaphor about the inherent problems I have with taxonomies.The one I have a continual problem with...
Kay Whatley's blog
Monday-Tuesday DITA sessions in Raleigh, NC
This upcoming Monday-Tuesday, we'll have the following DITA presentation topics covered at the RealWorld DITA 2009 Conference: How DITA Changed the TechComm Landscape - Overview of DITA 1.2 - DITA and Publishing - DITA in an Agile Software Development Environment - DITA and Dynamic Publishing - DITADoclet tool - DITA...
DITA By the Bucketful: Applying DITA to YOUR Content
Please note: If you are planning to attend the subject two-part session at the RealWorld DITA 2009 Conference, you must email the conference organizer in advance. The presenters must have your info in advance and will provide you with details on what to bring for these sessions. Also, seating is very...
Just a heads up to FrameMaker folks that Adobe will present on TCS and DITA, and separately on FrameMaker/books and ditamaps, at the upcoming RealWorld DITA 2009 Conference. More conference presentation details at http://www.aboveandbeyondlearning.com/ditaschedule.html . ...
UPDATE on the RealWorld DITA 2009 Conference in Raleigh NC (Sept 2009)
Those of you who have attended our Raleigh DITA conferences before know that we work to set a high quality schedule with technical speakers and relevant topics. If you know me, you know that I strive to produce events that help users move up from their current level by building...
Yesterday, we had a DITA session covered by Leigh White. She jumped right in when another speaker had an emergency. With no planning, she made it happen, which was great for the attendees interested in learning about DITA....
Companies are contributing to the upcoming RealWorld DITA 2009 Conference. Adobe Systems and XyEnterprise have stepped up as sponsors. Additional companies are "vending" at the event. Adobe is also sponsoring the Summer XML 2009 conference! Here is a link to a recent post by Mahesh from Adobe on their blog: http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/. This...