Tech Writer Today Magazine - TechWhirl
Technical writing and technical communications news, articles and resources for technical writers and technical communicators.
I enjoy working in technical communication, so why not stretch my skills a bit for marcom? There must be more to this than I thought, because Sarah O'Keefe (scriptorium.com) is hosting a webcast on the Cold War between techcomm and marcom. I signed up because a good writer should be able to tackle any kind of writing. Then I went looking for more tech comm and related goodness for Tech Writer This Week. I found lots... Continue reading ...
In my job as a technical writer, one of the decisions I wrestle with every day concerns topic length. Is the topic short enough to retain readers but long enough to cover the material? If the topic is too short, should I merge it with another? If the topic is too long, should I break it into two topics? This is a lot of what I think about. So does Tom Johnson (I'd Rather Be Writing). Tech Writer This Week gives you other stuff to think about: research, content strategy, taxonomy, customer journey maps, UX, CXM, and cardboard boats... huh? Continue reading ...
The STC Summit 2013, held in Atlanta, Georgia this year, got off to an excellent start with an entertaining and eye-opening keynote address by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue. Larry Kunz (sdicorp.com) shares his impressions of the summit. The STC posted a ton of photos, tweets, and slideshows on eventifier.co and we also offer our annual Pinterest board for your enjoyment. The slides are great. I've seen a few shows already, and have dogeared more to view. After which, enjoy some great posts on tech comm, content strategy, and user experience. Continue reading ...
Tech Writer This Week heads into some new territories, with a new topic area, and some controversy in our old standbys. First in the standbys is Technical Communication. I'd venture a guess that most people think of technical writers as the quiet sort (I do my best to fly under the radar). But being quiet doesn't mean we shy away from controversy. Peruse User Experience and then Content Strategy & Curation. Dive into our new area of Customer Experience Management, and finish off with some Career and Life goodies. Continue reading ...
Problem solving, programming, writing, testing, strategy, marketing, and programming of a different sort--We round up all of it on Tech Writer This Week. Let's talk interesting technical content, appreciation for programming, and how to build a list. Folks on the user experience and content strategy fronts will find some great advice for testing, strategy, and curation. We wrap it all up with a new LinkedIn mobile app, writing, and big news from the entertainment world. Continue reading ...
I was expecting to like Marcia Riefer Johnston’s book, Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them), But then I was also thinking, “Who needs yet another book on grammar? Is it worth buying and reading?” Turns out the answers are “me” and “yes!” Let’s take a look at a few of the items that resonated with me. Continue reading ...
Along with the cliche that "No one reads the manual," it is also cliche that technical writers are often the last to possess knowledge that is critical to their projects. Tech Writer This Week aims to demolish the cliches, by providing some timely and trending information about stuff that matters to technical communicators. Technical writing as art, going beyond the words in communication, user experience and wearable computers, adding value to content curation, and so much more to explore. Continue reading ...
Tech Writer This Week looks at some good, and not-so-good stuff that you might want to ponder, or at least be aware of from around the web. Everything from tech comm influencers to workaround warnings, to resources for usability folks and writers. Continue reading ...
After a foolishly good start to April, bloggers got down to the business of thinking and sharing commentary and useful tips, and we collected some of the best in Tech Writer This Week. Good service and good documentation can't be separated; the good and the bad of UI design, and the content strategy tips via IKEA are just a few of the topics we bring you this week. Continue reading ...