Tech Writer Today Magazine - TechWhirl
Technical writing and technical communications news, articles and resources for technical writers and technical communicators.
TechWhirl's articles covering the creation, management, publishing, distribution and disposal of content.
"'Following your privies e-mail,' is 'privies' the correct word?" Questions like these are pretty common in ESL (English as a Second Language) environments, where you are one of the few, and possibly the only native English speaker in a team, department, or even the entire company. Working in an environment where everyone else is communicating in a strange language (i.e. not English) poses several challenges, especially during this age of globalization. Continue reading ...
If it seems that Microsoft® SharePoint is nearly as ubiquitous as Word and Windows, it’s because SharePoint implementations are a major factor in IT project expenditures today. In fact, if SharePoint were a standalone company, it would rank in the top 50 software companies in the world. It should come as no surprise that executives concerned about the management of technical content often wonder if technical publications in XML can be managed well using Microsoft SharePoint. Continue reading ...
Before you can decide how you can improve your content management practices and get on the road to implementing or enhancing your content management system solution, you need to assess where your organization stands—what kind of content do you have, where is it located, and how is it currently managed? Answering these critical questions is essential to determining your content maturity. Continue reading ...
No matter how much technology advances, how to name files for easy organization and retrieval seems to be a perpetual challenge. One of the inevitable decisions to make when creating your content strategy is to develop a file naming convention for your thousands or millions of topics, graphics, maps, documents, and snippets you may end [...] Continue reading ...
Content Tagging Best Practices Authors’ note: This best practice article applies to both enterprise content and technical communication content. Think about these content tagging best practices when organizing content in shared drives, CMSs, or SharePoint. Technical communications content in CCMSs is also specifically addressed at the end of the article. The single, biggest mistake we [...] Continue reading ...
Executives, managers and content management workers (marketing, technical communications, public relations ... anyone who works with a lot of content on a daily basis) often wonder if they really need a content management system (CMS). We recommend using this content management system litmus test to determine if your company could benefit from a (component) content management system. Continue reading ...
If management hasn't come looking for answers to questions about how to effectively manage all the content floating around your organization in social media, documents, emails and information in various electronic file cabinets, it’s probably just a matter of time. The best thing you can do now is start preparing a content management systems business case. Continue reading ...
Down load our content management system selection matrix to help you find the best CMS for your organization. Continue reading ...
A component content management system (CCMS) is a big investment for your organization, so calculating the return on investment (ROI) for your Component Content Management (CCMS) purchase is an essential part of the budgeting process. This calculator allows you to plug in your own numbers, but it guides you through some of the major cost [...] Continue reading ...