Tech Writer Today Magazine - TechWhirl
Technical writing and technical communications news, articles and resources for technical writers and technical communicators.
Dear Santa, I have been very very good. Please ask my boss for a copy of my job performance review for fiscal 2011 if you don't believe me. Per the terms of the Santa-Petitioner_In_Good_Standing contract, please send me the following items/services... Continue reading ...
Cloudwords, Inc. announced that its translation management application now provides customers the ability to push translated content directly to the Mind Touch content management platform to expedite their publishing and localization processes. The new integrated approach is available for the MindTouch social knowledge base product and its build-to-suit product. MindTouch CEO Aaron Fulkerson notes that [...] Continue reading ...
In 1998, you left a [submarine simulation] video game under my tree called 688i Hunter/Killer. I’ve always considered this to be one of the best games I’ve ever played, so thanks Santa for that really great present. One thing that made this game so great was that it came with extremely comprehensive documentation. I know your technical writing elves worked really hard on it... Continue reading ...
The terminology underpinnings of your content strategy are often a much bigger undertaking and are infinitely vital to your company’s budget and brand. If you’re using the same terms in the same way throughout the user’s experience of content, then you’re maintaining a good relationship with them. If you don’t use the same terms, if you switch words and phrases, users are going to be confused first, and then simply not be able to find content. Continue reading ...
The current economic decline has decimated many technical writing department budgets. But, the demand for quality documentation and training material has not abated. As more companies compete for a smaller customer base, the ability to create software that is easy to use and that also provides the customer with a wide variety of options for help is critical. How can you, as a technical writer offer top-notch documentation and help materials on a tight budget? While there are several facets to this question, selection of tools is paramount. One of the most obvious ways to save money is to use open source, low cost, or free software. Continue reading ...
Corey Ganser presented a thoughtful session about the importance of engaging technical writers and customer support agents with the goal of decreasing support costs and increasing client satisfaction. Three stakeholders in the question of who cares about content are the company, the customers, and you (the technical communicator). During his session, he explained how his employer, Mindtouch, forged relationships with its customers and found opportunities for selling its products and services Continue reading ...
Working on a large development team with multiple writers, provides some clear advantages over the lone writer. At the same time, a large team presents some unique challenges. Here are seven tips for managing the tech comm effort when the UI is a constantly moving target. Continue reading ...
In the first part of this article, I introduced the concept of personas, a tool for creating a detailed description of the people we’re writing for. An ideal persona becomes so real that we intimately understand who that person is, what their needs are, the problems they face—and therefore, what we must do to help them solve those problems. To make that admittedly somewhat abstract more concrete, I used the example of Bruce Wayne—the man behind Batman’s mask—because of how instantly familiar that persona is to most Westerners. That description, simplified as it was, provides a strong hook on which to hang more details. Bruce is the answer to the “who?” question, the first of the five W’s. Continue reading ...