Valentine's Day (February 14), 2012 marked the launch of Tech Comm U, a continuing education destination that provides affordable training for the technical communications workforce. Tech Comm U offers online courses in technical writing and instructional design, and is geared to freelance writers and other professionals planning a career change into the technical communications field Read more of this technical writing article »
Technical Communications Poll: What Would You Give Up?
Not so much technical communications related, but worth noting: In many western cultures today is Mardi Gras (“Fat Tuesday”), a final day of celebration before the Lenten season begins. Like New Year’s resolutions, Valentine’s Day and other “modernized” traditions, it has morphed somewhat, and many, technical writers included, vow to give up some vice, or [...] Read more of this technical writing article »
The Storyboard: An Outline for Visual Technical Communications
As technical communicators, we’re often assigned to projects that appeal to more than one sense—words, visuals and sounds—to convey a message. A multi-media technical communications project requires not only creative skills, but organizational skills as well. We can settle on a concept, a delivery method, and come up with ideas for visuals and copy points. But, we need feedback before we invest the time producing our project, or we may find we’ve gone down the proverbial rabbit hole and missed the intended goal of the project. The storyboard provides organization and makes it easy to get feedback before production begins. Read more of this technical writing article »
TechWhirl: Technical Communications Recap for February 17, 2012
Back at the turn of the century, the TechWhirl discussion list was embroiled in a vehement debate on content versus structure (called “structure versus substance”)… and I mean vehement. There were those on the SGML bandwagon (see, I told you it was turn of the century) who believed nothing was more important than structuring the content correctly. And then there were those of us who wondered what the point of well-structured content was if it didn’t say anything important, relevant or coherent. I remembered quite clearly trying to argue that for technical communications, one can’t survive without the other Read more of this technical writing article »
Tech Writer This Week: February 16, 2012
Our weekly review of technical communications and beyond includes a tribute to Valentine's Day, that actually goes beyond our weekly poll question. So much of what we do depends on relationships with others, other technical writers, SME's, and our customers. This week's eye-catching posts touch on all three of these, with great stuff on user experience, collaboration and worthwhile advice to everyone who inhabits a niche in the technical writing universe--SME motivation. Plus a generous helping of technical communications news you should know about. Read more of this technical writing article »
Technical Writer Tips & Tricks: Video Tutorials
It should come as a surprise to no one that we all hate to read technical documentation. Not just our end users, but us technical communicators too. So it should also come as no surprise that, over the last year or two, requests for video tutorials (standalone or as companions to written documentation) have been at an all-time high. The major leaders in this space (Google, Apple, Adobe, and Cisco) have already dedicated huge resources to video libraries. If you’re not making (or considering making) at least some video tutorials, then you’re about to be left behind. Read more of this technical writing article »
Bluestream Releases XDocs v3.1 DITA-enabled Doc Solutions
Bluestream Database Software Corp., provider of DITA-enabled Component Content Management System (CCMS) solutions released XDocs v3.1, which provides Mac compatibility with Bluestream’s XDocs Explorer and Oxygen XML Editor connector to technical communications teams working in Apple OSx environments. According to Bluestream, XDocs is the world’s first DITA-enabled CCMS to work on the Mac OS. Read more of this technical writing article »
Net-Translators Introduces Mini-Site Translation Package
Net-Translators, provider of translation, localization, and multilingual testing services, launched its Mini-site Translation Package, which offers an affordable alternative for website localization. The Mini-site Translation Package removes traditional barriers to global web expansion and allows organizations to use localized websites to achieve strategic business goals. Read more of this technical writing article »
TechWhirl: Technical Communications Recap for February 10, 2012
Am I the only one who thinks February is actually the longest month, no matter what the calendar says? We’re only into the second week of the month, but it seems like at least three or four weeks already. Like the duration of a pretty cold month, perception has much more to do with technical writing and technical communications than we realize during the course of a so-called average day. Read more of this technical writing article »