TechWhirl: Technical Communication Recap for December 28, 2012

This week’s update on technical communication and the TechWhirl community is supported by Platinum sponsor Madcap & their Ultimate Communications Suite, MadPak | http://bit.ly/zBI0Uj

technical communication recapMost of the members of the TechWhirl Special Writers Unit are relaxing and taking the rest of the year off. But they put in a few hours before heading home for the holidays to put together a few letters to Santa and a recap of the top articles that appeared on TechWhirl in 2012. So if you find it impossible to stay away from technical communication stuff during the holidays, we can keep you occupied for a few hours.

No matter how big the holiday, there’s always a few devoted TechWhirlers asking for and offering advice on the email discussion list, and you’re welcome to drop in for a virtual cup of cocoa, some totally non-caloric e-cookies and some chat..

Then make plans to be an active part of our technical communication community in 2013—we know it will be an exciting new year..

Have a great weekend!

-The gang at TechWhirl

  Tech Writer This Week for December 27, 2012Santa Claus arrived, did his gift-giving thing, and split back to the North Pole. Much like tidings of comfort and joy, tech comm news and commentary continue to arrive in great abundance. Gifts of insight also abound in Content Strategy and User Experience, along with some lighter tidbits in Career and Life
  TechWhirl’s Top 12 Technical Communication Articles of 2012Another busy year comes to a close here at TechWhirl. The members of our Special Writers Group have a simple job description: write stories that matter to technical communicators, whether they read the discussion list or are otherwise occupied. The most popular TechWhirl technical communication articles of the year reveal a readership interested in both the big picture and the more practical.
 Receiving a formatted structured letter to Santa A Properly Formatted and Structured Letter to SantaDear Santa, Technical writers are like elves. We sit at our workbenches, crafting informative yet simple documents for our customers that shine like Christmas ornaments. I’m sure that when customers open our documents, their faces light up like kids on Christmas morning. Right?
 dear santa let's toast Dear Santa: Five Wishes Before We Just Hang OutI know you suffer because so few people believe in you, even though you deliver as much and often as you can, even though you deliver, on time, except for when hucksters pretending to be you give something late and try to use your names to shift blame for their poor planning. Oh Santa, sometime we’ll meet at a local coffee shop and share our disappointment but, and this is important, we’ll put those aside and we’ll concentrate on the things we did that made a difference.
 Santa gets cookies and cocoa from technical communication student A Technical Communication Student’s Letter to SantaMy name is Samantha and I am a technical communication student. This year, I have been very, very good. I’ve been going to class and doing my homework. All my hard work must have paid off because I got straight “A”s this semester! Also, I’ve been eating my vegetables.
 tech writer wish list A Tech Writer’s Wish List of Stuff Money Can’t BuyI’ve got an Amazon wish list for all my wants, with detailed and specific items in every price range, and categorized by priority. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the things I’d like that can’t be bought.

 

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