Tech Writer This Week for August 16, 2012

Tech Writer This Week for August 16, 2012 – TechWhirl

TechWhirl’s Weekly Roundup of the best technical communication and technical writing posts on the web.

Storified by · Thu, Aug 16 2012 04:12:33

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In Technical Communication, we tech writers make the list of six-figure jobs (some people are *very* lucky). In a double-shot from idratherbewriting.com, Tom Johnson talks about glossaries and progressive information disclosure. From the training side of tech comm, Mindflash suggests we stop obsessing on ROI. We honor the passing of the first “noted technical writer” Joseph Chapline, and Catherine Hibbard (cypressmedia.net) gives us six principles of technical writing.

Wandering over to Content Strategy, Val Swisher (contentrules.com) posts commentary on the ten rules of global content strategy, and Mark Sherbin (contentmarketinginstitute.com) explains why content should be curated. Nate Riggs offers another opinion on why content strategy matters (seems not everyone is convinced yet), Christopher Butler talks about the content bubble and respect, and we get some advice on revitalizing content.. In User Experience, TechRepublic talks about unsolicited redesign, Smashing Magazine posits that WordPress has lost its usability mojo, and UXMovement explores another avenue–service design.

We wrap with Career and Life, where we have tips on finding the best LinkedIn groups, thoughts on grammar and texting, and a tweet on Topic-Based Authoring.

Technical Communication
America's most surprising six-figure jobs – Bottom Line – MSNBC5 days ago … We often associate hefty salaries with corner offices, scalpels and law degrees – but it turns out you can pull in a pre…
Why Glossaries Help Users Find Information | I'd Rather Be WritingWhy Glossaries Help Users Find Information. Posted on August 9, 2012 in Organizing Content. One findability technique commonly ignored …
Applying Progressive Information Disclosure to Online Help …2 days ago … But most users get intimidated by a massive table of contents. It makes a help …. Why Glossaries Help Users Find Infor…
In Memory of the First Technical Writer – 1920 to 2011 | Writing Assistance, Inc.Joseph Chapline, 91, died peacefully Monday, August 8, 2011 – the first noted technical writer. In 1949, he wrote the user’s manual for t…
Six Principles of Technical Writing – Cypress Media Group, Inc.Article on Technical Writing Principles by Atlanta Georgia technical writing trainer who … A good starting point is to look at six pr…
Why We Should Stop Talking About ROI in Training | MindflashFor as long as Return on Investment, or ROI, has been a prevalent concept in business, it’s also been a fixture of workplace learning and…
Content Strategy
Ten Golden Rules of Global Content Strategy | Content Rules, Inc.7 hours ago … Take unified content strategy and web content strategy, put them in a global blender. … Content Rules, Inc.the global…
Content: A Blessing, A Bubble, A Burden | Smashing MagazineEveryone is talking about content. Googling the phrase "content strategy" retrieves almost 50 million results – a clear indicator that in…
Should You Curate Content? – Content Marketing InstituteShould You Curate Content? The Essentials Every Content Marketer Needs to Consider. By Mark Sherbin | Published: August 6, 2012. create…
5 Tactics to Revitalize Your Content Strategy « iMediaConnection Blog2 days ago … We all know that without good content, it's hard to engage audiences beyond an initial interaction. This is why a so…
Why Content Strategy Matters: Tips From Content Marketing Expert …3 days ago … Why Content Strategy Matters: Tips From Content Marketing Expert Nate Riggs For the past decade, Nate Riggs has helped c…
User Experience
Unsolicited redesigns and design commentary | TechRepublic8 hours ago … Takeaway: Unsolicited redesigns and design commentary are an important part of software design, but they must be weighe…
Help Us Help WordPress – WordPress – Smashing Magazine4 days ago … Usability Testing In WordPressHelp Us Help WordPress …. I set up a temporary WP install, and ran a user from usertesti…
Service Design: The Overlooked Part of User Experience – UX Movementby Shailesh Manga on 08/02/12 at 3:32 pm Walking through IKEA over the weekend with two young children was a healthy reminder of what con…
Career and Life
Does Proper Grammar Matter in Text Messages?It’s no secret that text messaging has changed the way we communicate, but it has also changed the meaning of sentences, punctuation, and…
LinkedIn: 11 Tips to Find the Best Groups | Inc.comA friend of mine landed his last six clients as a direct result of his participation in LinkedIn Groups. Another sees his groups as a n…
The future of #techcomm is TBA: Topic Based Authoring. Tick tock, tick tock. The future is here…are you ready?Andrew T. Brooke

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