Spring in the Southeastern US is unique in its karmic balance—the worst pollen allergies ever coupled with an absolutely gorgeous array of greenery and color. The flurry of road construction projects, accompanied by extraordinary (at least for the Southeast) traffic issues that won’t ease up for another six months.
In the content and tech comm world there’s a bit of karmic balance too. The initial rush of new job postings and contracts subsides long enough to allow our colleagues time to get oriented before trotting off for the new season of conferences and workshops. It makes up for a long dreary winter and battles with SMEs and assorted managers.
Meanwhile back here at TechWhirl, we’re reviewing new (and not quite new) books that can help in tackling the latest content challenges, providing tips and tricks for using the tools of the trade, and looking for votes and commentary in our latest poll. And oh yeah, planning for next week’s Fast 5 chat with the good folks of Doc-to-Help on Creating Great Content for the Web (sign up for a reminder and feel free to send questions in advance).
TechWhirlers are back from spring break and debating all things tech comm in our communities: Register for the forum or subscribe to the email list to take part in the conversations. And don’t forget to check out the archives to get a feel for some of those past debates.
Have a great, allergy-free weekend!
-Connie and the gang at TechWhirl
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Tech Writer This Week for May 1, 2014May 1st brings us more than just spring, it brings another edition of Tech Writer This Week and the best content, tech comm and CXM articles from around the web. |
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Tips and Tricks: Review Frame Content with Adobe AcrobatIf you have a copy of the Adobe Technical Communications Suite, you get a full license of FrameMaker and Acrobat. This set of tips shows you how to use these tools together during the review process. The best part? You can even do the bulk of what I write about using the free Adobe Reader. That’s right. Free. |
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Book Review: “Clout” Is Heavy Reading for Serious Web Content JockeysClout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content, by Colleen Jones, New Riders (December 3, 2010), aims to lend a hand to content pros struggling with creating and revamping websites. She argues for publishing better, not simply more, web content. |
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Priorities for Creating Optimized Content (poll)The newest TechWhirl poll asks content developers how they prioritize search/findability and content reuse as goals when creating and optimizing content. |
Technical Communication News:
- “Be The Captain Of Your Career” Released
- Xyleme LCMS Integrates with Acrolinx
- Congility 2014 Focuses on Coherent, Consistent Content across User Touch-points
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