We figure Summer Reruns are like taking books to the beach, it’s a great time to catch up on stuff you want to read that you’ve put aside for months. So our recap for August 16 features another great opportunity to learn about heuristics for documentation usability and the types of content management systems out there. And then you can enjoy some great new quotes and articles from other spots around the web curated for your reading pleasure in Tech Writer This Week.
As media sponsor for TCUK 2013, we are delighted to put in a plug for the largest technical communication event in the UK. And last, but never least, we have a new weekly poll question that just about everyone in our field and outside of it will have an opinion on. Tell us how you’ve been faring in the recent economy.
Don’t forget to stop by the email discussion list for helpful, interesting, and occasionally cantankerous viewpoints on all things tech comm.
Have a great weekend!
-Connie and the gang at TechWhirl
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Tech Writer This Week for August 15, 2013Our weekly recap of the best Technical Communications and Content Management writing on the web. |
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Types of Content Management Systems ExplainedSummer Rerun: After the first twenty times you ran across the terms “CMS” or “content management system,” you probably jumped to a conclusion about what people mean by it. Or you search for the term online and get a list of one of the types. In all likelihood, the list you retrieve on a search engine won’t include many examples of the kind of content management system you may need to manage technical content for your organization. |
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TCUK 2013 Gears Up For Largest Technical Communication Event in UKThe UK’s largest annual technical communication event, Technical Communication UK (TCUK), will be held in Bristol, England, 24-26 September 2013. Hosted by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), TCUK 2013 provides learning and networking opportunities for technical communicators at all stages of their careers. Three keynote speakers will provide insight into technical communication’s influence within organisations, the role of technical communication in large organisations and the future of technical communication. |
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10 Heuristics for Evaluating Documentation UsabilitySummer Rerun: We aim to produce documentation that is useful to users. That is, we want our users to find the right topics and use them to achieve their goals with the software. I use ten Documentation Usability heuristics, or rules of thumb, to design, evaluate, and course-correct technical content before the ship date. Using these heuristics can help content developers catch most structural errors, and provide insight into the actual user experience with the documentation. |
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State of the Economy (Poll)This week’s poll question is about your economy – is the world getting better or worse for you as a professional communicator? |
Technical Communication News
- GPI Releases Translation Services Connectors for Web Content Management Systems
- Computhink Announces Product Rebranding to Contentverse®
- Quark Offers QuarkXPress 10 for Digital and Print Design
- SDI Releases XML-Based E-Learning Offering
- PTC Acquires Enigma; Advances Market Leadership in Service Lifecycle Management (SLM)
- New Patented Text Analytics Analytics Approach
- Dr. Bette Daoust Joins TMM, Inc., as Director of Technology Operations
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