This week’s technical writing news. Why The Future Has No Log In Button, Documentation as flash cards. Google Wave’s witty user documentation. Paragraph Autonumbering in RoboHelp 8, an Avatar Interactive Trailer Powered by Adobe AIR, learn what’s new in Acrobat.com, The Myth of Single-Source Authoring, ECM: It’s worth considering.
Camtasia Relay 1.2 gets released and Tom Johnson explains why Help Authoring Tools Will Fade. Free Gift! Technical Communication Suite Keyboard Shortcuts from The RoboColum(n) by Colum McAndrew
Next generation Acrobat.com
Adobe launched a new version of Acrobat.com, its Online Office Suite, which includes:
- Web Conferencing via ConnectNow — online web conferencing
- File Sharing and Storage — share your file online with a URL that is always the same
- Adobe Buzzword beta — Write, edit and comment on documents with your team
- Acrobat.com Presentations beta — Work with others to create stunning presentations
- Acrobat.com Tables beta — Collaborate on data and information typically shared in spreadsheets or simple database
The Myth of Single-Source Authoring | Mashstream
From Publish2 Technical Communication Newsgroup
Single-source publishing lacks purpose in today’s world of information turnover and the dynamic nature of the Web 2.0 moving to Web 3.0 landscape, says this interesting take on the subject.
Would you use just a gardening trowel to plant a tree?
From Scriptorium Publishing by Alan Pringle
As technical communicators, our ultimate goal is to create accessible content that helps users solve problems. Focusing on developing quality content is the priority, but you can take that viewpoint to an extreme by saying that content-creation tools are just a convenience for technical writers
The Future Has No Log In Button
From Stay N’ Alive by Jesse Stay
Since last week’s Kynetx Impact Conference I have gained an entirely new vision for the open web. I now foresee a web which the user completely controls, lives in the browser, syncs with the cloud, and has no boundaries. This new web completely makes the entire Social and Real-time paradigms miniscule in terms of significance. What I see is an internet that, regardless of what website you visit, you will never have to enter your login credentials again. I see the end of the log in button.
Documentation as flash cards & Google Wave witty user documentation
From Cherryleaf Technical Authors Blog by Ellis
Here is a nice use of flash cards as a way of providing user documentation. Techcrunch is reporting that Google has just published a demonstration document showing what you can do with Google Wave. It uses the American Declaration of Independence (and some added wit) as its…
What’s more important, content or process?
From DMN by Scott
Back when Aaron and I worked at The Company That Shall Not Be Named, I was notorious for butting heads with the technical editors at head office. The cause of those situations wasn’t ego or a misguided urge to be a troublemaker, though. While style guidelines can be useful for maintaining consistency across a set (or several sets) of documentation, the editors that I worked with viewed the style guidelines as sacrosanct. Any deviation, no matter how small, was punishable by a nasty email and a sharply worded note to the offending writer’s manager.
Should Firefox Hold the Key to Your Identity With a 1-Click ID Button for the Web?
From Fast Company by Kit Eaton
See that little login window on the top right of this Web page? Mozilla, through Firefox, wants to do away with it–for all the best reasons. Mozilla’s plan will simplify how you log into sites because, lets face it, IDing yourself should be easier.
How to Talk About What You Most Dread
from HarvardBusiness.org by Peter Bregman
“I have a question,” a woman we’ll call Tricia said to me during the break at a leadership training class I was teaching, “and I’d rather not ask it in front of everyone
SaaS-based ECM: It’s worth considering.
From AIIM
As organizations struggle to manage an ever-growing volume of unstructured business data, they need to develop a strategy for effective content management applications across the enterprise – not simply one-size-fits-all ECM. In this white paper, you’ll learn how SaaS-based ECM is worth considering.
Jing Expert: Fit a larger Jing video into your blog or wiki
Learn how to fit a larger Jing video into your blog post or wiki by changing the dimensions in the embed code. Yes, it does involve a tiny bit of math…but you’re allowed to use a calculator!
Camtasia Relay 1.2 Released
Camtasia Relay—our presentation and lecture capture software—has some new features in this minor release, which is free for existing customers. The recorders are now Windows 7- and Snow Leopard-ready. The Relay server produces slimmer MP4 files. It can publish to WebDAV media servers (like Microsoft Sharepoint).
Why Help Authoring Tools Will Fade
Tom Johnson
In the Myth of Single Sourcing, Michael Hiatt writes, “The main issue for me is between authoring static in-house documents using single-sourcing methods before publishing, or capturing information sources dynamically after publishing from online social networks, linked data sources, and knowledge mashups.”
Software User Assistance Conference
The conference topics cover a broad range of key tools, processes, technologies, and techniques.
DITA, XML, and Information Architecture, User-centered Design and Usability, eLearning Tools and Techniques, Hands-on Computer Tutorials, Adobe, Microsoft, Google, UA for Mobile Devices, and Case Studies http://www.writersua.com/ohc/
Help as a polishing step
Programmer Ross Carter observes that writing onscreen Help before releasing a beta product to testers can result in a high level of polish, because writing documentation provides a new perspective that uncovers bugs and improvement opportunities. More so, I’ll add, if the documentation is written by someone other than the software’s designer or engineer.
2010 UIE Virtual Seminar Schedule
From UIE Brain Sparks by Adam Churchill
January 7 Peter Morville will discuss Search Design Patterns; Mark Burrell will tell you how to then use them. January 28, Steve Portigal will present his thoughts on studying your users in their own context, Ethnography.
DITA Metrics: Savings Trend With Reusable Master Topics
By Mark Lewis, special to The Content Wrangler
This is the second installment of the DITA Metrics series which examines the cost and reuse values for a DITA project to determine DITA ROI. The concepts and ideas discussed are based on the cost model introduced in the first paper, DITA Metrics: Cost Metrics – Part 1.This paper looks at the savings trend when reusable master topics are used to document similar products. How much does it cost to document each additional similar product?
Technical Communication Suite Keyboard Shortcuts
From The RoboColum(n) by Colum McAndrew
I know that they are not everyone’s cup of tea but give me a keyboard shortcut any day over a mouse click. Maybe it’s an author thing but if I am typing anyway, why move your hands away from the keyboard to do something. Provided it doesn’t require a form of digit dexterity only found in aspiring Houdini impersonators, sock it to me.
10 Hallmarks of Great Web Content (PDF)
On Writing Short
Jeffrey Veen – Yesterday at the conference table with a new client, we talked about their frustration with a classic problem. “Users just won’t read the instructions on our forms,” they complained. “It really couldn’t be simpler if they would just read the three sentences at the top!” But of course we don’t read instructions. It’s a matter of context. When trying to get through an interaction, we’re not in “reading mode” … we’re in “doing mode.” http://www.veen.com
Paragraph Autonumbering in RoboHelp 8
Third post of the ‘RoboHelp 8 List’ blog series with the will focus on ‘Paragraph Autonumbering’ functionality.
Avatar Interactive Trailer Powered by Adobe AIR
You probably have seen the trailer on TV for the upcoming Avatar movie, but what you haven’t seen are the behind-the-scenes videos, including interviews with the cast, which are provided exclusively via the Interactive Trailer powered by Adobe AIR.
Using Scripting in RoboHelp 8 for Automating Tasks: A Practical Example
One of the most powerful new features in RoboHelp 8, which rarely gets mentioned, is the new Scripting engine, which Incidentally is the same scripting language also used in Photoshop, Illustrator, Bridge, Soundbooth and other CS4 products.
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