Author Archives: Ivan

Technical Writing News – Nov 27th

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Ivan

This week’s technical writing news. Paragraph Autonumbering in RoboHelp 8, Avatar Interactive Trailer Powered by Adobe AIR, What’s new in Acrobat.com, The Myth of Single-Source Authoring, Why The Future Has No Log In Button, Documentation as flash cards. Google Wave’s witty user documentation. What’s more important, content or process? SaaS-based 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 Continue reading →

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How to Integrate Mind Maps & Process Flows into Twitter

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Ivan

Tony Buzan created the mind map concept, a technique for capturing and structuring associations. We used Seavus Dropmind for gathering requirements, developing process flows and exploring use cases at a previous client. If you like visual information, then this is for you! Continue reading →

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Does your writing have an accent? How does it hold you back?

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Ivan

Maybe you don’t hear your accent, but others do. When you read their documents, does the accent come through?

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Do Business Leaders Need to Write Well to Succeed?

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Ivan

Thom Haller asks on TCW if ‘to be an effective leader, you need to learn how to write well’.

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10 Best Mistakes I Made in 2009

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Ivan

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. If you don’t know your mistakes you’re going to repeat them. Here’s my best mistakes.

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How do you measure technical documents? What metrics do you use?

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Ivan

One of our tech docs team was fired yesterday. Why? Technical documents provide no value. This is how Management sees it.

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Are technical documents a waste of time?

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Ivan

“Don’t worry” she said. “No one reads this stuff anyway. Just get it done.” Sounds familiar?

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Technical Writing News – Nov 20th

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Ivan

Meet Captain Jing, eat Alphabetti Spaghetti, create lists in Robohelp, move technical writers to network thinking, LaTeX (not that type!), Why I Wasn’t Sold on Single Sourcing, The Moment I Felt Like an Executive, Does Your Company Need a Dedicated … Continue reading →

Posted in Adobe RoboHelp, Content Management, Dita, Doc 2 Help, Google, MadCap Flare, News, Social Media, Technical Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

How to Write a Target Audience Questionnaire for your Training Plan

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Ivan

Creating a training plan? Before you do this, you need to step a step back and work out what your colleagues need to learn.

Posted in How To, Microsoft Excel, Productivity, Software Development, Technical Writing, Templates, Tips, Word 2007 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Why Yahoo Ads is better value than Google Adwords

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Ivan

Why do you use Google Adwords? Is it because everyone else does? What if I told you Yahoo ads was better, well, would you be interested.

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How to change 100 Screenshots to the Same Size with a Single Click

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Ivan

All the screenshots in your Word document are different sizes. What’s the quickest way to get them all the same size? Is there a shortcut? Yes!

Posted in How To, Snagit, Technical Writing, Tips, Word 2007, Word 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

How do you Manage Extremely Negative Comments on your Blog?

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Ivan

I need your advice. Someone has left a fairly negative comment on my blog. What should I do? Approve or Delete?

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How To Write Documents Faster & Save Your Fingers From Exhaustion

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Ivan

What to know how to type faster and get those documents out the door quicker?

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Improve Your Screenshots By Hiding The Taskbar Automatically

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Ivan

Here’s a quick trick when taking screenshots of the entire desktop. Hide the taskbar automatically so you don’t have to waste time editing it in Snagit.

Posted in How To, Snagit, Technical Writing, Tips, Word 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Technical Writing News Nov 13th

Posted on November 13, 2009 by Ivan

This week’s technical writing news includes RoboScreenCapture, a FrameMaker screenshot app, Twitter 101 for Technical Communicators, the New Help System in Visual Studio 2010, List of the Top Open Source technical writers on the Web, feedback on STC’s Dues Increases, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp, Content Management, Doc 2 Help, Freelance, MadCap Blaze, News, Salary, Screen Capture, STC | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Janet Swisher on FLOSS Manuals, Open Source, and Book Sprints

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Ivan

Want to know how to run an open source ‘book sprint’? Janet Swisher does.

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Doc2Help – How To Save Time With Dynamic Content Creation

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Ivan

How can I create technical documents or web content that gets updated on the fly?

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How to write Link Bait for Digg, Reddit & StumbleUpon

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Ivan

Want to be on the very first page of Digg.com? You’d be famous, right? Here’s how to do it.

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How to Study Technical Writing Online & Get Certified

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Ivan

The University of Limerick, Ireland offers an excellent online course for those who want to study technical writing at home. This university has a pretty amazing campus, specializes in the Arts and provides a conveyor belt of freshly-minted technical writers … Continue reading →

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How Apple’s Setup Guide Shows that it Thinks Different

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Ivan

Seth Godin believes that everything reflects what you stand for—right down to your technical documents. Ever looked at Apple’s tech docs?

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