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Tech Writing Templates
MS Word/Excel Templates
Category Archives: Communications
How To Build & Destroy Your Brand On The Web
Gerry McGovern provides this week’s guest article. You build a brand on the Web one click at a time. You destroy your brand by wasting your customers’ time. I am a customer of a number of banks. I judge these … Continue reading
Posted in Books I Like, Communications, Social Media, strategy, Tips
Tagged Advertising, Bank of Ireland, brand, Business, Chris Brogan, Consultant, Harvard Business Review, Marketing, Richard Branson, strategy, Tom Peters, User interface design
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12 Steps To Getting Started as a Consultant
Most people think it’s difficult start a career as a business consultant. I used to think the same in my early 20s when I started in IT. In retrospect, I should have made more efforts to establish myself as a … Continue reading
Posted in Books I Like, Career, Communications, How To, Linkedin
Tagged Chris Brogan, Consultant, Harvard Business Review, Linkedin, management, Management consulting, Richard Branson, strategy, Tips, Tom Peters
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What Avatar Can Teach You About Project Management 2.0
What’s the one thing you enjoyed most in Avatar? For my Project Management friend it was the video logging. Did you notice that the team kept their reports not in Microsoft Word (i.e. on paper) but as video logs. When … Continue reading
Posted in Business Process, Communications, Content Management, Procedures, Process Design, Productivity
Tagged Add new tag, Innovation, iPhone, Metadata, Project management, Project manager, reporting, search, strategy, Video
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Using Google’s Wonder Wheel for Mind Mapping & Generating New Ideas
Google’s Wonder Wheel is Search and Mind Mapping combined together. The Wonder Wheel was introduced in May 2009 and is one of Google’s best kept secrets. This search/mindmapper tool shows search results in a Wheel with different Spokes for each associated search result. Fantastic tool for brainstorming, studying trends, and idea generation. Continue reading
Posted in Books I Like, Business Process, Communications, Google, strategy, Tools
Tagged Add new tag, Google, Innovation, Mind Mapping, Problogger, Research, strategy, Wonder Wheel, Writer’s Block
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Don’t Feed The Trolls!
I have a troll. Do you? Trolls slither over the internet. They start as lurkers, then get brave, creep out and spit things at you. 10 out of 10 trolls feed on attention. Negative or positive – they don’t care. Attention is the oxygen that keeps them going. Here’s the story of how I found my troll and what we may do next? Continue reading
What’s the Best Font for Web Writing?
When I started in tech docs, Times New Roman was THE font for printed manuals. There was no ifs, buts, or maybes about this. Times New Roman. Size 11. Since then other more trendy fonts have come onto the market. … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, How To, Style Guide, Tips, Tools
Tagged Arial, Font, User Interface. Usability, Web Writing
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What Andrew Chen Can Teach You About Writing Killer Headlines
If you want to see great web copy, read Andrew Chen. I’m going to show you his top 15 posts from last year. What do you see? The headlines are very compelling; smart little nuggets that draw you in. The … Continue reading
Posted in Business Process, Communications, How To, Leadership, Productivity, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Business Models, business writing, Copywriting, fremium, Headings, web 2.0, writing
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Al Gore’s Gentle Guide to Killer Presentations
Speaking in public is the last thing most of us want do. So I was surprised to read how AL Gore, an experienced speaker, reached out to Nancy Duarte to improve his public-speaking skills. The next time you have to give a presentation, remember the following. Continue reading
Posted in Books I Like, Communications, How To
Tagged Add new tag, Al Gore, Guy Kawasaki, Leadership, PowerPoint, Presentations, Public-speaking, strategy
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Using Google Wave to Write Technical Documents
Maeve asks on LinkedIn how we can use Google Wave to write technical documents. Well, the first consideration is that Google Wave is not designed as a tech authoring tool but for collaboration and ‘almost’ real-time information exchange. Saying that, it does offer many benefits if you need to plan/coordinate/review documents in a networked environment. Here are some ideas. Continue reading
Posted in Communications, How To, Productivity, Reviews, Tools
Tagged Business case, Documentation Plan, Google Wave, Producitivty, Project Plan, Release Notes, Schedules, Wave
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7 Ideas to Inspire Your Business & Laser Focus Your Blog
Denise Wakeman asks, “How am I going to come up with fresh content for my blog three times a week?” She lists some excellent ideas designed to help save you time and stimulate some new ideas. Here are some others you might want to consider. Continue reading
Posted in Career, Communications, How To, Productivity
Tagged blog, Business, Chris Brogan, Google Alert, HootSuite, Ideas
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How Advertising in User Guides Could Work
Putting advertising in user guides may seem rather flaky at first, but it could work. Here’s why. Life is full of taboos. Things you should and shouldn’t do. One of my ‘pet projects’ is to connect the lines between Sales and Technical Documentation. To me, they both serve the same purpose. Serve the customer. While they both start at different points, the end goal is the same. Unfortunately, these two departments rarely work together. Let’s take a look at how we can fix this. Continue reading
Posted in Communications, How To, strategy, user guides
Tagged Advertising, Linkedin, social media, user guides
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Do Business Leaders Need to Write Well to Succeed?
Thom Haller asks on TCW if ‘to be an effective leader, you need to learn how to write well’.
Posted in Business Process, Communications, Technical Writing
Tagged Adobe Framemaker, Business, Career, communication, contract, Fortune 500, Leadership, MadCap Flare, management, Online Help, Robohelp, Single Sourcing, STC, Structured Authoring, Technical Communications, Technical documentation, Technical Writing, Warren Buffett
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How to Add your site to Bing's Directory Listing
To add your site to Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine: Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, guidelines, seo, social media, Tips, Yahoo
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Free version of Serna XML editor for Technical Writers
Syntext has released a free edition of its Serna XML editor. This is designed for technical writers who work with DITA, DocBook and other common XML formats. Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Dita, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Adobe FrameMaker, Audience, Bing, Chunking, Conditional text, Content Management, Content reference, Content references, Data Management, Dita, DocBook, guidelines, ibm, maps., Metadata, Modular, platform, Policies, Procedures, social media, strategy, Styling content, Technical Publications, technical writer, Technical Writing Software, Tips, Topics, XML, XML editor
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Dow Jones Writers Get Conduct Rules for Social Media
The Wall Street Journal writers were given a newly compiled list of rules for “professional conduct,” which included a guide for use of online outlets, noting cautions for activities on social networking sites. The memo says that staffers should consult their editor before “connecting” to or “friending” any reporting contacts who may need to be treated as confidential sources, and business and pleasure should not be mixed on services like Twitter. The revised code of conduct also includes details about offline friendships, freelance work and public speaking. Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, Dow Jones, guidelines, Rules, social media, Tips, Twitter, Writers
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SiteScan – Google Analytics Help and Configuration Tool
SiteScan – Google Analytics Help and Configuration Tool Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Analytics, Bing, Configuration, Google, guidelines, Help, seo, SiteScan, social media, Tips, Tool
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Sample Text for an Online Survey
If you plan to do an online survey either by email or over the web, make sure you follow a few golden rules. Keep it short. No more than 3 screens. No more than 10 questions. Otherwise they will give up and close the browser. Add some benefit, for example, a prize. Describe how and when they will be entered into the prize. Include the date for the draw. Emphasize how you value their opinion and how you will keep their responses in confidence. Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, guidelines, Online, PR, Sample, social media, Survey, template, Tips
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Difference between a Case Study and a White Paper
Can tell me the difference between a case study and a white paper. I read your case study overview and am having a hard time differentiating between them. If you have a minute, can you clarify?
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, guidelines, social media, Tips
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How to agree on a Statement of Work
Question: I have an short term contract to develop Standard Operating Procedures but the statement of work is very light. Any suggestion on questions to ask in kick off meeting to assure preparing best documentation for client?
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, guidelines, social media, Tips
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Table of Contents doesn’t work in Word
Here’s a common problem with MS Word. For some unknown reason, the Table of Contents (which was there this morning) is now gone. When you look at the page in Word, you might see this error message: { TOC\O "2-4"\H … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Social Media, Technical Writing
Tagged Bing, guidelines, social media, Tips
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