Technical Writing News – Nov 20th | I Heart Technical Writing, Tips, Tools and Templates for Technical Writers

Technical Writing News – Nov 20th

November 20th, 2009 · View Comments · Adobe RoboHelp, Content Management, Dita, Doc 2 Help, Google, MadCap Flare, News, Social Media, Technical Writing

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 Tweeter? and how much does Darren Rowse earn from Blogging. What are you waiting for?

How to Use Lists Effectively in Robohelp

From Adobe by AmitJha

Today’s web-friendly writing style requires authors to use lists heavily and in different styles and formats. In earlier versions (RH7 or before) of RoboHelp, list <li> was tightly integrated with paragraph <p> tag. Sometimes users face numbering, indentation and margin challenges with these lists.

Twitter Best Practices

From Adobe in eLearning and Tech Communication by RJ Jacquez

In preparation for my upcoming eSeminar entitled Twitter 101 for Technical Communicators I’m starting a running list of Twitter Best Practices that have worked for me and that I hope will work for you, too. I will continue adding to this list, so please consider following me on Twitter @rjacquez for new updates to this list.

Moving technical authors from institutional thinking to network thinking

From Cherryleaf Technical Authors Blog by Ellis

In this video clip, Ecademy’s Thomas Power talks about how business leaders will have to switch between “institutional thinking” (closed, selective and controlling)…

LaTeX, content, and structure

From DMN by Scott

Over the last little while, I’ve been slowly (very slowly) chipping away at a fair-sized personal writing project. I have a number of applications — both commercial and Open Source — at my disposal, but I chose to work on the project using LaTeX. LaTeX (pronounced lay-tek) is a document markup and preparation system that has a long history in academia and scientific research. To put it bluntly, my LaTeX kung fu is lacking at the moment. But I am getting reacquainted with it. I’m also remembering why I like using LaTeX and am being reminded of some truism about documentation as well.

What I’ve Been Learning in Flare

From idratherbewriting.com by Tom Johnson

Right now I’m immersed in an online help project in which I’ve been using Madcap Flare. Here a few tips I’ve picked up in the past month or so.

Why I Wasn’t Sold on Single Sourcing (and Why I’m Changing My Mind)

From Gryphon Mountain Journals by Ben

I mentioned in my last post that one of my technical writing colleagues showed the user education team a spreadsheet where he had taken types of information, such as concepts, tasks, and frequently asked questions and indicated what types of deliverables it made sense to use them in.

The Moment I Finally Felt Like an Executive

From HarvardBusiness.org by David Silverman

“Executives at Mega Corp have denied rumors of misdeeds.” “Executives at Giganta Corp could not be reached for comment.” “Executives at Humongo Corp have promised double digit growth despite concerns about recent developments.”

How Jing Works. As Explained by Captain Jing

From Jing Blog by Mike Curtis

There’s lots of ways to learn things. Some people like visual, some like hands-on. Some like to read. How would you explain how Jing works to someone? We talk about fast visual communication, but what does that really mean?

Unlocking the Special Powers of the English Language

Rather than pedantry for the sake of pedantry, I view typo-hunting as cleaning the glass that protects works of great beauty, in a kind of continually fluxing museum, the curation of the textual world.

Translatable but Debatable גורם

From Tech Writer News (Elephant)

I was in the office of a hi-tech CEO some time ago when a phone call came in from a vendor of translation software. The CEO listened only a few seconds before interrupting the vendor: “How does it translate הגורם המבצע?” he asked. I was impressed that he had such a challenge at the ready.

Alphabetti Spaghetti

From The RoboColum(n) by Colum McAndrew

The question was asked on the RoboHelp forums how to organise snippets so that they appeared in alphabetical order. This should not be a problem for you if you don’t have many snippets or are using RoboHelp 8. If, like me, you only have 4-5 snippets in any one project, whether they are displayed alphabetically is neither here nor there as the pod is way big enough to display them and they are easy to find.

Quality Print Output from Flare or Blaze

From User Assistance News from WritersUA

Matthew Ellison has put together a set of valuable guidelines that cover many of the key steps in setting up and refining printed output of either a Flare or Blaze project.

WebWorks Releases ePublisher 2009.3

From User Assistance News from WritersUA

ePublisher 2009.3 Upgrade supports native PDF generation that is fully customizable. Start in any authoring environment and generate PDFs that meet your brand and layout requirements.

Designing Social Interfaces: Overview and Practical Techniques

The standard approach to interface design is to craft a channel that allows you to easily and efficiently control hardware or software; it’s all about the interaction between people and computers. But today, the two entities on each side of the user interface are changing: it’s no longer about people interacting with computers, but rather about people interacting with people through computers.

Does Your Company Need a Dedicated Tweeter?

From Fast Company by Chris Dannen

A new study says that big companies just don’t get Twitter (PDF file). Of course they don’t: They’re not paying anyone to get it.

Leveraging Social Marketing for Business, Sales and Startups

From louisgray.com

Following on to the post last month on leveraging social networks to build Web traffic, three more short videos have surfaced from our extended interview on the impact that social media tracking and activity can have for companies big and small on the Web – be it through connecting with potential customers, or simply expanding their brand.

31 sales letter openers to kick start your sales pitch

Here are some popular sales letter openers that can help get your creative engine running.

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