Society of Technical Communication (STC) Intercom Magazine contained the article cited below describing how we technical writers should present information to users. Today’s emphasis has shifted from cost-efficient content management to consumer experience. Our job is to delight users and simplify the message. Ways to do this include: > Invert the relationship between text and […]
What is DITA?
DITA stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture.?? It is yet another IBM set of XML tags governed by a Standards Committee that maintains the DITA lexicon and guidelines. DITA data organization enables reuse of information in multiple formats. DITA imposes structure on information.? You assemble chunks–topics–then paste them together in a hierarchy that shows the […]
Ancient Blogs
Meet the god of writing. I found him in the Cairo papyrus factory years ago. I bring him to every new job site, where hits on my desk??as my personal?Technical Writer’s Muse. See the small pictures around him? Each one contributes to his story. I consider these icons?Egyptian tweets. Imagine if we in the 21st […]
Choosing fonts your client will see
Oh, No My Web Design instructor sent me this link when I asked why our lesson denigrated a font I like and use often. http://www.johnnyflash.net/the-ten-most-overused-fonts-in-graphic-design That article rules out the fonts frequently required by?corporate publications style guides, as well as two I love, Comic Sans and Papyrus. Web designers use font families from the CSS […]
So much to learn, so little time
I’m looking for a job. So I search Monster, Indeed, Dice and even Google for “Technical Writer” in various places where I might like to live. The results return. If I’m lucky, the jobs listed will actually be for technical writing in the area I searched for. Too often I look for work in Florida […]
Purpose
I have many years experience as a technical writer. In this blog, I hope to explore and share the new short-topic world of tweets and blogs. I also want to peer into tools such as DITA and Madcap Flare. How do these differ from the good old tools we love– RoboHelp, raw XML, Dreamweaver (HTML/CSS) […]