Archive for 2012
MS Word VBA — How to Write Macros, Procedures, Functions
© Ugur Akinci Very simply put, you can use MS Word VBA to write macros, which are nothing but automated action steps running one after the other at the click of your mouse or when you select the macro from the menu bar. Macros save us time. Instead of selecting three or four items in…
Read More2 Technical Writing Topics: Future Prospects and a Marvelous Book
© Ugur Akinci As I was trolling through the Internet I was surprised to come across these income figures for technical writers. This confirms my general observation that, recession or not, tech writers continue to make excellent income with two conditions: 1) They should be working in the hi-tech industry. And 2) They should have…
Read MoreHow to Change Line Number Font in MS Word 2007 and 2010
© Ugur Akinci On the ribbon, select Home tab. In the Styles group, click the lower-right arrow and display the Styles list. Find the Line Number style. Right-click and select Modify to display the Modify Style dialog box. From the Formatting drop-down list, select any Font you like for line number. Click OK. NOTE: If you…
Read MoreHow to Structure a Software TOC — by GUI Components or Functions & Processes?
© Ugur Akinci How would you organize a Table of Contents (TOC) when documenting software? What’s the best way to do that? A common beginner’s mistake is to compile a TOC by such GUI (Graphic User Interface) components as tabs and menus. For example, let’s say you are documenting how to use MS Word. One…
Read MoreWhat is “Inverted Pyramid” Style of Writing?
“Inverted Pyramid” Style of Writing is writing what is most important first and what is the least important the last. The traditional style of writing takes its time by first establishing the “base” of knowledge, similar to the way a regular pyramid would have its base at the bottom of the structure. All the other…
Read MoreThe Most Basic and Indispensable Parts of a User Manual
How do you explain the most important parts of a technical document, say a “User Manual,” to a complete beginner? I actually had that challenge when a student who has registered to one of my online courses admitted that he did not know where to quite begin writing his manual and what to include in…
Read MoreHow to Use Right Chevron (>) Correctly in Procedural Writing
RIGHT CHEVRON (>) is used in technical documents to denote a SERIES of SEQUENTIAL ACTIONS. If you’re writing a software or hardware manual, the changes are those actions would be “GUI actions,” that is, describing what the user should do on the screen with a mouse, keyboard shortcut, or a tablet pen. If you first…
Read MoreComparing Adobe InDesign with Adobe FrameMaker
I’ve been comparing Adobe InDesign with Adobe FrameMaker for the last few weeks, trying to gauge the weak and strong points of each powerhouse application. Here is a summary of my findings: 1) Master Pages Both applications use master pages. That’s good. In both, you can assign any master page to any body page. 2)…
Read MoreLori Meyer – a Technical Communication Interview
Lori Meyer is a veteran software technical communicator who has documented products for the telecommunications, business service management, and information security fields. She is an STC Fellow and volunteer for several STC communities. Lori blogs at http://lrmeyerwriter.wordpress.com. 1. How long have you been a technical communicator? Where do you work right now? How would you…
Read MoreTechnical Writer Salaries by Hi-Tech Company
© Ugur Akinci Here is an interesting source that lists the salary range for various categories of technical writers by company: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/technical-writer-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm Since sometimes such web pages are removed from the server, let’s summarize the annual salary ranges for technical writers by hi-tech company: Cisco $76,000 – $107,000 CA Technologies $62,000 – $99,000 Microsoft $76,000…
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