"Should I use an Index for my help file or technical document?"

By Ugur Akinci

You should always use an index for all long documents and help files, especially if they are in print format. “How long?” There are no hard and fast rules for that. It’s up to your personal judgment and/or what your client/manager asks for. It depends on the “document specs” or “documentation plan” as well as…

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David Farbey – A Technical Communication Interview

By Ugur Akinci

© Ugur Akinci David Farbey is a senior technical communicator selected the 8th most influential technical communicator on MindTouch’s list of 400 Most Influential Technical Communicators. David’s blog “Marginal Notes” is at www.farbey.co.uk, and you can follow him on Twitter as @dfarb. QUESTION (1):   How long you’ve been a technical communicator? Where do you work right now? How…

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How to Express a Continuous Cycle Visually in a Word Technical Document

By Ugur Akinci

“Continuous Cycle” is a fairly common idea both in life and in technical communication. Seasons form a continuous cycle that never ends: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, etc. In technical writing the process of writing, editing, reviewing, releasing also forms a process that never ends. It’s a continuous cycle that repeats itself. You can…

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How to Add the Path Name to a Word Document File

By Ugur Akinci

Sometimes you don’t need to know where a document is on your hard drive because it’s obvious; you have a big folder for that project and all files are neatly saved in that hard-to-miss folder. But other times you might have a miscellaneous document, perhaps a single sheet, that needs to be updated from time…

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Technical versus Content Writing

By Ugur Akinci

Technical versus content writing — are they the same or different? The answer is YES and NO. It is similar to content or article writing in the sense that you need to create prose that is easily understood, logically consistent, and conveys useful information. Where it separates from regular non-fiction writing is in its procedural…

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Catherine Hibbard – A Technical Communication Interview

By Ugur Akinci

We’re kicking off the new year with a new series of interviews with veteran technical writers and communicators. Our first guest for this column in 2012 is Catherine Hibbard of Cypress Media, a veteran writer and trainer who offers Technical Writing Training and Writing Effective Policies and Procedures Training. In January 2012, she is selected…

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How to Locate and Display AutoCorrect Options in MS Word

By Ugur Akinci

As you know, AutoCorrect options are not displayed by default on MS Word ribbon. And when you search for them, they’re not intuitively easy to find either. Here’s how to locate and display the AutoCorrect options and add a link to your QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR for easy future access: 1) Click the Office button and…

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