Posts by Ugur Akinci
Occupational Outlook for Technical Writers: My Opinions and the Facts
From time to time I hear from technical writers who had their own share from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 30s. There is no doubt, the market right now is not as good as it had been just four or five years earlier. But I still have reasons to maintain…
Read MoreFactors Determining the Success of MS Word Master Document Feature
© Ugur Akinci MS Word’s Master Document feature is a useful one for creating compound documents out of smaller individual ones. However, like anything else in life, this feature also has its limits and weaknesses. As has been pointed out by many experts in the industry, Master Documents are prone to get corrupted. But, under…
Read MoreTechnical Writing: Corporate Payroll or Freelancing?
Should you choose freelancing or go on a corporate payroll to work as a technical communicator? I get this question from my readers on a more or less regular basis: “Should I quit my company and set up shop as an independent entrepreneur offering technical writing services? Should I just launch a web site and…
Read MoreHigh Entry Threshold for New DITA Writers
High Entry Threshold for New DITA Writers is a rarely admitted issue for technical communicators. I receive reader letters about DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) these days that more or less ask the same question: how difficult is it for a technical writer to specialize in single-sourcing and structured authoring? Should they learn DITA? And…
Read MoreHow to Configure the Web Settings of your MS Word Document
Did you know that you can save your MS Word 2010 documents as HTML web pages? TIP: Actually this is one of the ways in which you can easily transform your Word document into Amazon Kindle documents. For that purpose, save your Word file as “Web Page, Filtered” before importing it as an HTML file…
Read MoreHow to Navigate an OpenOffice Writer Master Document by Headings
© Ugur Akinci You can navigate an OpenOffice Writer Master Document by jumping from one heading to the next, without scrolling the document or searching for heading keywords. (1) Open your OO Master Document to display the Navigator dialog box. (2) Click the Toggle button (first from left) to display the Heading navigation view: (3)…
Read MoreHow to Present a Strategy by Using an OpenOffice Impress Presentation Template
© Ugur Akinci OpenOffice Impress presentation application is the free equivalent of MS PowerPoint. You can create a very smart and engaging strategy presentation easily by using OO’s built-in template. All you need to do to impress your boss or clients is to fill in the blanks. Launch OO Impress. For Type, select the From…
Read MoreHow to Add Comments to an OpenOffice Writer Document
© Ugur Akinci Adding comments to an OpenOffice Writer document is very easy. First, place your cursor to where you’d lşke to make a comment. Then either select Insert > Comment from the main menu or press Ctrl + Alt + N (Windows). This will insert a comment box, ready for your text entry. Repeat…
Read MoreHow to Create and Print an Envelope with OpenOffice Writer
© Ugur Akinci You can create and print perfect envelopes with OpenOffice Writer, the free alternative to MS Word (http://www.openoffice.org). Launch a new OpenOffice Writer document. Select Insert > Envelope to display the Envelope dialog box: Enter the name and address of the Addressee (the RECEIVER) and the SENDER. If you not want a return…
Read MoreHow to Create a PDF Form with OpenOffice Writer
© Ugur Akinci Think of OpenOffice Writer as the free equivalent of MS Word (free download at http://www.openoffice.org). Did you know that you can create perfect PDF forms by using nothing else but OO Writer? Here are the basic steps: (1) Launch your OO Writer and create a new document. (2) Select View > Toolbars…
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