How to be a Freelancing Success Story
by Siobhán Ní Chatháin Special to TCC As a technical communicator, are you attracted by the prospect of greater independence and flexibility, but daunted by the prospect of losing security and support, having to find clients, and manage gaps between projects? Freelancing with a service provider could be the sweet spot between full-time employment and…
Read MoreWhat is the Readability Index of Your Writing?
How readable is your writing? Is there a good fit between what you’ve written and your audience? This is a question that must be answered truthfully and precisely by all writers. If your prose is not a good fit for your audience’s education level, then it won’t be understood and remembered easily. Enter: Readability Indexes…
Read MoreShould Technical Writing be Boring? And if Yes, Why?
Should Technical Writing be Boring? YES, TECHNICAL WRITING IS SUPPOSED TO BE BORING. We are bored when there is ZERO VARIANCE. And good technical writing must have zero variance in its description of how-to steps and other components. For example, if we call a procedure “subroutine” on page 2, we have to call the same object…
Read MoreHow to Create a Custom-Designed Header in MS Word that Would be Available to All Other Word Documents
Here is how to create a custom-designed header in MS Word that would be available to all other Word documents. Create your custom-designed Header the way you want it. Select it and then select Insert > Quick parts > Save the Selection to the Quick Gallery to display the CREATE NEW BUILDING BLOCK dialog box (see below screenshot). Fill…
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Expository Writing vs. Technical Writing – What is the Difference?
There are important differences between expository and technical writing. What is Expository Writing? Expository writing is the process of explaining, describing, or clarifying. It can be done in a number of ways and is not limited to just one form. This type of writing is not just about giving information, but also about persuading readers…
Read More7 Personality Characteristics of a Technical Writer
There are 7 Personality Characteristics of a Technical Writer… First off, a tech writer (TW) should be CURIOUS about the world around her. Without that basic curiosity, there is nothing to explain or document. If you are the type of person who used to break toys and open them up to see how they worked…
Read MoreCreate PowerPoint Presentation Automatically from Word
Do you know how easily you can create a create Powerpoint Presentation automatically from Word, complete with individual slides, with a few clicks? This way you do not have to copy and paste your text from the MS Word document to all the individual PPT slides. A great time saver! Here is how to do…
Read MoreHow to Create and Insert Boilerplate Autotext to MS Word Documents
Sometimes you will have boilerplate text that you want to use in more than one MS Word documents. Instead of re-typing the text every time, you can simply save it as AUTOTEXT and then use it as many times as you like. Here is how: Select the text you’d like to use as Autotext. In…
Read MoreHi-Tech Low-Tech Technical Writing
Introduction There are two types of customers in technical writing – internal customers, and external (or “end-user”) customers. We create our documents and content for these two types of readers/users when we do any technical writing. I just received a letter from a concerned reader who is asking if he can find a job as…
Read MoreHow to Republish Your Lists as a MS Word Smart Art Infographics
© Ugur Akinci Did you know that you can transform all your ordered or unordered lists into good looking infographics, thanks to MS Word’s SMART ART graphics? If you are sick and tired of good’old traditional lists, try the SMART ART way. Here is an example. Let’s say you have the following list: EVOLUTION OF…
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