Technical Writing
How to Control Widow and Orphan Lines in Your Technical Document
You should avoid widow and orphan lines in your technical documents. A WIDOW line is one that ends up all alone at the top of the page. An ORPHAN line is the opposite: it’s that single line that sits at the bottom of the page. Both look weak (especially an orphan HEADER) and should be…
Read MoreHunting for a Technical Writing Job: Forget the Titles; Focus on Your Content
© Ugur Akinci I’m frequently asked this question: “”What kind of job titles I should search for to get a job as a junior (or senior) technical writer?” To such inquiries, my honest and simple response is always the same: “Forget about the titles; focus instead on what you know and what you can…
Read MoreHow to Observe Invisible Codes in International Business Communications
Our world is getting smaller and smaller each day. Although good’old memos and even traditional e-mail are taking a back seat to new platforms like social networking, communication is still the only way to negotiate a contract or describe how a product or service is used to an increasingly diverse consumer base. That’s also the…
Read MoreHow to Select Safe File Names for Your Technical Documents
© Ugur Akinci Here are some suggestions to select file names that won’t create problems when you are dealing with technical documents: (1) Watch out for the length of your file names. The length limit for Path + File Name is 255 characters for Windows XP, 260 characters for Windows Vista and Windows 7. So…
Read MoreThe Politics of Plain English vs. Obfuscation
Usually people don’t write in plain English because they don’t know any better. Sometimes a banker, an engineer, a doctor will write a business letter or a technical document in a way that he or she best knows how – by using jargon and long-winded sentences; clauses awash in passive voice and unparallel construction, with…
Read MoreTECHNICAL BOOK REVIEW: "Practical DITA" – A Nuts-and-Bolts Guide to Structured Technical Writing
Julio Vazquez has written a great book: Practical DITA. It’s a tightly-written thin volume (only 100 pages including the Index) that has a lot of nuts-and-bolts type of practical how-to information on DITA — Darwin Information Typing Architecture. The distinguishing characteristic of this short but comprehensive volume is the way it takes you by the…
Read MoreFree GANTT PROJECT Software for Technical Writing Projects
© Ugur Akinci A technical writing project has many phases and steps that need to be kept under control. One of the best ways to do that is to draw Gantt charts by using MS Project. But MS Project is not free. There are other free programs that also draw Gantt charts and provide an…
Read MoreA Simple Critical Path (PERT) Analysis for Time Estimation of Writing Projects
Time estimation is one of the critical tasks in any technical communication project. How long will a project take? When will you start doing it? And when do you expect to finish it? Similar time-performance related questions are usually not easy to answer with 100% precision due to the number of variables that are usually…
Read MorePlain Writing for Medical Insurance Policies — A Growth Field for Technical Writers
Introduction Without plain writing, medical insurance policies can be torture to read and understand. Example Please read the following description of “Primary Care Health Program” and see if you can understand anything: ——————————————————————- “The following rules determine which is the “primary” program: a) If the other program is not primarily a dental program, this program…
Read MoreA Membership Web Site and Magazine You Should be Familiar with: SiliconIndia.com
If you’re not familiar with SiliconIndia.com you should be since it is on its way to become India’s LinkedIn and Facebook rolled up in one. It’s a membership web site where you’d find inquiries about CMS, documentation, all kinds of software and hardware platforms or management issues as well as… a spiritual poem a devotee…
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