Technical Writing
On the Idea of “Product Evangelist” in Technical Communications
I love product evangelists for two good reasons: (1) I love software products. I have no idea how we lived back in the 60s and 70s without any software doing all these wonderful things on our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. (2) I like and admire the product evangelists that I’ve met both in person…
Read More3 Reference Guides I Use Regularly for my Technical Documents
As a technical communicator, I rely on a few reference volumes to keep my technical writing as clean, compact, and correct as possible. Here is my list of three most-favored reference volumes to settle any documentation questions or disputes regarding style, usage, or terminology: 1) Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, 3rd Edition Curiously…
Read MoreFuture Trends in Technical Documentation
Let’s look briefly at Future Trends in Technical Documentation, shall we? There used to be a time when the question of whether to use FrameMaker or MS Word used to pass for a discussion on the future of technical writing. I’m guilty as charged as well but that was then and this is now. Right…
Read MoreHow to Use Google for Simple Arithmetic Operations and Unit Conversions
Do you know that you don’t really need a calculator for simple arithmetic operations and (selected) unit conversions? You can do the four basic operations comfortably by typing it directly into Google Search Window: You can do square roots and exponents as well: You can use Google for some simple unit and currency conversions as…
Read MoreThings to Avoid in Modular Component Writing for Structured Authoring and Single-Sourcing
In true “structured authoring” the “components” you create (write, draw, etc.) are saved in the database of a Content Management System (CMS). The negative side of this type of “writing” is that you lose the local context and formatting. What you’re creating is not “only” an X-type of document but a “component” (let’s say, a…
Read More6 Different Ways to Distribute Large Technical Documents
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Large files have always been a distribution headache for technical writers. PDF files, book files of all kinds, PPT files need to be planned and generated always with an eye towards their distribution. If your files are too big to send around, review and approval processes will be jeopardized. Here are…
Read More6 Future Career Paths for Technical Communicators
There are not one but multiple future career paths for technical communicators. Technical communication is changing rapidly like any other thing in our world. Report by The Writers Block A new report by The Writers Block, “Technical Communication Landscape Survey Report (Bangalore, Karnataka, India)”, lists the following future specializations for technical communicators: Technical writing Instructional…
Read More7 Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat for Creating PDF
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Adobe Acrobat is an excellent software for generating PDF copies of technical documents. Once something is converted to PDF, you can view it on any OS platform in the same format. However, Acrobat is not a cheap software. That’s why you might want to have a look at these more affordable and/or open-source…
Read MoreAdobe TCS3 is here with new XML and Social Media features!
© 2011 Ugur Akinci I’m excited to hear that Adobe’s Technical Communication Suite 3 is introduced with exciting built-in DITA/XML and social media/networking features. I understand both FrameMaker 10 and Robohelp 9 are being shipped as we speak. Here is a great intro by Adobe Senior Product Evangelist RJ Jacquez. It looks like this version…
Read MoreHow to Name Files in a Technical Documentation Project
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Naming files — it sounds like something easy to do, doesn’t it? But I know from experience: it can actually become a very complicated and tangled-up affair with productivity-killing consequences. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the name should make sense not only for the creator, the…
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