Write Your Technical Documents with Consistent Tense
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Don’t go time-traveling from one clause to another. If you have multiple clauses in a sentence, try to make sure their verbs are in the same tense. EXAMPLE: “The circuit started to overheat [PAST] when the operator shuts down the relay [SIMPLE PRESENT].” BETTER 1: The circuit started to overheat [PAST]…
Read MoreTechnical Book Review – THE COMPASS: Essential Reading About XML, DITA, and Web 2.0
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Here is a mighty little volume by Scriptorium.com that should be mandatory reading for all those either brand new to structured authoring or looking for technical details about DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) OT (Open Toolkit) and PDF generation. The last chapter on “Web 2.0 in Technical Communication” is also good…
Read MoreHow to Make Sure Stakeholders Read your Software Requirements Specifications (SRS)
© 2010 Ugur Akinci It’s a rather common predicament — a technical writer or Product Manager sits down and after months of labor finishes writing a comprehensive Software Requirements Specifications (SRS) document, or “specs” for short. And then… SRS falls through the cracks and is forgotten, not because of ill-will on anybody’s part but because…
Read MoreWrite Your Technical Documents in Consistent Case
© 2010 Ugur Akinci The verbs you use in your technical writing must agrees with the case of your subject(s). For example: The school [Main SUBJECT] where he graduated [auxiliary VERB] from is [Main VERB] the oldest in the country. (School [singular] … is [third person singular]) VIOLATION of the rule: The school where he…
Read More