1. Beginner's Guide to Tech
Writing
2. Career
How to interview Technical Writers?
I've worked on both sides on the fence in the past, (i.e. interviewed and been
interviewed) and picked up a few things in the process. Hopefully, these will be of some
help. [Read More]
10 Tips for Aspiring Freelance Copywriters
Every week I receive a couple of emails from people seeking advice on how to get into
freelance copywriting. While there's no simple answer, and no answer which applies to
everyone, there are a few tips which I believe will help most people make the move into
freelance copywriting, and survive the first few months at least. [Read More]
What Technical Writers are Paid
"The amount of money paid technical writers for their services varies
considerably with location. Writers in Northern California top the list with an average of
$86,000 per year, while writers in Wisconsin and Utah are at the bottom at an average
salary of around $48,000 per year" school-for-champions.com
PS: User Guide Templates
You can download
user guide templates over here.
3. Downloads
4. Microsoft Word Tips
5. User Guides and Tech Docs
User Guide Tutorial
User Guides explain in layman's terms how to use a software application. In general, they
accompany other documentation, such as Getting Started, Installation and System
Administration guides. [Read More]
Six Reasons You Don't Need A
Technical Writer
Developing a new product that needs a great user manual? Who needs a writer; you can do
the job with your existing staff, right? [Read More]
6. Technical Writing
5 Steps to Documentation Plan Success
Let's look at how a documentation plan, also known
as an information development plan, can help you manage writing projects,
especially those that span several months and require input from different writers,
editors, and reviewers. [5 Steps to Documentation Plan Success]
Get the latest Standard
Operating Procedure templates and the Documentation
Plan template.
7 Ways to Improve your Concept of Operations
Document
1.
How to write the Concept Operations Document
2.
What it a Concept Operations Document?
3.
How to Define the Goals, Objectives and Rationale
4.
What you need to put into a Concept Operations Document
5.
How to Justify the New System to Project Stakeholders
6.
How to develop Use Cases to capture Work Scenarios
7.
What's the Connection Between the Concept of Operations and
Functional Requirements Document
Value of Adding Images to Technical Documentation
A document that makes judicious use of images and diagrams will be much easier to
understand than one that is composed entirely of text descriptions. [Read More]
10 Things Your Documentation Plan Should Know
Requirements gathering is a key part of every documentation plan. As well as
covering the schedules, costs, deliverables and roles, you need to list each and every
requirement that your project will encounter. Here are our top 10 requirements for
successful documentation plans [Read More]
Documentation Plan Template
The Documentation Plan sets the guidelines for writers to follow when documenting
their respective parts of a project. It describes how content will be prepared, delivered
and distributed, captures format, page count, tools; identifies human, software, hardware
and writer's requirements; clarifies roles and responsibilities; prepares schedules and
resource allocation. [Read
More]
5 Ways to Make Your Writing Project Succeed
Inexperienced writers make the mistake of starting their writing without any
planning. Very soon they loose their bearings and miss deadlines. Let's look at how a
documentation plan, also known as an information development plan, can help you manage
writing projects, especially those that span several months and require input from
different writers, editors, reviewers and so forth. [Read More]
Choosing the Right Style Guide?
I'm setting up a Publications Dept. for a Financial Services company. What is the best
style guide to encourage the staff to use? [Read More]
Software User Assistance Project Management
Tamara Ferris takes a look at a methodology for developing and managing a
Software User Assistance (UA) System, a way of doing things in a structured manner. It
provides a complete walkthrough for managers responsible for designing, developing, and
managing a software products user assistance system. [Read More]
Beginner's Guide to Freelance Writing
Okay. So you've figured out that you would like to write for magazines,
newspapers, and e-zines. Unfortunately, so have about eight gazillion other people on this
planet. Therefore, you have to stand out from the crowd. You have to sparkle. How do you
do this? [Read
More]
Successful Documentation Projects Part 1, 2 and 3
The creation of user documentation is a big component of any software project.
Unfortunately, its often undervalued and left to the last minute. But that
doesn't mean it
should be without a good management plan. This is the first in a series of three articles
outlining the key elements of a good user documentation process. [Read More]
Technical Writing for the Terrified
Sometimes it may be beyond a companies or individuals budget to hire a
professional writer to address their technical documentation. Although in an ideal world
all technical documentation should be produced by a highly trained expert, unfortunately
we do not live in an ideal. [Read
More]
UML Training - Avoid Analysis Paralysis!
I've been in several situations in which students would stop me in a UML training class
and ask with stern faces: "How do you avoid analysis paralysis?" First time I
heard that I sincerely replied: "How do you get to be paralyzed?" Indeed, there
are many ways to avoid analysis paralysis-at least 5. [Read More]
SCORM and DITA for Reusable Content
Unstructured content in the repository can be used in conjunction with
structured content also available in the repository. New topics that are
created can be incorporated back into the database, so that they are
available for reuse and for transformation with XSLT and/or
transformation scripts. SCORM and DITA are not mutually exclusive. Used
together, they can significantly improve opportunities for reusability
and repurposing of e-learning and other content deliverables. [Read More]
Use DITA XML to develop reusable learning
content
In
a nutshell, DITA provides an extensible structure for organizing content
into reusable blocks. At the lowest level, a "DITA topic forms
the most basic information unit -- short enough to be easily readable,
but long enough to make sense on its own." At the top level, a
map applies context to topics
and organizes them into a deliverable information product. DITA is
totally generic with respect to the content it can organize, but what
John's information architecture team did is to extend DITA to represent
an academic learning curriculum. [Read More]
Freely available structures: XML Document Type Definitions you can
use today
Organizations of all sizes are beginning to realize how content
and its reuse across the enterprise can improve productivity ¨C and the
bottom line. The need for change is driven by the desire to better
manage information assets (documents, creative ideas, illustrations,
charts, graphics, multimedia, etc.) and eliminate costly processes that
fail to facilitate the effective and consistent re-use of content. At
the heart of managing content for re-use however lies the job of
exposing the underlying structure of that information. [Read More]
Software Development Project
Most materials discussing the phases of a software development project are intended for
the developers community. I decided to take a different look at the issue and help those
novices who are going to outsource a software development project to an outsource service
provider (OSP). [Read
More]
Comparison of Word Processors
This table provides general information about selected word processors. [Read More]
A Review of Error Messages
Error messages, if they're posted at all, should convey helpful information and
advice--not only for the user, but also for tech support and maintenance programmers. Here
are a few things to think about when coding your error-handling routines and designing
your error messages." [Read
More]
7. Template Design
8. Web Writing
Guidelines for Writing for the Web?
Writing for the Web requires new a different approach to the writing process. Before you
start writing web content, try to understand the basics of information architecture and
how navigation systems work. [Read More]
Create Writing Flow With Four Uncommon Connectors
Connectors -- conjunctions, punctuation, and transitional phrases -- allow
readers to process information promptly by creating balance and relationships between
sentence parts. The connectors are performing the same work as verbs, objects, modifiers
and multiple subjects. Here are four uncommon connections that will create an easier flow
for your readers [Read
More]
9. Worth Reading
Installation Programs
Installation programs often fail to make a good first impression. Before you
start building your product, consider your installation program, the person who programs
it--and most importantly, your customer. [Read More]
Guidelines for Better Writing
Expressing your message clearly is easier if you follow a structure that helps to state
your point of view and build your arguments. Although good writing shouldn't be restricted
to a rigid format, here's a structure and some other tips that might help if you find
writing to be tough. [Read More]
Guidelines on Document Formatting
In order to make sure that your document can be navigated easily, there are a few
basic features that it should include. [Read More]
Free Online Writing Course
"So I decided it would be to everyone's advantage for me to collect all that
writing and organize it into courses. People could deal with the common problems in their
writing and then use my paid services only when they had a manuscript that needed higher
level editing." http://www.writershelper.com
10. Videos
Free videos on getting the most from MS Word, Visio and Acrobat.
Introduction
to Visio /
Adding Attachments in Acrobat /
Creating
Drop Caps in Word
Creating Collections in Acrobat /
Creating
Autolists /
Reducing Acrobat File Size 1 /Creating Styles
in Word /
Reducing Acrobat File Size 2 /
Creating
Columns in Word /
Adding Notes in Acrobat /
Creating
Even Rows in Word /
Add
Header Rows to Tables 1
Using Find and Replace in Word / Add Header Rows to Tables 211. Release Notes
What are Release
Notes?
Release notes are documents which are distributed along with
software products, often when the product is still in the development or
test state (e.g., a beta release). [Read More]
Release Notes
Template
This Release Notes package
includes 2
pre-formatted templates in
MS Word™ format,
which can be easily modified to meet your next release. Each
template includes 17
pages of material including sections on
Changes to release
notes, Scope, System Requirements, New Features, Dropped Features, Fixed
Issues, Hotfixes, Known Issues, Limitations & Restrictions, Caveats, and
Deployment Instructions. [Read More]
How to Write
Release Notes
Release Notes cover what's new, download and installation
instructions, known issues and frequently asked questions. Creating
Release Notes is fairly straightforward. Create a Release Notes template
and re-use it on each release. [Read More]
What are Preview
Release Notes
Preview Release is a Technology Preview. While this software
works well enough to be functional, the company may highlight that it
makes no guarantees of its performance or stability. It is a pre-release
product and should not be relied upon for mission-critical tasks. [Read More]
12. Style Guides
How to Improve
Your Style Guides
We reviewed PerfectIt last month and were impressed with its ability to edit and
test our documents. Daniel Heuman, the founder of Intelligent Editing Ltd has prepared this tutorial
that goes into more detail and show some of the ways you can get more out of
this editing product. Here's Daniel.[Read More]
Writing your First
Style Guides? Here's what you need to know
In publishing and media companies, use of a style guide is the norm. However,
style guides can also be useful for any organization that prepares documents for
clients and the public. This article is for organizations outside of the
publishing industry who can benefit from the introduction of a style guide. [Read More]
10 Dumbest Mistakes Business Writers Make and how you
can avoid them
Lots of dumb mistakes can slip into even the best writing. Here
we look specifically at reports and other technical documents to provide
authors with a checklist they can use for their work. [Read More]
13. Software
Development
5 Ways
to Make
Your Capacity Plan Bullet Proof
Assumptions are something you need to flag in the
introduction to your Capacity Plan. You can’t take anything for granted in an IT
Dept, or if there are third parties involved. Flag these upfront and cover
yourself. [Read More]
How to
Write a Capacity Management Plan
Writing a Capacity Management Plan is not as difficult as
you’d think. Most people get terrified at the ideal of writing a
Capacity Plan and always leave it to last. The problem for most technical writers is where to start.
Here’s how I do it. [Read More]
Why Batch Jobs are Important to Your Capacity Planning Model
This week’s article on Capacity Planning looks at how to
capture Batch Jobs requirements in your Capacity Plan. IT systems that use
processor-intensive batch jobs on a daily/weekly basis need to factor in the
resources that support these servers. [Read More]
7 Ways to Improve
Your Capacity Plan
In this chapter, you need to discuss the overall
approach you’ve taken with the Capacity Plan, so that the reader can understand
your methodology, the scope of the exercise, and where the facts and figures
have originated from. [Read More]
How to Write a
Setup Guide
The first few pages of
most Setup Guide templates
include boiler-plate legal text, such as Trademarks and Software License
Agreements. These should be the standard text as approved by your legal
team. Don’t get ‘creative’ and try to make this up. [Read
Why]
Why Apple's Setup
Guides Think Different & Look Brilliant
5 things I like about Apple's Setup Guides. [Read More]
What is a Setup Guide?
You can use a
Setup Guide
to provide instructions for setting up and installing a range of
application, for example, your company’s software applications, laptops, printers, or other devices. [Read More]
Your Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on this? Drop me a line at ivan
at klariti dot com |
I'm Ivan Walsh, the person behind this site. I help people improve how they write, publish and extend their business assets.