Creating Web Help? In this Madcap Flare tutorial, we look at specify the web browser settings before publishing your web help. For example, if you want to allow the user to resize the output window. Learn about this API Documentation Template Madcap Flare – Specify Browser Settings for Online Help Open a Standard or HTML5 […]
Madcap Flare: How to Update the TOC in HTML Help & CHMs
May 5, 2018 By
In this Madcap Flare tutorial, we look at how to change how the TOC looks in both the HTML output or in CHM files. Learn about this API Documentation Template Madcap Flare: How to Update the TOC in HTML Help Output To do this: Open the skin. Select the HTML Help Setup Click the TOC […]
Madcap Flare: Specifying Web Browser Settings For Webhelp Output
January 28, 2018 By
In this MadCap Flare technical writing tutorial, we look at how to specify web browser settings for WebHelp. Specifying Web Browser Settings For Webhelp Output Open a Standard or HTML5 Select the WebHelp Setup If you opened an HTML5 skin, select the Setup tab. Select the options that you want to include in the browser output window. Select Browser Default Settings if […]
How to Write an Operations Plan (with Word Template)
January 28, 2018 By
Want to write an Operations Guide? This tutorial explains how to write your first operations manual. It helps you get started, suggests how to format the document, create the table of contents and what else you need to include in a sample plan. The Operations Guide Template will help you run your IT environment more efficiently. It […]
How to Write ‘Scannable’ Web Content
March 17, 2017 By
Need to improve your web content? How much words should I put on a web page? How do I present the material? How do I know that anyone reads it? Research suggests that users don’t read on the web – they scan. This means that when you are converting documents to the web, you need to […]
NEW – Quality Assurance Plan Templates (MS Word + Excel)
October 29, 2016 By
This week we created a new set of Quality Assurance Plan Templates. I sat templates as we developed more than just the MS Word template, but sample materials, and also seven pretty slick Excel spreadsheets. If you’re involved in tech writing or software testing, I think these templates will be of real value to your Quality […]
5 Ways to Write Better Error Messages
November 14, 2015 By
When you write error messages for software development projects, follow these guidelines: Avoid vague wording. Give specific names and locations of the objects involved. Avoid “please.” It can be interpreted to mean that a required action is optional. Do not refer to implementation details that are invisible to the user. For example, do not refer […]
Error Messages: Do’s and Don’ts
October 14, 2015 By
Looking for guidelines to write better error messages? Do’s and Don’ts when writing error messages: Don’t Avoid the word “bad”. Use more descriptive terms to tell the user what is wrong. For example, avoid messages such as “Bad size”. Instead, tell the user what criteria to use when specifying a size. Avoid the word “please”. […]
How to Write Error Messages
September 14, 2015 By
Here’s a suggested approach to writing error messages: Create a spreadsheet. Give each error a number so you can track them. Add columns for the error message and the root cause. Establish an error message quality-control team. Create simple to follow writing guidelines for the error messages. Find best practices. Share with the team. Include […]
How to Write a Customization Guide
August 16, 2015 By
The first question is: who are you writing this customisation guide for? As a technical writer, the skill to developing a useful guide is to keep the reader in mind. Who will be reading this customisation guide? What’s the most important thing they need to know? How can I make this more helpful to them? […]
