There’s usability, accessibility, and readability that we’re all well aware of. I’d like to toss in one more to the mix: adaptability. By this I mean the ability to change docs on the fly to accommodate real-time actions in social media or due to user-generated content that needs to be addressed rather quickly.
How adaptable are [...]
Your Docs: Thought About Adaptability?
July 7, 2010 By 1 Comment
(1-Yr Archive) The Future: Doc Management
May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Yes, everything has changed. These posts relate more to documentation planning and management, and ways to keep up with changes.
Changes
These posts cover my thoughts on managing the new methods and changes.
Let’s Reinvent Technical Writing
A New Doc Strategy
The Changing Role of Writers and Editors
Methods
Keep up. Keep up. Keep up. The world is spinning faster. Will it [...]
7 Ways to Keep Up With Trends
February 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Two facts: we have to try and keep up with all the changes in IT, and we don’t have much time, if any, to do so. What can you do? Here are some ideas. They’ve been working well for me. Hopefully they will for you as well.
Blogs
Bloggers are out there in the trenches: finding information, [...]
5 Reasons to Write Procedures in Twitter
January 11, 2010 By 12 Comments
Recently, I’ve been exploring the need for writing procedures in real-time, focusing on Twitter in particular. This is the fourth post in the series. In my last post, I was asked by Larry Kunz in a comment for thoughts on situations in which one might write procedures in Twitter. Five come to mind; I’ve described [...]
Lessons Learned: Procedure Written in Twitter
January 6, 2010 By 5 Comments
Last week, I thought I’d experiment and write a quick procedure in Twitter. This goes right along with my thoughts that new methods should be used for creating docs. Given that microblogging is here to stay, as is real-time, I decided to give it a try. There were two main thoughts in play: see if [...]
Real-time: it’s sooooo last second
December 28, 2009 By 4 Comments
Who has time to think? These days, actions do speak louder than words. The world has changed to an immediate, need-it-now mentality. Real-time is turning into all-the-time, and tech writers need to address it. Can’t ignore this one!
The luxury of time is slipping away from us. Time to research. Time to test. Time to write [...]
Minimal Procedure Content: Reasoning
November 13, 2009 By 2 Comments
The procedure I wrote about creating a Twitter list uses abbreviated content. This post describes the reasoning behind and decisions made in writing the topic.
Title
Instead of using this:
Create a Twitter List
I opt for this construction:
Twitter List: Create
Reasons
It puts the topic first. You don’t have to dig through the content to get to [...]
Open-Source Tech Writing: the Time is Now
October 16, 2009 By 1 Comment
Recently, I started working with WordPress. For those unfamiliar with WP, it’s an open-source platform used for blogging, websites, and the like. Development and maintenance is completed by a world-wide community. There’s an incredible energy and community that is part of it. Last month, I attended a WordCamp event. Along with the information I obtained, [...]
HTML 5: What Tech Writers Need to Consider
September 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Wow. I knew that there were many items to consider when writing documentation these days. However, there is much more than I realized. For example, today I started looking at HTML 5 more in-depth. As I read through the information on the W3C site, it became clear that big changes are in store that will [...]