Tech writing is changing, has changed, and the old ways won’t work any longer. Many of my posts over the past year address those considerations. Here they are.
Writing Styles
Smaller screens. Smaller devices. Smaller word counts, don’t you think?
Think Mobile When You Write
Cut, Cut, Cut Your Content and Procedures
Video and Touchscreens
Well, keyboards and Flash are perhaps [...]
(1-Yr Archive) New Writing Methodologies
May 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Think Outside the Computer: Touchscreens, HTML5, & Flash
May 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Touchscreens are here to stay. Computers as we know them are gone already. Really. It’s time to fast-track the planning for delivering docs and content to these types of devices.
Forget a laptop or netbook. I have a computer I can fit in a pocket. That would be my iPhone. I look at it as a [...]
Tech Writer or Tech Communicator? Or TechWtr?
April 4, 2010 By 8 Comments
For some reason, I just started thinking of the age-old debate of using Technical Writer or Technical Communicator (or variations thereof). My preference is neither: it’s Tech Writer. Short & crisp. Snappy. Other reasons are listed below.
1. I don’t want to be known as a Communicator, or have to introduce myself as such. I’m a [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Cut, Cut, Cut your Content and Procedures
July 20, 2009 By 2 Comments
Sure. We’ve been reducing word count in procedures for some time. It’s time to do more, however. As noted in an earlier post, we have to think mobile. Think small screens and small devices. Screen real estate will be at a premium.
With that in mind, I’m offering some suggestions on how to cut back. Remember [...]
Think Mobile When You Write
July 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Always keep the small screen in mind when you’re preparing your docs. There are some W3C “mobileOK” guidelines to consider to ensure that your content meets requirements. Here are some highlights:
Tables
- No nested tables
- Tables must have more than one row and more than one cell per row
Page Titles
- There must be a Title element [...]
Use of Flexible Screens in Documentation
June 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Lately, I’ve come across two articles about flexible screens. One is for small touch screens, the other is about video.
What’s particularly interesting about the video flexible screens is that the article in Technology Review states that there is a possibility that such screens could be “worn on wrists, and plastered on clothes.” Now imagine this [...]
A New Doc Strategy
March 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment
In years past, a doc strategy was fairly straightforward: prepare print documents that were either in binders or printed into a book. Then came online help, so both were used. Then PDF was added as an option. For many, that’s as far as capabilities have progressed.
The new reality is that technology is rapidly changing and [...]