Implementing On-Screen Editing  

On-screen editing offers obvious advantages over paper editing, including greater accuracy, shorter turnaround times, and improved consistency. Because authors don’t have to retype handwritten edits, there’s less risk of misreading or missing corrections. Moreover, the edits have already been typed and spellchecked, so no new typos are introduced. Most editors can also enter corrections faster with a keyboard than with a pen, particularly when complex edits require restructuring of the document or extensive rewording, and eliminating the retyping phase further reduces turnaround times. Last but not least, using the search tools makes it easier to achieve consistency in long or complex documents.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Editing>Online

Improving Your Editing Efficiency: Software Skills, Soft Skills, and Survival Skills  

Editing efficiently involves a mix of software skills, soft (human) skills, and strategies for surviving chaos. Although software skills are certainly important--we never have as much time as we need, and computers really can help--we must still nurture author-editor relationships. Knowing the strategies battle-scarred editors have developed over the years can save you from duplicating those scars. In this paper, I'll discuss the software skills you'll need to work efficiently, how to cope with the human factors involved in editing, and some strategies for managing the often-chaotic editorial life.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Editing>Software

Indexing Web Pages: Maybe Books Aren't Such a Bad Model After All!

One of our favorite cliches is that you can't use the printed book as a model for online information. Web-based information, which is following the same evolutionary progress as online help systems, has inherited this 'books are bad' philosophy. However, any statement we've begun to take for granted bears some re-examination, because unquestioningly accepting dogma undermines our efforts to improve communication.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Information Design>Indexing>Web Design

The Information Revolution

Nobody is offering courses in how to prepare hypermedia, nor are there a large number of jobs available for hypermedia authors. As we begin to come up against the limits imposed by the volume of existing knowledge, we will eventually be forced to place more importance on managing our information explosion.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1988). Articles>Information Design>Hypertext

Internet Resources for Editors  

This month, I’ll depart slightly from my usual topic and focus on onscreen practices that aren’t actual edits—but that support activities such as fact-checking that we must perform while editing. Specifically, I’ll describe how to use the Internet as a research tool to improve the quality of your editing.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

Is "Intercultural" Communication a Moot Point?  

Good writing is good writing in any language, and focusing on the quality of the writing in your own language is a great start to any communication with people from other cultures.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2007). Articles>Writing>Communication>International

Just the FAQs  

Offers advice on creating effective FAQ documents.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>FAQ

Keyboard Shortcuts and Other Tricks  

This column focuses on using a computer to increase the effectiveness (both the productivity and the quality) of editing manuscripts, with an emphasis on tools and techniques rather than issues of grammar and usage.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

Looking for Work as a Scientific Communicator?

Many technical writers recently found themselves looking for work in the wake of September 11th and the dotcom meltdown.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Writing World (2002). Careers>Scientific Communication

Mail Your Newsletter with Less Labor and Cost

A lot of STC chapter and SIG mailings are done the old-fashioned way: envelopes stuffed by hand, and stamped manually or--occasionally--with a stamp machine. That's an awful lot of work, and expensive too. When I confronted this problem a few years back for my current employer, some research revealed a solution that eliminated the annual pressganging of volunteers to stuff envelopes and also saved us a fair bit of money.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Acting without planning can be expensive, and because of the potential cost of poorly thought-out actions, we should not only plan, but plan twice.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2000). Articles>Project Management>Planning>User Centered Design

Mental Models: Laying Foundations to Support Readers  

Technical communication is often no more complicated than clearly describing the steps in a procedure, but sometimes we must create new models for each key part of a complex procedure.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Microwriting: Small Choices with Large Implications  

The little elements of writing can make a big difference. If you're looking for a way to refresh your writing, consider paying close attention to the aspects involved in microwriting.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

A Millennial Paradigm for Documentation: the Scroll!

Although some zealots have proposed eliminating printed information entirely in favor of online help systems, Adobe Acrobat files, and even e-books, discarding printed books may prove less effective than simply modernizing them. Scrolls are the logical successors to books.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Articles>Documentation>Information Design

Much Ado about Nothing, Part 2: Deconstructing a Page    

In a continuation of his January column, Hart sheds some light on page layout and design—and gives color to a seemingly “black-and-white” concept.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2008). Design>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric

Much Ado about Nothing, Part I: The Importance of White Space    

White space is a paradox: by definition it contains no information, yet it clearly communicates despite lack of content. Hart describes how to incorporate white space into the information design process.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2008). Articles>Document Design

The Myth of "The User"

Instead of becoming computer users, like the cheery protagonists of Star Trek, we've become the computer used, like the gloomy inhabitants of Dilbert.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Indus (2007). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design

The Needs of the Many

Installing major software patches or upgrades ranks right up there with paying your taxes in terms of stress. Why the stress? Well, first, there's the instinctive fear of screwing up something that's already working reasonably well, thank you very much, and spending the next 60-hour week trying to get back to where you were before you 'improved' things.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2000). Articles>Computing

Nobody Reads Manuals, Do They?

We technical writers have a mantra that we mutter quietly whenever someone asks an obvious question about how to use our software: 'RTFM.' But though Reading The (ahem) 'Fine' Manual would often solve the problem--assuming the purchaser actually received one of those increasingly rare printed manuals with the software--only technical writers seeking inspiration on how to do their own jobs better can be relied upon to read product documentation. To make matters worse, many of us admit that we'd rather play with a product, hoping to figure out what to do, than use the documentation.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2000). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Nostradamus the Technical Writer

Sue Gallagher, a longtime technical writer, once posed the following riddle: 'How are science fiction writers like technical writers?' The answer, of course, is that both professions write about things we imagine will happen in the future, but that often don't--as anyone who's documented software or hardware for a startup company can confirm. With the new year arriving soon, I find my thoughts turning to a different form of science fiction: Eschatology, the art of predicting the future. It occurs to me that the role of technical writer as prognosticator has a proud history, and one that dates back to the days of Nostradamus the Prophet, one of the most famous eschatologists.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2003). Articles>TC

Notes on the Documentation Development Process

Define your audience, and their needs, explicitly and carefully. The definition process may lead you to include additional material such as indexes, system requirements, and contextual notes (e.g., lists of exceptions), as well as the preplanned documentation.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1996). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration

Nothing but .Net? Nyet!

Given Microsoft's track record, it would seem awfully foolish for me to bet against them and those who will follow their lead, and the idea does seem superficially reasonable. But despite this, I predict that the ASP aspects of .Net won't work nearly so well as Microsoft hopes and may even fail outright. The problem with Microsoft's ASP approach? The strategy is driven more strongly by economics and a fear of competition from smaller, more nimble ASPs than by customer needs and habits.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. TECHWR-L (2001). Design>User Interface>Software

Nurturing a New Writer

Technical communicators represent one of the most mobile groups of professionals I'm aware of, with some sources claiming that the average time between changing jobs is as low as four years. This means that many of us will soon find ourselves in the position of working with newcomers, whether permant staff or 'temps,' and this means we may face the problem of how to mentor or supervise someone new to our workplace. This article discusses how to work with someone who already has the basic training, but is nonetheless naive in the ways of your particular organization.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1999). Careers>Mentoring>Writing>Technical Writing

Overcoming Objections to Onscreen Editing  

Although onscreen editing has been available for many years, it remains underused in many workplaces. Editors offer many reasons for their reluctance to embrace this technology, and by understanding these reasons, it becomes possible to mitigate the problems and help editors begin using the technology. By doing so, managers can implement a process that is more efficient for both the editor and the authors being edited.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

Personas and the Technical Communicator

What's the problem with personas? They're a new concept to many communicators, and thus sufficiently unfamiliar to make them difficult to use. To help solve this problem, I developed a couple of personas to show you how it's done, and illustrate their implications for documentation.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Usability Interface (2006). Articles>TC>User Centered Design>Personas