Typography is the study and process of typefaces; how to select, size, arrange, and use them in general. Traditionally, typography was the use of metal types with raised letterforms that were inked and then pressed onto paper. In modern terms, typography today also includes computer display and output.
#21283
It doesn't replace information architecture. And it's really not a school or brand of information architecture. Findability is about recognizing that we live in a multi-dimensional world, and deciding to explore new facets that cut across traditional boundaries.
Morville, Peter. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>Search
#13658
The Age of Information Architecture
For the most part, information architects are communicators and strategists. While others merely tolerated the mishmash of responsibilities, they relished it. Designers often put up with having to write HTML but jumped at the chance to 'just do design.' Programmers were forced to meet with clients and work on strategy, but all along probably wanted to just write code. When these two ends of the spectrum split off, the empty middle was a perfect place to be. At the same time, there was an increased (but still hidden) need for information architecture. As the average web project process matured, more problems arose. Formal documentation was needed, business objectives were taking on increased importance, and, as the size increased exponentially, information organization became a much more important role. (The fact that this evolution took place during the 'dot.com fallout' is not insignificant, as this led to the placement of web projects under the same microscope as other business endeavors.) Some of these positions could be filled by existing disciplines; project managers, business analysts, and usability specialists transitioned from 'traditional' work and were added to web teams. Still, there was something missing. The connection between 'the big picture' (business strategy, high-level user tasks, basic structural architecture) and the nitty-gritty (categorization, labeling, bottom-up information hierarchies) often wasn't being made. This is where information architects fit in.
Lash, Jeff. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Articles>Information Design>Usability
#26374
The phrase User agent or user-agent or UA or browser or client or client application or client software program...all pretty much refer to the same thing. Or maybe not.
evolt (2002). Articles>Web Design>User Interface>Web Browsers
#18539
Aggregated Article Databases: Research Beyond the Internet 
Introduces aggregated article databases—searchable collections of magazines, newspapers, and journals—and explains their relevance to the research work of technical communicators.
Sheffield Hulick, Jennifer L. Intercom (2003). Articles>Research>Online
#27801
The purpose of this article is to define a set of ideal practices for an agile software development project.
McLennan, Liam. Code Project, The (2006). Articles>Project Management>Agile
#30762
Agile Documentation (Using Tests as Documentation)
Storytelling can make documentation more exciting for both writers and readers. Stories provide context and people tend to remember them. More all-∆around fun when stories are tests.
Gheorghiu, Grig. Business Information Review. Articles>Documentation>Agile>Testing
#28121
Agile Documentation with doctest and epydoc
A Test Map is a list of unit tests associated with a specific function/method under test. It helps you see how that specific function/method is being exercised via unit tests.
Gheorghiu, Grig. Blogspot (2005). Articles>Documentation>Agile
#27589
In Agile Documentation, Rüping gets to the heart of the documentation dilemma, offering a two-word solution: minimum necessary.
Davis, Donna L. developer.star (2003). Articles>Reviews>Agile>Documentation
#27588
Agile Documentation: Strategies for Agile Software Development
When I initially started work on Agile Modeling (AM) I wanted to focus solely on principles and practices for effective modeling but quickly discovered that this scope was not sufficient, that I also needed to consider the issue of how to be effective at the creation and maintenance of documentation too. Some agile models will 'evolve' into official system documentation, although the vast majority will not, and therefore it is relevant to discuss how to be agile doing so.
Agile Modeling. Articles>Documentation>Agile>Extreme Documentation
#30707
Agile Principles Are Changing Everything
There's an irony about agile development. There is no hard evidence that it produces better software, faster. And formal adoption rates, admittedly hard to measure, don't reach the 20 percent mark. Yet the ideas that underpin agile development--defining requirements incrementally, writing software in short stints, seeking customer feedback, testing code as it's written, frequent builds--have caught on like wildfire. They are widely accepted as sound development practices, even among teams that have not formally adopted them.
deJong, Jennifer. Software Development Times (2008). Articles>Collaboration>Agile>Methods
#31163
An Agile Review Process for Technical Documentation
Documentation teams need a fast and effective review process to move forward on their projects and deliver quality, timely content. Reviewers, may they be SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) or key organization authorities, are usually extremely busy and have limited time (or interest) to review documentation. Interesting dilemma, no?
Talbot, Fabrice. LiveTechDocs (2008). Articles>Documentation>Agile>Workflow
#31040
Agile methodologies have had a lot of press in recent years. To listen to some people, agile methodologies are the answer to all the ailments that have ever plagued software development from the beginning of the computer age. But what are they, really? And do they really deliver on that promise? The answer is: (drumroll, please) it depends.
Little, Karen. BA Collective (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile>Methods
#27355
Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym, Ajax (Pronounced A-jacks), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability.
#27044
If a modern day Rip van Winkle woke up after just a year's sleep, he would be stunned by the buzz around Ajax today. Technology is moving very quickly in this space and whether you are a web author, a CMS developer, or a regular web user, Ajax will make some exciting changes to your world.
Downes, Jonathan and Joe Walker. CMSwatch (2006). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Ajax
#30659
Learn to build a chat system into your Web application with Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) and PHP. Your customers can talk to you and to each other about the content of the site without having to download or install any special instant-messaging software.
Herrington, Jack D. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Ajax
#27052
Ajax for Java developers: Build Dynamic Java Applications
The page-reload cycle presents one of the biggest usability obstacles in Web application development and is a serious challenge for Java™ developers. In this series, author Philip McCarthy introduces a groundbreaking approach to creating dynamic Web application experiences. Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a programming technique that lets you combine Java technologies, XML, and JavaScript for Java-based Web applications that break the page-reload paradigm.
McCarthy, Philip. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Interaction Design>Ajax
#27053
Ajax for Java Developers: Java Object Serialization for Ajax
If you're doing Java Web development using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax), then delivering data from the server to the client is probably your top concern. In this second article in the Ajax for Java developers series, Philip McCarthy walks you through five approaches to Java object serialization and gives you all the information you need to choose the data format and technology best suited to your application.
McCarthy, Philip. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Ajax
#29966
In the age of the people-powered Web, allowing your readers to rate and review content on your site is critical. Discover just how easy it is to add rating and commenting features to a site with Ajax.
Herrington, Jack D. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Ajax
#26907
Ajax is an awesome technology that is driving a new generation of web apps, from maps.google.com to colr.org to backpackit.com. But Ajax is also a dangerous technology for web developers, its power introduces a huge amount of UI problems as well as server side state problems and server load problems.
Bosworth, Alex. Sourcelabs.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax
#31637
Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) continues to raise user expectations for interactivity and performance, and developers are increasingly treating Ajax as a must-have component of their Web applications. As more code is moved client side and the network model changes, the community is responding by building more tools to address the unique performance challenges of Ajax. Examine toolsets that find and correct performance problems within your Ajax-enriched applications.
Zyp, Kristopher William. IBM (2008). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Ajax
#20179
Jakob Nielsen has published 200 Alertbox columns on the Web since 1995; in addition to promoting usability, the column's readership statistics validate the practice of archiving content.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Usability>Web Design
#21183
#31644
Technical communication is often misunderstood by those outside the profession or the academic field. These outside perceptions of our work, generally based on extremely limited and narrow notions of the field, can influence the opportunities available to technical communicators. In this paper, three faculty members from the University of Washington's Department of Technical Communication describe their academic assumptions and research activities that range far beyond traditional areas from technical writing such as writing, editing and production. They describe projects that represent the expanding boundaries of the field of technical communication, spanning domains (including medicine, corporate, and public service), methods (including contextual inquiry, content analysis, case studies, and log file analysis), and solution types (including content management, user driven content, computer mediated communication, and strategic management of systems). What these projects share is abroad vision of the field of technical communication and a broad vision of the contributions that technical communication professionals have to offer.
Haselkorn, Mark P., Geoffrey Sauer and Jennifer Turns. IEEE PCS (2002). Articles>TC
#29136
Aligning Theme and Information Structure To Improve The Readability Of Technical Writing 
The readability of technical writing, and technical manuals in particular, especially for second language readers, can be noticeably improved by pairing Theme with Given and Rheme with New. This allows for faster processing of text and easier access to the "method of development" of the text. Typical Theme-Rheme patterns are described, and the notion of the "point of a text" is introduced. These concepts are applied to technical writing and the reader is then invited to evaluate the improvements in readability in a small sample of texts.
Moore, N.A.J. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
#30772
Madcap Flare is one of the most powerful online help authoring tools on the market today. In this podcast, Paul Pehrson, MVP in the Madcap Software forums, talks about Madcap Flare in depth.
Pehrson, Paul and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Documentation>Software>Madcap Flare
