#30382
Accommodating Active Learners in Software Documentation Decisions 
Recent research focusing on a minimalist approach to computer software documentation has explored ways to design computer software tutorials and workbooks for users with an active learning style. The principles of minimalism and active learning styles, however, are less frequently applied to traditional reference manuals. This paper reviews several elements of minimalism and suggests ways to apply strategies for active learners to traditional reference manuals.
Smart, Karl L. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Instructional Design>Software
#25769
Accurate Image Manipulation for Desktop Publishing 
Devoted to the best possible quality in the desktop publishing workflow. This calls for accurate calibration and correct choice for the working space.
#31149
Acrobat 7 zum komfortablen Erzeugen von Druck und Schnittmarken einsetzen
Wer kennt das Problem nicht? Aus einem riesigen Dokument wurde ein PDF erzeugt. Nun muss es auch noch für den Druck aufbereitet werden. Dafür fehlen aber die Druck- und Schnittmarken. Acrobat 7 hilft hier aus der Patsche.
TECOM (2003). (German) Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#28187
Acrobat Features Turbocharge the Online Review Process
One of the more tedious and error-prone processes in technical writing is that of collaborative document review. Even when documents are shared electronically, keeping track of comments, suggestions, and changes contributed by multiple team members can be exasperating. Too often errors due to collaborative review lead to delays, missed deadlines, misunderstandings and an inaccurate final document.
Gravel, Charlie. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#28876
Now that everybody's got the Acrobat reader we can talk about why so few are able to create Acrobat files, also called PDF files.
Quillio, Lou. Quillio.com (2003). Articles>Document Design>Standards>Adobe Acrobat
#27089
Adobe FrameMaker Autonumbering Examples
Autonumbering had changed as new versions of FrameMaker have arrived. What worked in FrameMaker 5 might have broken in 5.5. This is due to changes Adobe made in the restart building blocks (request presentation). While our examples below use the maximum building blocks (meaning a little extra work), the result is numbering schemes that are more flexible for multiple versions of FrameMaker.
Bright Path Solutions (2004). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#23406
This article deals, despite the title above, with aspects on handling and checking of technical documentation. I consider these aspects as part of the functionality of documentation besides more conventional functionality such as factual correctness, layout, combination of figures and text.
Rullgård, Åke. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design
#31893
Analyzing Your Users and Needs Before Creating the Help Deliverables; Interview with Nicky Bleiel
In this podcast, Nicky Bleiel says we should talk to as many users as we can — conducting on-site visits, sending surveys, gathering information from Marketing, Support, and other departments — so we can have a better understanding of our users’ needs and the formats and mediums that will work best for them. After completing this audience and needs analysis, we can then go out and create the deliverables that will best serve our users.
Bleiel, Nicky and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Documentation>User Centered Design
#24606
Applying the Sensation-Perception Continuum to User Documentation
The sensation-perception continuum represents the interplay of sensation and perception in everything we think and do. Technical communicators must exploit this continuum by understanding and applying sensory filters and perceptual tendencies in the design and development of information. This paper discuss three sensory filters: thresholds, cocktail-party effect, and sensory adaptation; it discusses four perceptual tendencies: perceptual set, figure-ground relationships, laws of grouping, and goodness of figures.
Coe, Marlana A. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design
#28228
Applying Web 2.0 Technologies to Technical Documentation
This article is based on my presentation at the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators' annual conference in October, 2006. Every now and then, there is a change in the value of what technical authors deliver. These are moments when organisations pay attention to technical documentation. This is because they recognise that these changes mean they can create something that will be of real value to the business and to their customers. In recent years, there have been three "waves of interestingness". The first wave was the introduction of Windows Help (WinHelp). The second major wave was the introduction of the Internet and intranets. This was a time when organisations looked at how they could transfer large amounts of information from paper to online. They were faced with issues such as how users could access and understand all this information easily - issues that technical communicators deal with on a day-to-day basis. I believe we're just about to approach the new wave, which we have called "Tech Writing 2.0".
Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2006). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Technical Writing
#31780
Are We Giving Readers What They Want, in the Way They Want and Need It?
With all the talk about Web 2.0 and the attendant technologies, are readers actually being better served by documentation now than they were in the past?
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>User Centered Design
#30192
Baking up a Batch of PDF Files
Customize how Acrobat works for you by building and using batch sequences. The beauty of a batch sequence is that you can modify or run it as you like.
Baker, Donna L. Adobe (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#29522
Bastien PROT: XPS une alternative au format PDF
XPS (XML Paper Specification) est un format de fichier électronique à présentation fixe comme le PDF du concurrent Adobe qui préserve la mise en forme du document et permet le partage des fichiers sans perte dinformation. Le format XPS garantit que, lorsquun fichier est affiché en ligne ou imprimé, il conserve le format souhaité.
Rédacteur Technique, Le (2007). (French) Articles>Document Design>Standards>XML
#27982
Best of Show -- Winners of STC's International Competitions
Read about the Best of Show winners of the 2005•2006 competitions in international technical art, international online communication, and international technical publications. Also, meet the winner of the international student technical communication competition.
Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Document Design>International
#30083
Beyond Help: Making Help a Core Component of an Electronic Performance Support System
With the advent of HTML Help and the ability to embed Help directly inside an application, there’s been an increased interest in creating Help systems that are seamlessly integrated with their host applications. By blurring the line between the application and the Help that supports it, and by developing Help that automatically responds to user actions, application developers and Help authors now have the ability to develop true electronic performance support systems (EPSS). With this new ability will come a paradigm shift in the ways applications are developed and documented.
Wexler, Steven S. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Document Design>Help>EPSS
#29987
Beyond Software Manuals and On-line Help: Interactive Help
Software user guides have traditionally provided assistance when the user requested help. Context-sensitivity enabled help systems to predict the most appropriate topic to present. For Windows applications, the move from Microsoft WinHelp to the new Microsoft HTML Help format allows user instructions to be presented in the same window as the application. This offers technical authors some extraordinary opportunities to provide intelligent, predictive, interactive help without the user having to request it. In this paper, we will explore one of the first such interactive help systems (for the Archivist e-mail archiving software), and see where the technology is moving.
Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2003). Articles>Documentation>Interaction Design>Help
#26933
Bloom's Taxonomy in Technical Content Development
Technical writers provide information enabling users to learn and apply various technologies. In the endeavor to enable users, technical writers often need to use different strategies of classification, presentation, and structuring for the different types of information. However, in most cases such classifications or decisions about the best method of presentation and optimum structure are guided by instinct and are rarely heuristic. In this article, we present an established classification of information called Bloom’s taxonomy (of educational objectives), which can help technical writers make decisions about content classification.
Robbani, Wasique. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Document Design>Academic>Contextual Inquiry
#25113
An overview of the typical components of a printed technical book and the typical content, format, style, and sequence of those components.
McMurrey, David A. Illuminati Online (2001). Articles>Document Design>Publishing
#20477
Bridging the Gap Between Design and Editorial
With both Adobe InDesign® CS and Adobe InCopy® CS in your publishing workflow, writers and editors can compose stories in InCopy at the same time designers are laying out the pages using InDesign—without overwriting each other’s work.
Adobe (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign
#20287
Building the Treasure House: Creating Knowledge Bases on the World-Wide Web
Web knowledge bases offer an excellent platform for delivering technical documentation and customer support information. They also represent an area of great opportunity for technical communicators to expand their skills, satisfy their customers, and create value for their employers or clients. This session explores the components of a web knowledge base and the tasks involved in planning and building one.
Massa, Jack A. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Web Design
#25933
Brochures are good for some things but not others. The key to not wasting your money is to understand what brochures do well, and what they don't do well.
Bennaco (2005). Articles>Document Design>Marketing
#28553
A Case of Exhaustive Documentation: Re-centering System-oriented Organizations Around User Need 
Braun Corporation's home-grown documentation processes served the organization well for its first 50 years as it grew from a local to a nationally-competitive producer of mobility and accessibility products. Now poised to become a global leader in its field, this corporation found its efforts hampered by ineffective and outdated documentation practices, which were hurting the company's competitive advantage. This article describes Braun Corporation's curious mixture of global reach and local isolation. By bringing in a technical communicator with expertise in user-centered design, Braun has begun reforming its formerly exhaustive documentation and communication practices. While technical communicators have incorporated a variety of strategies to develop user-centered and task-based documentation, less attention has been placed on changing the cultures of these organizations. The case presented here represents a shift from establishing documentation procedures to critically assessing and reforming existing procedures for the global workplace, describing the shift from ineffective and exhaustive processes to effective processes with defined goals and measurable outcomes. The article concludes with an inventory for determining whether other organizations are over-documenting processes and products, and offers suggestions for creating better documentation procedures.
Salvo, Michael J., Meredith W. Zoetewey and Kate Agena. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Documentation>Management>User Centered Design
#29143
In this article, the author demonstrates that the semiotic model proposed by Charles Morris enables us to optimize our understanding of technical communication practices and provides a good point of inquiry. To illustrate this point, the author exemplifies the semiotic approaches by scholars in technical communication and elaborates Morris's model through analyzing visual and verbal elements of technical communication brochures from semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels. The discussion of semiotic approach reinforced by various examples illustrates that the semiotic model can be a tangible theoretical and practical tool to help students and practitioners study and analyze the use of visual and verbal elements in technical communication.
Fan, Jiang-Ping. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>Document Design>Assessment>Semantic
#29936
Cleaning up PDF Documents in Acrobat
If you are posting your PDF document to a web site, you'll generally want to upload a clean copy that will streamline the viewing experience for your site visitors. This tip outlines a quick way to remove unnecessary annotations, widgets, JavaScript, links, bookmarks and attachments, along with optimizing your documents for fast web viewing.
Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#26859
A review of Kim Sydow Campbell's book Coherence, Continuity, and Cohesion: Theoretical Foundations for Document Design.
Kirloskar, Mukta. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Reviews>Document Design
