Reducing Screen Clutter in Acrobat

Are you looking to remove all distractions to read your PDF content? Perhaps you just want to remove all distractions so that you can skim through your PDF document before signing off on it and sending it off? This tip explains how to reduce on-screen clutter in Acrobat to allow you to focus your attention completely on the content.

Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Remote Usability Testing Tools

Participants ask questions live (via a phone connection, audio via Internet, or typed chat session). There are some usability testing products (such as ErgoLight) that enable you to test remotely when you cannot make an online connection, but they are not covered in this survey. These products are classified as Remote Control, Support Desk/Customer Service, Telecommuting, System Administration, and Video Chat tools. Many of the products have a Recorder and/or Playback facility, which is probably a natural extension of remote viewing.

Preston, Alice. Usability Interface (1999). Articles>Usability>Methods>Software

Review: Review of Cladonia Exchanger XML Editor

This article is a review of the Exchanger XML Editor version 3.2 from the Cladonia company. Being such a broad field, the XML Editor category is necessarily far-reaching, and can cover both database management systems and authoring tools. For this reason, this review narrows the scope by looking at the suitability of Exchanger for use by technical communicators and Help authors to create and edit manuals, user guides and Help systems. Much of the focus of this article is therefore on the software's suitability for DocBook or DITA authoring, and its appropriateness for users without coding skills.

Self, Tony. WritersUA (2006). Articles>Reviews>Software>XML

Review: A Review of Free, Online Accessibility Tools

This article reviews eight, free, online web accessibility tools and examines the general characteristics of accessibility tools. The review provides a comparison between tools, and offers suggestions as to which tool would be appropriate for each of the following audiences: web designers, web developers and web evaluators.

Blair, Peter. WebAIM (2004). Articles>Reviews>Accessibility>Software

A Review of Morae for Usability Testing

TechSmith's Morae is a powerful tool that is useful for any usability study. Its simplicity, efficiency, cost effectiveness and portability has redefined the data collection process and allows researchers to focus on the user experience rather than the data collection tools. This article discusses some of the features of this tool and proposes some enhancements to make it even more powerful to usability practitioners.

Shrestha, Sav. Usability News (2007). Articles>Usability>Testing>Software

Review: A Review of RoboHelp Office 2002

This is the first in a series of articles that builds into a personal review of RoboHelp Office 2002. This first article introduces the new release and discusses Topic Templates, Headers and Footers, and the new MS Word Import capability.

Ellison, Matthew. WritersUA (2002). Articles>Reviews>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Review: Review of Screen Capture Tools

Describes the important attributes of a capture tool and examines and compares the features of five popular products.

Ellison, Matthew. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Reviews>Software>Screen Captures

Review of Word 2007, Tool vs. Industry Experience, the Slow Movement, E-mail Tips, and More

In this week's Tech Writer Voices podcast, Heidi and I talk about some innovative research from Microsoft, Word 2007, convincing upper management you're not a cost, focusing on information users actually want, tool versus industry experience, the curse of knowledge, the slow movement, and a tip for handling your e-mail inbox.

Hansen, Heidi and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Podcasts

The Right and Wrong of Quark and Adobe Strategies

What distinguishes the underlying strategies of Adobe InDesign from QuarkXPress is the absence or presence of a content management system (CMS). And each company asserts that it’s following the less-traveled road. The problem is they’re both taking roads most traveled because of their respective stances towards integrated content management systems, and I’ll show you how after looking at their respective strategies.

Kuhnen, Eric. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Document Design>Software>Content Management

The Road to Mac Office 2008

This report goes to great lengths to explore the origins, history, and maturity of software-based office suites and Microsoft Office for the Mac.

McLean, Prince. AppleInsider (2007). Articles>Software>History

RoboHelp Office v.3x: the Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent

Overall, in my experience, writers and programmers prefer to use RoboHelp to create and maintain Help systems because the application has fewer issues with the Internet and programming platforms. In fact, for this latest version Of RoboHelp, I have only one minor complaint. Here is a summary of my findings.

Hewitt, Sally. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Ruler of All You Survey: How to Make the Best Use of Word's Rulers

If you work for a company of any size at all, then simply getting your staff to use the ruler properly will save them many hours every week, and significantly increase your company's profitability.

Barnhill, Suzanne and Dave Rado. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word

Running with "KEDS": Document Control in Lotus Notes  

Many companies have faced the challenge of putting their policy and procedure documents online, usually in a network or Intranet. KEMET Electronics Corporation had the extra hurdle of achieving complete document control online, The solution is a program cal!ed 'KEDS' (KEMET Electronic Document System).

Ries, Ken. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Content Management>Software

The SALIS: Software Repository System    

Software development and related IT services have boosted the Indian economy in the recent past. There are potential opportunities to provide innovative products and services. There are a large number of small and medium sized software development enterprises that are today in the market in response to demand. While most of them are engaged in software development services, there are a few organizations involved in software product development. Parallelly, Open Source Software (OSS) developers provide the complete source code of their software (libraries, APIs, device drivers and functional packages) free of charge. There is a great incentive for software product developers to use these available resources. However, all Open Source software is subject to specific terms of use or a license which is specified as part of the software. There is no catalogued repository of open source software that provides the licensing details as well as terms of reuse of the software. Software And Licensing Information System (SALIS) fills that void and attempts to provide details required by software product developers to make a decision on what software components can be used and built upon.

Garge, Gopi Krishna, Malati Hegde, Geetha Anil Kumar and Savitha Anil Kumar. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Software>Databases

Screen Captures in Software Documentation    

While screen captures are the most widely used illustrations in manuals, there is almost no literature on their role and design. In this paper we draw together practice, theory and empirical research to advance a taxonomy that identifies these roles and designs. We suggest that screen captures in software documentation can help the user to switch attention, develop a mental model of the program, verify screen states, and identify and locate window elements and objects. Four important design areas (coverage, positioning, size, and cueing) are distinguished and empirical findings discussed. Research has substantiated the claim that screen captures speed up task completion, but others have yet to be proven. We believe that a more refined approach, afforded by the taxonomy, is likely to improve practice and research, and yield strong evidence supporting the use of screen captures in software documentation.

van der Meij, Hans and Mark Gellevij. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Software>Documentation>Screen Captures

Scriptwriting Software  

Compares and contrasts two popular scriptwriting programs: MovieMagic Screenwriter 2000 and Final Draft Audio Video.

Chu, Steve W. Intercom (2002). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Screenwriting

The Secret Ingredient of Every Methodology

In any software development methodology, there's a secret ingredient that doesn't get enough press. It doesn't matter whether you follow Cooper, Beck, McConnell, or anyone else on the long list of notables.

Ferlazzo, Ellen Lawson. Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>Software>Methods

Seek and Ye Shall Find--And Replace  

Offers tips on using search and replace commands in word processors.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2001). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Search

Sending a Portfolio Presentation to a Client

In Photoshop CS there's a new feature that takes a folder full of images, creates a slide show (complete with transitions), and compresses it into PDF format so you can e-mail it easily to a client for proofing. This is perfect for showing your portfolio to clients, sending clients proofs of wedding shots or portrait sittings, and any of a dozen other uses, none of which I can happen to think of right at this particular moment, but I'm sure later today, when I'm at the mall or driving to the office, they'll come to me.

Kelby, Scott. Layers Magazine (2005). Articles>Presentations>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Services First, Technology Second, People Third

Microsoft doesn't care much about shared source or Smart Tags and we are wasting our time following their marketing trail. We need to focus on Microsoft's true goal, which is to completely dominate the internet services market. We should pay attention to how they are building a services infrastructure, not a technology infrastructure. We should figure out how they are going to use tools like Passport and Microsoft Messenger to control our personal information and various internet transactions.

Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Articles>Internet>Software

Sharing Files Between OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office

Even if you're the most dedicated OpenOffice.org (OOo) user in the world, sooner or later you'll be asked to share files with someone using Microsoft Office. Some free software advocates refuse outright, or suggest outputting to HTML, PDF, or RTF formats, but these aren't always options -- especially if your boss is the one doing the asking. However, with a few preparations and a sense of what works and what doesn't, you can usually share files with Microsoft Office users with a minimum of headaches on both sides. Here's how.

Byfield, Bruce. NewsForge (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Software>OpenOffice

A Shortcut for Selecting Online Publishing Tools for UNIX  

Online publishing is beginning to boom thanks to recent technology developments. On Unix platforms, the variety of tools available for developing online documents can be confusing. The confusion eases considerably when you realize that the tools are of two types: those that emphasize searching the document's text and those that emphasize presenting the document's information. A third type of tool, designed specifically for online publishing, will become available on Unix platforms soon. Someone looking for an online publishing tool can quickly narrow the selection by considering which of these types best fits the application.

Harvey, Patrick. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Publishing>Software>UNIX

Single-Sourcing from FrameMaker 5.5.6 to ForeHelp Premier 2000

This article centers on a single-source documentation process that involves authoring structured, chunked documentation in Adobe FrameMaker 5.5.6 and converting it 'just in time' to a WinHelp online help system using ForeHelp Premier 2000.

Snavely, Deborah. InFrame (2000). Articles>Software>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker

Small Expert Systems: Making PCs into Intelligent Advisors  

An expert system is an exciting new type of computer software. Instead of having to consult a high-priced consultant, an overworked staff expert or complicated reference literature, the user just responds to a series of questions posed by the system. From the data entered, the computer identifies the problem and recommends the best action. In this presentation, a technical communicator and a content expert explore uses of expert systems to resolve complex occupational health and safety questions.

Thomson, Bruce, Anne Monteath and Carla Salvador. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Software