#21679
So You Think You Know What a Template Is?
So you think you know what a Template is? Well, what is it?
#20444
I admit that my intelligence is easily insulted. It’s probably because I’ve got so little of it left – raising a child, running a business, and working in the software industry take their toll, after all – that I’ve got to defend it with the ferocity of a rabid fruit bat. But, as I review the state of the art in desktop publishing software, I’m left with one nagging question: Just exactly how dumb do these guys think I am?
Kvern, Olav Martin. Upper and lowercase Magazine (1999). Articles>Software>Document Design
#14480
Copyright protection for software can be a valuable tool. But how do you get that protection, how long does it last, and do you need a registration?
Hollander, Jay. GigaLaw.com (2000). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Software
#26367
Starting from the basics of Active Accessibility, this article leads you through the development of a software testing application. You'll see how this testing application interacts with common controls and other UI elements, then processes the resulting WinEvents.
Klementiev, Dmitri. Microsoft (2000). Articles>Accessibility>Software>Microsoft Windows
#18308
Software for Building a Full-Featured Discipline-Based Web Portal
The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Internet Scout Project [1] received funding in the fall of 2000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation [2] to build an open source software package that would allow collection developers to share their collection's metadata via the web. The resulting software, the Scout Portal Toolkit (SPT), is virtually turnkey, very inexpensive to maintain and operate, and easy for non-technical staff to download, set up and populate with metadata. Conforming to international standards for metadata, data harvesting, and Web technology makes SPT useful for and usable by a wide variety of projects and organizations, allowing and encouraging collaboration and record sharing among projects. Over the SPT project's two-year period, beta testers and in-house quality assurance testing provided valuable feedback, helping to ensure that the software was robust, easy to use, and well-suited to the needs of the intended audience.
Almasy, Edward, David Sleasman and Rachael Bower. D-Lib Magazine (2002). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Software
#14601
The Software for Cultures and the Cultures in Software 
Software is viewed as an artifact which interacts with cultures of societies in which it functions. Software manufacturers make efforts to adapt the appearance of their products to aesthetic and historical values of the markets in which they are sold (“software for cultures”). It is well known that software embeds behavioral and organizational principles that are culture-determined (“cultures in software”). Internet and e-commerce bring these phenomena into the fore of the debate on societal implications of Information Technology. The paper argues for a research agenda on the multifaceted interactions between software and culture.
Kersten, Gregory E., Stan Matwin, Sunil J. Noronha and Mik A. Kersten. University of Ottawa (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Software
#18498
Software Localization in the Windows Environment
Atsushi's presentation focused on two areas of Windows software localization: the internationalization of source code, and the actual localization of the user interface.
Kaneko, Atsushi. SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software
#24308
If you are a technical writer who writes software documentation, chances are you have been informally involved in testing the software you document. In larger organizations, entire divisions are devoted to thoroughly testing software before it is released. In smaller organizations, this position could be informal or nonexistent. In this workshop, you will learn a basic methodology for testing software that you can use as a starting point for a new or expanded career.
Fisher, Charles D., Jr., Tracey Chiricosta and Tom Witherspoon. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Software>Testing
#18482
The software tools used to generate indexes come in many flavors and varieties. Which technique is used depends on variables such as budget, eventual re-usability of the source material, time constraints, media used to publish the material, file sizes and transferral issues, and individual preferences. There are essentially six different methodologies for indexing.
American Society of Indexers (2003). Articles>Indexing>Software
#26088
Large companies have a big appetite for off-the-shelf software. For years these companies have suffered the effects of poor software--reduced productivity, increased user support from help desks, increased training costs, increased user stress and frustration. Now they have decided to put this software under the microscope to see if it comes up to scratch. Andrea Caws puts on a lab coat and finds out more.
System Concepts (2005). Articles>Usability>Software
#21382
Software Usability and Documentation
This article shows how a user-centred approach to software design can reduce the requirement for documentation. It lists Jakob Nielsen's usability heuristics, and for each one, shows how following the heuristic can reduce the requirement for user documentation.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2003). Articles>Documentation>Software>Usability
#24648
The purpose of this collaboration is to collect on one portal page many of the current theories of software development, so that a technical communicator working with developers can at least be a bit familiar with these. It is by no means a thorough explanation of all the contemporary methodologies, both organic and imposed. But it should give readers some tips about what they are and where they can find more information.
Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Software>Programming
#13958
Some Effects of the Macintosh on Technical Writing Assignments 
This paper reports on a study examining writing on the Apple Macintosh and on paper by upper-level students who are novice writers but computer-literate. To gain a better understanding of writing behaviors using the Macintosh versus using pen and paper, we sought to answer two questions: 1) Do these writers revise differently, in terms of the number and types of revisions, when using the Macintosh? 2) Do they produce higher-quality texts on the Macintosh? In addition, we sought to determine whether this population would produce longer texts on the computer than they did with paper and pencil techniques, as previous studies showed with other populations.
Friedlander, Alexander and Mike Markel. Computers and Composition (1990). Articles>Software>Operating Systems>Macintosh
#27188
Some of the Most Useful Word Shortcuts
This list doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but is a list of the shortcuts which save me the most time.
Rado, Dave. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word
#24179
Speaking in Tongues: Dealing with Word's Dictionaries
Word has powerful language tools, but if you don't understand how they work, even a simple spellcheck can pose problems. In this article, I'll discuss how to take full advantage of Word's language settings.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word
#19240
Speechlet is a system which allows blind students of the Java programming language to use existing course material. Most Java courses use program examples that generate graphic output. The main reason for this is that students enjoy writing programs that produce interesting and exciting outputs. However, a blind student is unable to see the output of their program and is unable to even gauge that their program has worked. Speechlet was therefore produced to allow a blind student to move the mouse pointer over the screen and hear a spoken description of what is there. This paper discusses the reasons for the development of Speechlet, followed by a description of its operation and finally a discussion of its use in practise.
Mullier, D.J. TechDis (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Software
#15198
Provides a few suggestions about how writers and editors can use spelling and grammar checkers more effectively.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2001). Articles>Word Processing>Software
#26118
This section shows you how to use Word’s spelling, grammar, and research tools. You also learn how to hyphenate documents, print envelopes and labels, and work with XML.
Glenn, Walter. O'Reilly and Associates (2004). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word
#19634
A Standards-Compliant Publishing Tool for the Rest of Us?
Publishing with web standards is not for experts alone. A new tool hopes to make it easier for anyone. ALA interviews Six Apart’s Anil Dash about what might be the first standards-compliant web publishing tool for the rest of us.
Dash, Anil. List Apart, A (2003). Articles>Web Design>Software
#26749
Stop Graphics from Increasing the Size of Your Word Documents
When you insert a graphic into your Word document, it increases the file size automatically as Word has to ‘store’ (i.e. duplicate) a rendering of the graphic in the document. To avoid this happening, you can reduce the file size by storing only the links to the graphics and not the actual graphic itself.
Klariti (2006). Articles>Software>Word Processing>Microsoft Word
#27192
Strait and Narrow: Using Columns
When you open a new blank document in Word, you begin typing at the left side of the screen/page and continue typing to the right margin, where Word wraps your text back to the left so you can start again. All your lines of text are full width. But sometimes you need to divide your text into two or more columns.
Barnhill, Suzanne and Dave Rado. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word
#31951
There’s no question that developers need version control when working on an app. But what about designers? In this article Chris Nagele, founder of Beanstalk, talks about the benefits and basics of Subversion for designers.
Nagele, Chris. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Software
#30585
Systems and Programming Documentation for Technical Writers with No Data Processing Background
This workshop teaches technical communicators what to include in internal documentation, how to interview and work with technical people, and basics of how to 'read' and evaluate code.
Glick-Smith, Judith L. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Programming>Software
#24203
Taking Advantage of "Automatic Text" Features
I recently began looking for a way to eliminate the need to manually perform small repetitive tasks. In Microsoft Word, that way is through the software’s 'automatic text' features: Autoformat, Autocorrect, and Autotext. In this article, I’ll focus on these features in Word, but will also discuss how to lighten the work load in other software.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2004). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word
#28961
Taking Risks with a New Online Help Tool
Some might not think that converting FrameMaker content into online help and user documentation would involve taking risks. In this article, we tell our story of what risks were involved with one of my recent projects, how we overcame them, and what benefits we reaped by using state-of-the-art technology.
Grissino, Ann-Marie and Rebecca McMurry. Carolina Communique (2007). Articles>Software>Help>Madcap Flare
