The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome

It is perhaps the market forces driving web development projects that find us aligning ourselves with the lexicons of marketing and advertising rather than publishing. As a result, we have lots of “brand identity guidelines,” but not so many “style guides” (for content, at least). We have “strategists,” but no “commissioning editors,” and we more often “go live” than “publish.” Hence, we tend to first think “copywriter” when trying to get our content sorted, whereas very often an editor is the person we should be engaging. That’s not to say there aren’t editors in our industry—there are—but they tend to be a part of large online publishing projects after launch rather than a part of the development lifecycle from the beginning. (Somehow, we’ve become a kind of freak cousin of publishing, ignoring that industry’s expertise.) In many cases, an editor would be a great addition to our process as well as, in some cases, a better and more rational investment than a copywriter.

Ronalds, Pepi. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Current Status Of Business And Technical Writing Courses In English Departments

We have heard a great deal of talk in recent years about the growth of business and technical writing courses in English departments. But very little, if any, factual information exists on how much enrollments have grown and whether they are expected to grow in the near future. Furthermore, no study has attempted to assess the impact these relatively new, rapidly expanding courses are having and will continue to have on English departments and their faculty members.

Rivers, William E. ADE Bulletin (1985). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Technical Writing

A Curriculum for a Corporate Technical Writing Department: Providing Cost-Effective, Ongoing, Quality Training  

This paper develops a cost-effective, ongoing, process-oriented writing curriculum for a technical writing department. This curriculum meets the needs of adult learners and the corporation and provides training for all experience and expertise levels while also allowing writers to meet the demands of their projects.

Gyure, Gloria M.D. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Customer-Supplier Relationships in the Writing Process  

Do you know your customers? They may be in the next office. The collection of people involved in the writing process need certain things from each other; they compose a contained group of customers and suppliers. In order to effectively produce documents, these internal customers and suppliers must recognize and meet each other’s needs. Evaluating the documentation process and determining how well all parties’ needs are met will promote teamwork as well as process improvements.

Ward, Brian. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>User Centered Design

Cut Big, Then Small

Precise and concise writing comes from disciplined cutting.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Cut Paper Text By Half

Reading from computer screens is about 25% slower than reading from paper. As a result, people don’t want to read a lot of text from computer screens: you should write 50% less text and not just 25% less since it’s not only a matter of reading speed but also a matter of feeling good.

Communication Circle, The (1998). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Dangers of Personal Blogging

Bloggers who recklessly gush all types of personal details in their blogs may regret it. Stalkers, child predators, identity theft criminals, fanatics, and others are seeking photos and names of children, home addresses, home phone numbers, etc. Learn about the Dark Side of blogging and be smart.

Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2005). Articles>Writing>Security>Blogging

Dangling for Position

Dangling modifiers can be humorous for the reader, but humiliating for the writer. They're insidious, creeping into our prose and undermining our sentence structure. But they're easy to find if you know what to look for.

Wenger, Andrea. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Writing>Grammar

Dead Tree or Detailed Treatise: What is a White Paper?

So what exactly is a white paper? This is one of those questions many people have been wrestling with for some time. If you look up the term in a dictionary, you'll find an outdated response describing a government report.

Stelzner, Michael A. WhitePaperSource (2006). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>White Papers

Deadly Sins of Technical Writing  

Some technical writers enter the field with strong writing backgrounds and moderate technical backgrounds. Others enter the field with strong technical backgrounds and moderate writing skills. This workshop is designed to help the latter group polish their writing skills.

Cox, Donna H. and Loretta F. Albert. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Deadwood Phrases

Deadwood phrases are found in all types of writing. In technical writing they are to be avoided at all costs as documentation needs to be crisp, concise and accurate.

Klariti. Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism

Dealing with “Enronitis”: Written Communications for Building Investor Confidence  

Recently, investor confidence has deteriorated, in part due to the discovery of fraud at several large companies. As a result, many communications from those in the financial industry have attempted to regain investor trust and confidence. This paper reports my analysis of five such communications and the themes I found appearing in them: need for trust, history of continuous improvement, continued existence of high ethical and professional standards, and investor wisdom. In writing trust-building communications, technical communicators should note: trust is built in several ways, history does not always repeat itself, and emotions are very powerful factors in decision-making.

Bloch, Janel M. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>Emotions

The Death of the Technical Author?

Technical Authors do not have high prominence in the workplace, and they don't have the best of images (as can be seen by the movie 'The Technical Writer'). Today, there are a number of Technical Authors struggling to find new employment in the current IT sector, and one can find messages on Internet newsgroups questioning the future employment prospects for Technical Authors in North America and Europe. Some wonder whether the role of the Technical Author will disappear, like other careers have in the past. In this article we look at the problems faced by Technical Authors in defining their role, and make some recommendations for the future.

Birn, William. Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Writing>Professionalism>Technical Writing

Debbie Kennedy on Modular Writing and Reusability

Kennedy's presentation on modular writing and reusability was attended by about 200 people. In her presentation, Debbie explained how to chunk content by first looking at different content types: procedures, processes, facts, principles, and so forth. She also mentions a tool called Content Mapper that writers can use to chunk and reuse information through Microsoft Word.

Kennedy, Debbie. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Writing>Content Management>Podcasts

Deep Thinking About Weblogs

Weblogs are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore for those of us who spend much time reading the Web. Also known by the inscrutable nickname 'blogs', weblogs are something of a hard nut to crack. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that a great deal of weblog content today is about weblogs and weblog technology. What are weblogs? What's the big deal? Why should we pay attention? We attempt to answer these questions in the essay that follows.

Grumet, Andrew. Grumet.net (2002). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

Deking for Dignity

Deke, an abbreviation of decoy, is Canadian hockey slang meaning to deceive (usually a defensive player) with a fake shot or movement. The term is frequently used outside of the hockey context.

Goldberger, Dalya. Writer's Block. Articles>Language>Writing

Delivering Clear Messages in a Technical Environment  

Argues that effective titles and slogans can help members of a documentation team keep their focus while working on a project.

Kocak, Paul J. Intercom (2001). Articles>Writing>TC

Demand for Writers is High, 'Technically'

Today, the demand for technical writers in India is rapidly rising.

Times of India (2003). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>India

Design, Results, and Analysis Assessment Components Nine-Course Program    

The case for assessment of college writing programs no longer needs to be made. Although none of us would have chosen the words, we all have come to accept the truth of Roger Debreceny’s words: the 'free ride' for America’s colleges and universities is indeed over (1). All writing programs face difficulties in selecting the means for the most effective evaluations for their individual programs. Key concerns include how appropriately, practically, and cost effectively various assessment tools address this problem.

Carson, J. Stanton, Patricia G. Wojahn, John R. Hayes and Thomas A. Marshall. LLAD (2003). Articles>Education>Writing>Assessment

Designing and Writing to Reduce User Errors

A vast majority of documents (I consider print and online as documentation) often works to define the optimized error-free method of performing a task and provides a user with a straightforward solution. However, the user expects documentation to help solve problems and address errors. Thus, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have and how to correct them. Errors have different causes; the information designer should understand the potential types of errors since properly addressing each type requires a different approach in the design and documentation.

Albers, Michael J. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Usability

Designing and Writing to Reduce User Errors  

A vast majority of documents (I consider print and online as documentation) often works to define the optimized error-free method of performing a task and provides a user with a straightforward solution. However, the user expects documentation to help solve problems and address errors. Thus, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have and how to correct them. Errors have different causes; the information designer should understand the potential types of errors since properly addressing each type requires a different approach in the design and documentation.

Albers, Michael J. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing

Developing a Resource for Multinational Writing at Xerox Corporation    

Documentation and training developers at Xerox Corporation have been creating materials for worldwide distribution for many years. MC&SE - the Multinational Customer and Service Education organization - has included a translation department since 1978. A system of writing for both machine and manual translation had been in place since then. The supporting materials for this writing system had become scattered and, in some cases, obsolete. When MC&SE created an Employee Development System, two skills that pertain to global communication were identified: 'Writing for Translatability' and 'Global Design'. Many of the resources that had been used in support of multinational document creation were pertinent to the development of these skills. The article describes the development of an updated set of training aids to assist authors in developing their global communication competency.

Adams, Ann H., Gail W. Austin and Melissa Taylor. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Writing>International

Developing a Web-Based Tutorial in RoboHelp

The very first thing you should do in developing a tutorial is to be familiar enough with the subject matter that you can write the content.

School for Champions (2005). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing