#20400
At the 1989 Developers’ Conference, Apple revealed an entirely new typographic universe to 1500 eager supporters. The combination of a new font technology, a greatly enhanced line layout manager, and an entirely new printer driver architecture promises to make the Macintosh the premier machine for print-oriented graphics, and open new opportunities for Macintosh developers. The three features are closely related and need to be discussed together to understand the full impact.
Alviani, Frank. MacTech (1990). Design>Typography>Online>Macintosh
#22840
A New Way to Talk: ComputerEase.common 
Have you noticed? As the world shrinks, the need for good communication gets bigger. More people talk, chat, argue, negotiate, make love, and make war through electronic communication today than ever before. If you can't communicate electronically with ease, then you'd better learn fast. To rephrase Yogi Bera, 'if you don't know how to talk on the information highway, you'll end up somewhere else.' The purpose of this progression is to foster dynamic roundtable discussion about what it means to communicate well through electronic means such as email.
Baxley, Deborah Lewis. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Communication>Online>Email
#24658
Next Generation Microsoft Online Help
Just as clothing styles change, and fall's fashion is different from summer's, so Microsoft presents it's new fall's fashion of online help to a fashion-consious entourage of software companies always eager to follow Microsoft's lead.
Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#20074
No Dumping Allowed: The Right Way to Put Documents Online
The best way to fail at online documentation is to dump existing paper documents online. Successful online documentation requires thoughtful design that takes account of the many subtle differences between paper and online documents. This demonstration shows why dumping documents online is a bad idea, what you should do instead, how to convince your management not to dump documents online, and what to do if they require you to dump documents online.
Horton, Katherine W. and William K. Horton III. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Online
#29867
Non-Fatal Errors: Creating Usable, Effective Error Messages
'Memory requests for some applications may be denied.' 'Error 404: File not found.' 'Invalid entry. Check your info and resubmit.' 'Fatal error. Procedure aborted.' It's often easy to identify what kinds of error messages don't help users, but it can be tricky to avoid them, and even more of a challenge to create the opposite: error messages that give users a clear indication of the problem, offer information to help them fix it, and provide tips on how to avoid the same situation in the future. This paper details the steps involved in creating understandable, helpful error messages, and suggests ways of communicating the value of good error messages to managers and executives.
Wilska, Emily. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Documentation>Help>Online
#27654
Non-Fatal Errors: Creating Usable, Effective Error Messages
It's often easy to identify what kinds of error messages don't help users, but it can be tricky to avoid them, and even more of a challenge to create the opposite: error messages that give users a clear indication of the problem, offer information to help them fix it, and provide tips on how to avoid the same situation in the future. This paper details the steps involved in creating understandable, helpful error messages, and suggests ways of communicating the value of good error messages to managers and executives.
Wilska, Emily. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Online
#11830
Notes on Moving from a Character Cell to GUI
For things like order-entry or general form input, some of the attributes of windowing applications can get in the way. If you are designing a windowing application for frequent form-based input/modification, you want really good keyboard capabilities, an absence of windows popping around, a minimum of keyboard mouse transitions, etc. The guidelines for Windows design don't really deal well with form design and high-frequency data input and modification.
Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (1998). Articles>Usability>Online
#27984
Obtaining User Feedback: How Useful Are Your Online Help Systems?
Surveys or questions posed to users may not be entirely useful when determining whether a user's experience with the help feature was successful or not. The author provides instructions on implementing a tool that will provide this kind of feedback.
Webb, Jeremy. Intercom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Online>Assessment
#25861
The course Web site is a critical mediator between the instructor and students in online classes. This requires a shift in how instructors think of their presence and influence on the classroom. This essay, based on the author’s personal experience in designing and teaching online, argues that the design of the course Web site needs to carefully reflect the passions and pedagogical philosophy that drive the instructor. It is also an argument against one–size–fits–all approaches to online course design as instantiated in most course management systems.
Mishra, Punya. First Monday (2005). Articles>Education>Online
#22857
On Beyond Help: Interface Design Paradigms for Online Documents
In the world of printed documentation, there are many different programs, with different ways of solving the problem of editing and layout, but they all produce the same product in the end--a printed page. The online world can be bewildering even to experienced authors, since not only the authoring approach but the end result can vary so widely. This session is a look at some of the different types of online systems and how they affect both interface and document design.
Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Publishing>Online
#13667
In my forays into digital photography in the last four years, I've encountered a number of issues and learned a lot about making pictures sans film. With any new technology, one is forced to deal with both the same old issues and arguments, and also, brand new ones that have never before been considered. Rather than make any attempt at cohesiveness, below are some various points and lessons I've learned.
Voss, Stephen. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Online
#24729
In the eras of Windows 3.x and earlier versions of Windows 95, the only help system people worked with or even knew about was WinHelp. Problems started with the transition to Windows 95, when developers and users alike had to learn to deal with WinHelp 4.0's separate dialog with the Contents, Index, and Find tabs.
Liske, David E. MVPs.org (2003). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#22862
One Hundred and One Standards for Online Communication
A wealth of opinions and conventions are available on designing and writing good online documentation. This paper compiles many of these guidelines into one central list for easy reference. The session will discuss reasons for the guidelines as well as provide references for further research on areas of interest.
Stevens, Dawn M. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation>Online
#22861
Designing an effective online documentation strategy involves considering both the needs of the user and the needs of the business for which the documentation is being developed. This paper examines how Dell Computer Corporation devised a separate online documentation strategy for each of its four business lines based on the target customer and particular objectives of each business.
Borelli, Paul J. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation>Online
#19856
Online Collaboration: Distance Learning and Professional Forums Display Advantages and Disadvantages
Online collaboration has become a major resource for students and professionals alike. Distance learning and other forms of online communication have become established norms for many schools and professional organizations. While online communication has countless benefits, several disadvantages exist and continue to emerge. This paper will explore the authors’ personal experiences as students and professionals, taking an in-depth look at online collaboration forums such as distance learning and professional collaborations as well as the advantages and disadvantages that each of these forums present.
House, Andrea L. and Holly N. Siegelman. STC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Online
#13653
A study of how a rhetorical perspective can help to improve the construction of virtual communities. By applying rhetorical theory to environments and communication, my research demonstrates that the relationship between a speaker and audience is in part determined by spatial cues. That means that the architecture of a virtual environment creates interactional expectations that guide activity within the environment. A major component of these expectations is the authority of a participant in relation to others; spatial cues help speakers determine the ethos -- or relational background -- of others. Researching this relationship across a variety of online environments has demonstrated that the structure of public and private spaces within an online community will affect congregating patterns, conversational habits, genres of discourse, community coherence, and social structure. In addition to spatial cues, representational choices also influence participants’ expectations of themselves and others. In my most recent study I have created an online environment that incorporates an @race property into the familiar litany of @gender, @description, and @research found in many educational and social environments.
Kolko, Beth E. ACM SIGCHI (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Online
#28767
Online Communities, Member Maps, Virtual Chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and More
In this podcast, Heidi and Tom talk about online communities, member maps, virtual chats, Sparkpeople, Intercom, and more.
Johnson, Tom H. and Heidi Hansen. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>TC>Community Building>Online
#14810
Online Documentation and Online Help
A bibliography that presents major works on topics discussed in the book Inside Macintosh: Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines.
Apple Inc. (1996). Resources>Bibliographies>Documentation>Online
#10827
Online Documentation: Design Issues
Designing online documentation? You mean I can’t just take the word processing file and make it available on our network, or throw the document into a Windows Help file and ship it? Well, I would not recommend either of those options. You should take many things into consideration when you design an online document.
TechCom Plus (1999). Design>Publishing>Documentation>Online
#14825
Increasingly, editors are being asked to perform online editing of traditional paper documents, edit documents that will ultimately reside online, or both. Yet many editors are unfamiliar with the new tools and information media that often require us to rethink existing ways of doing our jobs. Editors and other information developers will discuss some of the issues we must face and share their own insights about this emerging area of concern as we move into new, initially intimidating territory.
Hamilton, Karen J. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Editing>Online
#13768
Online Editing, Mark-Up Models, and the Workplace Lives of Editors and Writers 
Despite the fact that most editing is still performed on paper, there are compelling reasons to begin marking copy on the computer.
Farkas, David K. and Steven E. Poltrock. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1995). Articles>Editing>Online
#15172
Online Editing: Minimizing Your Turnaround Time
Outlines an editing process that minimizes turnaround time by making the most of word processor technology.
Petersen, Judy H. Intercom (2000). Articles>Editing>Online
#23774
#23298
Online Education Design: A Select Bibliography
A bibliography of writings about online education.
Mantex (2002). Resources>Bibliographies>Instructional Design>Online
#23166
This article examines many surprising problems that arise in the process of distance education using the Internet and describes ways in which instructors and administrators can solve these problems. The information in the article is based largely on the experience of educators at Utah State University who have been exploring distance education for the past six years by teaching a wide range of online courses via the Internet. As a result of this varied online teaching, we have encountered a broad spectrum of challenges to which we have tried to respond and from which we have tried to learn. The solutions described are generalizable to other programs using online delivery for instruction.
Hailey, David E., Keith Grant-Davie, Christine A. Hult. Computers and Composition (2001). Articles>Education>Online>Collaboration
