#13685
Conducting Usability Tests to Upgrade Your Web Sites 
Usability testing can be planned and executed at various levels of complexity to enhance your Web site throughout stages of development. Include usability testing in the front-end planning and set Web site usability goals. Test early prototypes and then test again to quantify improvements. Assemble a team to plan the testing even if it is just two people. If you follow a planning and testing checklist, you should be rewarded with valuable data to analyze and upgrade your Web site. The process and outcome can enhance your company¶s reputation or improve your credibility as an information designer or developer.
Lester, Susan M.J. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Web Design>Usability
#10780
This presentation introduces your students to the rules of comma usage, including placement in compound sentences, after introductory elements, with dependent phrases and clauses, around non-essential elements, in a series, and with adjectives. This presentation also covers methods for avoiding a common comma error--the comma splice. This presentation is ideal for the beginning of a composition course, the assignment of a writing project, or as a refresher presentation for grammar usage.
Liethen, Jennifer Kunka. Purdue University. Presentations>Slideshows>Style Guides>Grammar
#22441
Content Management and Information Architecture
Content management is information architecture writ large.
Boiko, Bob. ASIST (2001). Presentations>Content Management>Information Design>Content Strategy
#13107
Content Management for Single Sourcing
Content management is becoming a critical component of single sourcing. It provides a method for managing our single source materials and ensuring that information can be easily retrieved for reuse. This session explains what a content management system will do for you and how to use it effectively.
Rockley, Ann. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Content Management>Single Sourcing
#14402
Many FrameMaker users need to publish their documents on the World Wide Web. The best approach is to use a converter, which preserves the format and organization of the original FrameMaker document. Good converters can handle long, complex documents that contain elements such as table of contents, index, line drawings, bitmap graphics, tables, footnotes, and equations. We discuss the benefits of having a single source document for paper and Web, the techniques for creating documents that can be converted easily, and the powerful conversion tools available today.
Jackson, Ken and Sonya E. Keene. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Web Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#20491
Convince the Crowd With Presentations and Diagrams
Why just get by with a boring presentation when you can create a dynamite Microsoft Office PowerPoint® presentation or a colorful Microsoft Office Visio® diagram? Get ready to impress the big boss or the new team with simple ideas that go a long way.
Microsoft. Articles>Presentations>Software>Microsoft PowerPoint
#13307
As original content takes on new forms in the rapidly developing and ever-changing digital publishing environment, copyright issues become increasingly important. Publishers that work with those authors who choose to link the information from their printed books to web pages can ensure that copyright violations do not occur.
Lemiski, Karen J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Intellectual Property>Copyright>Online
#28826
Core Principles of Information Architecture 
Technical editing is like information architecture. As technical editors, we complete development edits and usability edits to ensure organization, labeling, navigation and search meet the users' needs. As information architects, we are involved with "the design of organization, labeling, navigation, and searching systems to help people find and manage information more successfully."
Corbin Nichols, Michelle. STC Proceedings (2007). Presentations>Information Design>Technical Editing
#23140
Documentation contributes to customer goodwill and can increase sales.
Graham, Bonni. STC India (2003). Presentations>Management
#14403
COTS: The New Challenge of Information Integration
Systems engineering is moving away from specially-designed and built systems to integration of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software. COTS brings new challenges to technical communicators. In the past, we found all our information in-house, now it comes from many sources. We must change our process from pure development to information integration, and we must be part of the COTS selection process.
Lenk, Donald S. Jr. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Information Design>Software
#22252
As the word craft in the title of the book suggests, the ability to give good presentations is not a genetically linked trait but a craft that can be learned.
Armbruster, David L. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Presentations>Scientific Communication
#24481
Create a Slideshow with the Dreamweaver Timeline
The Dreamweaver Timeline uses layers and JavaScript to create animation and interactivity. To create a series of rotating images, prepare each image at the same size in a graphics program first (i.e., Photoshop, Fireworks, ImageReady, etc.). Then insert a layer on the page. This layer will serve as a placeholder for the rotating images.
Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Presentations>Dreamweaver
#26114
Create a Voice Presentation With Impress and Audacity
Building a basic presentation that records and uses voice may be an important tool for communicating information. This project is based on employing two programs, Impress, which is the presentation program with OpenOffice, and Audacity, an easy to use sound editor, for building a voice presentation.
SpiderTools (2004). Articles>Presentations>Software>OpenOffice
#22726
This video will show you how to make an eyecatching backlit display.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
#22728
An introduction to how to create a magnetic sign for indoor displays.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
#14523
Creating A Paradigm Shift In Managers And Professionals Who Use Standards
Organizational standards are often just a set of documents put into place for auditors or regulatory bodies. In such instances, the standards usually do not reflect current practices, which are passed along by word-of-mouth. Unfortunately, even if the information is up-to-date, it may not be easily retrievable by the person in immediate need of it. In a hospital setting, this situation can be extremely costly. It can also provide immense opportunities for the technical communicator to become a vital part of a cross-functional team.
Richardson, Verna. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Writing>Policies and Procedures
#26432
Creating a Simple Traditional Countdown in a PowerPoint Presentation
An article featuring steps on how to create a traditional countdown using custom animations in PowerPoint.
Tohlz, Shawn. PowerPoint Heaven (2005). Articles>Presentations>Software>Microsoft PowerPoint
#13306
Creating a Unified Web Site Design for the School of Technology at Purdue University
The problem with any poorly designed web site is inconsistency. As a web designer or developer, one must create a web site as a finite, predictable universe with a specific set of standards and design specifications. When visitors go to any given page on a site, they should be able to recognize that they’re in the same site. The main focus of this paper outlines how a unified web site design was created for the School of Technology at Purdue University. In developing unified web sites it is important to have visual hints throughout a given site such as consistent typefaces for specific needs, consistent color palettes, and consistent placement and layout.
Miller, Susan G. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Web Design>Usability
#22725
This video will cover professional banner design and layout and choosing the right material for the job.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
#22727
Creating an Indoor Print on Rigid Substrate
Covers scanning a photograph, laying out the graphic, printing, mounting, and then a review of components.
Hewlett-Packard. Presentations>Document Design>Streaming>Video
#14404
Creating an Interactive Online User Guide
Want to create a colorful, interactive online version of your FrameMaker® documents? Not many steps are involved in making the conversion: start with template changes in the FrameMaker files; create a postscript file; convert it into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file using Adobe Distiller®; and add final touches to the PDF file in Adobe Exchange®.
Beren, Wendy G. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Documentation>Online>Adobe FrameMaker
#22724
Creating an Outdoor, Durable Event Banner
Takes you through each step needed to create a durable outdoor banner.
#14405
Creating Animated Graphics for the Web on a Tight Budget
Creating your own animated graphics is not as far out of reach as you may think. Even though many Web information developers lack the skills to venture into animation, in a relatively short amount of time they can learn how. We will demonstrate a few of the actual animations that we’ve created in-house, and also share what was involved in our decision-making: who should do the work, the costs involved, and the software issues we encountered.
Hamilton, Karen J. and Gary Basham. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Multimedia>Interactive
#13689
Creating Award-Winning Computer Servicing Documentation
Creating award-winning computer servicing documentation involves knowing something about customer service engineers, what content to provide, what kinds of art work best in different contexts, and differences in producing hard copy vs. online documentation. If you want to move from writing software or marketing documentation, find a good mentor to help you gain experience with these elements.
Nelson, Dennis T. and Donald C. Phippen. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Documentation
#29511
Creating Effective Poster Presentations: An Effective Poster
An effective poster is not just a standard research paper stuck to a board. A poster uses a different, visual grammar. It shows, not tells.
Hess, George, Kathryn Tosney and Leon Liegel. North Carolina State University (2006). Design>Presentations>Posters>Visual Rhetoric
