#29448
Review: User Experience in Brazil - USIHC 2007
Brazil was the site of the seventh International Conference of Ergonomics and Usability, Interface Design, and Human Computer Interaction. Held in the seaside city of Balneario Camboriu in the southern Brazil state of Santa Caterina, the conference was hosted by the Universidade do Valle do Itajai (UNIVALI). I was fortunate to be invited to participate in the conference.
Sherman, Paul J. Usability Professionals Association (2007). Articles>Reviews>User Experience
#22187
Review: User-Centered Organizations: Are We Making Progress, Yet?
In Designing Customer-Centered Organizations, John Zapolski and Jared Braiterman suggest a strategy for applying user-centered design principles to business strategy.
#21596
Review: Visualización de Redes Sociales
Las redes sociales son las responsables de muchas de las estructuras de poder e influencia en nuestro mundo. No siempre es fácil reconocer su estructura y comportamiento. La visualización y el análisis de redes sociales pueden contribuir notablemente a conocerlas.
Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Reviews>Software>Technical Illustration
#22342
Review: Web Design for Dummies 
I enjoyed Lopuck's book. She uses graphics well and includes plenty of illustrations to support her points. The icons that point out tips and warnings are also effective. This book is a nice reference to keep handy during the design and evaluation of Web sites and Web pages.
Lunemann, Rhonda S. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Web Design
#22362
Review: Web Design Tools and Techniques
Peter Kentie's new book bridges a gap between books for beginning Web designers and advanced works for practitioners interested primarily in the usability of Web pages.
Jennings, Ann S. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Web Design
#22343
Review: Web-Based Instructional Learning
You may not find all the answers to your evolving questions, but the authors throughout the book do a good job of analyzing relevant research questions, defining the current state of Web-based education, and suggesting areas for continuing research. The book comes as close as you'll find to 'everything you always wanted to know about Web-based instruction,' with its in-depth coverage of today's Web education issues and research.
Porter, Lynnette R. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Education>Online
#22274
Review: Website Indexing: Enhancing Access to Information Within Websites
Browne and Jermey say that 'increasingly sophisticated retrieval methods' will be needed as the Web gets more complex. They believe that good, back-of-the-book-style indexes 'are effective tools for improving the speed and accuracy of user searches.' With their book as a guide, you are in a position to determine that for yourself and for your Web site.
Hudak-David, Ginny. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Indexing>Web Design
#27091
Review: WebWorks versus RoboHelp: a Comparison by One FrameUser 
I would say that the two products are more or less equal in the template creation category, with RH having some advantages. On the other hand, WWP is much more usable, customizable, and faster in the generation/compilation department. Given that template creation is done very seldom, and generation/compilation is done frequently, its advantages in this area make WWP the better product.
White, Leigh. Bright Path Solutions (2005). Articles>Reviews>Software>Adobe FrameMaker
#22433
Review: What's the Matter with the Internet?
You should not read this book if you're looking for the final answer to what's the matter with the Internet. Poster points us toward the issues that he thinks will affect the Internet's ultimate shape—politics, authorship, ethnicity, citizenship, identity—but he leaves us with more questions than answers. By questioning and observing, and by applying key technological theories, he suggests a way of approaching a critique of the Internet.
Kitalong, Karla Saari. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Technology>Theory
#22063
Review: White Graphics: The Power of White in Graphic Design
Every graphic designer or editor who has been forced to explain to a client why there is nothing—text or image—on a part of a page should have Gail Deibler Finke's newest book. It demonstrates clearly and convincingly 'the power of white in graphic design.'
Hudak-David, Ginny. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design
#27599
Review: Write Your Way to Riches: How to Make Money as a Technical Writer
Write Your Way to Riches gives you comprehensive, step-by-step details on how to make money as a technical writer. Technical writing is one of the highest paid writing professions, and it's easy to get into.
Gregg, Joseph. Writers Weekly (2001). Articles>Reviews>Writing>Technical Writing
#22013
Review: The Writer's Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals
Have you ever wondered how to submit a piece of your work for publication, or have you done so, only to be rejected? According to Moira Allen, there are important procedures to follow when writing a perfect pitch for a potential publication. As the author of two books and over 200 articles and columns in well-known periodicals, Allen has also served as the editor for online publications such as Inkspot and Inklings. With this level of experience alone, Allen is more than qualified to offer good advice on writing queries, yet in addition, she includes 16 other contributors who provide tips from their specific areas of expertise for writing successful queries, pitches, and proposals.
Sharpe, Victoria. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Proposals
#22180
Review: Writer's Market FAQs: Fast Answers about Getting Published and the Business of Writing
Rubie uses a question-and-answer format for his book, which makes the book difficult to sit and read cover to cover but works well when one uses it for reference.
Kadilak, Denise. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Publishing>Writing
#22251
Review: Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators on and off the Job
Organized into three parts ('Initiation stories,' 'The process,' and 'Life on and off the job'), the stories cover the gamut of job titles, employers, and years of experience. The book also lists contributors' stories by topic, making it easy to locate subjects such as 'authoring, ethos and identity,' 'collaboration and teamwork,' or 'ethics.' There's a little something for everyone in this readable book, even if you've been in the field for years—and especially if you're ready for something just a little bit different.
Anderson, Darrill. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>TC
#14980
Review: Writing in the Business Professions
Writing in the Business Professions should interest teachers of advanced composition. I encourage them to peruse the volume for themselves since I can’t analyze its contents at length here. I do, however, feel that I need to warn potential readers about several things that perplexed me when I read the book especially since this book may help determine the future of business communication instruction in the 1990s.
Hagge, John. JAC (1990). Articles>Reviews>Business Communication
#22222
Review: The Writing System: A Step-by-Step Guide for Business and Technical Writers
I would recommend this book to subject matter experts who lack writing expertise. The exercises and examples are especially beneficial to lone writers who often do not have an expert writer nearby to review their writing.
Jones, Irene. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Writing>Technical Writing
#15029
Review: Writing Technology: Studies on the Materiality of Literacy
In these days of dizzying technological change, it is difficult for teachers of composition not to be enthusiastic about the ever expanding arsenal of literacy tools at our disposal. From the myriad possibilities of networked classrooms to the disseminal opportunities of the World Wide Web, these technologies offer us promising venues in which to teach the craft of writing to our students, who seem more than eager to embrace these digital technologies. Yet anyone who remembers the days before word processors realizes that the relationship between writer and text has changed, and not just because of poststructural theorists like Barthes and Foucault. While word processors undoubtedly have eased our production and revision of texts, they have also altered our spatial and tactile relationship to the writing process. And some would argue these changes are not necessarily for the better; perhaps all of us in the computers and writing community know a Luddite colleague who eschews the technological elegance of an Apple PowerBook for the simpler pleasures of an antique fountain pen and hand-bound writing journal. To the technological cognoscenti, such resistance seems at times like quaint nostalgia for a world that is quickly disappearing. But the more I scour the digital landscape to keep abreast of new technologies, the more a gnawing question tugs at my synapses: 'What is being gained and what is being lost as the tools of literacy increase in complexity?'
Honeycutt, Lee. Kairos (1997). Resources>Reviews>Technology>Writing
#22436
XML Pocket Consultant is the latest in Microsoft Press's Pocket Consultant series. Other books in the series include guides to server administration developed for IT professionals. Stanek explains in his introduction that XML pocket consultant is aimed at a wider audience, namely 'developers creating XML-based solutions, administrators who support XML-based solutions and technologists working with XML.'
Jungwirth, Barbara. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>XML
#22061
It is easy to see why the first edition of Michael Young's book won the top award, 'Distinguished Technical Communication,' in the 2000–-2001 International Technical Publications Competition. Young has taken the complex subject of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and written about it in such a way as to make learning about XML an enjoyable experience.
Lunemann, Rhonda S. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>XML
#29975
Review: XMLmind XML Editor v3.0
XMLmind is a great introductory tool for technical writers entering the world of structured authoring and DocBook. It successfully hides the esoterics of XML markup from the author, so that the focus can be on the words, rather than the code. At no cost (yes, absolutely free) for the Standard edition, and USD220 for a single user licence for the Professional Edition, XMLmind offers excellent value. The software is available for Linux, Windows and Mac. There are two main problems with XMLmind XML Editor: it does not currently support DITA schemas, and it does not incorporate a (Notepad-like) text editor in case you do need to patch up your code.
Self, Tony. HyperWrite (2007). Articles>Reviews>Software>XML
#22105
Review: You Send Me: Getting It Right When You Write Online
This book addresses the issues of online writing and particularly writing e-mail, which should concern all us who spend a good chunk of our days in front of a computer screen creating and replying to e-mail messages. The book is structured in three parts: 'The virtual mensch,' 'Alpha mail,' and 'Words of passage.'
Crawley, Charles R. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Reviews>Style Guides>Email
#28923
Review: Zen and the Art of Information Architecture
New Web 2.0 interaction design can offer a lot of new suggestions for easier interactions, good use of white space and other glaring design solutions to the typically very busy space of information architecture. But, if you practice IA well, including some new Web 2.0 techniques, you can begin to create mental space as well as white space. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design, a new New Riders book by Robert Hoekman, Jr., is a great place to find out how much mental space can be offered by your systems.
Evans, Clifton. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design
#32093
A very brief review of the first edition of Edmond H. Weiss’s How to Write a Usable User Manual.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2006). Articles>Reviews>Documentation>Technical Writing
#32094
Review: What Excellence Looks Like
Comments on the magnificent Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2006). Articles>Reviews>Visual Rhetoric>Information Design
#32097
Review: Clear, Brief and Bold: Will Strunk’s Legacy
A masterpiece of concision so tightly written that you almost don't need to read past the table of contents.
West, Mike. MBWest.com (2004). Articles>Reviews>Writing>Minimalism
