Five Simple Ways to Let Go and Give in to New Digital Routines

The way to be a jack-of-all-trades is to have the right tools in place so you can spend more time on the things you're good at. Here are five simple switches that allow you to shake your fusty old habits and start using the right tools.

Danzico, Liz. Core77 (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Workflow

Word: Turn Off Pagination

If you’re working in a long or large document, Word’s background pagination can become a productivity killer. While it’s occurring, you can’t work as fast as usual, and sometimes, you can’t work at all until the paginating stops. You can turn off this background pagination, but only in certain view modes in Word.

CyberText Consulting (2009). Articles>Word Processing>Workflow>Microsoft Word

Fast Layout in Adobe InDesign CS4

Every now and then an app gets an update that really impacts your daily routine, and I’m happy to say that InDesign CS4 has some new-and-improved features that will do just that. InDesign is a page layout app, so anything that helps that process is a welcome addition, so let’s take a look at how CS4 will speed up your day-to-day work.

White, Terry. Layers Magazine (2009). Articles>Document Design>Workflow>Adobe InDesign

Of the Importance of Documenting

Documentation is important, from the end users to the developers, if you want your project to self sustain, if you want to ease the life of other people, and if you want your project to live a long and prosperous life. People were not in your head (and are not in your head) when you wrote that strange thing. 1-2 years from now you could be working for another company, what would be of other people who are trying to understand what you wrote? How would people easily understand how things work in a complex environment?

Casagrande, Milo. WordPress (2009). Articles>Documentation>Workflow>Policies and Procedures

First, Do No Harm

In my column, On Good Behavior, I’ll explore the essentials of good interaction design. This first column provides a brief introduction to interaction design—defining the scope this column will cover—then explores some key design principles. What is interaction design?

Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2009). Articles>User Experience>Interaction Design>Workflow

Visual Methods of Communicating Structure, Relationship, and Flow

Many of us are more comfortable communicating in words than in pictures. For example, user assistance writers are by nature and training writers, so they understand words and are adept at using word processing and publishing tools. Writers use lexicentric tools not only for creating and delivering content, but also as cognitive tools—that is, tools that help them think more clearly and efficiently. Thus, a user assistance writer might create a user-task matrix or take advantage of a word processor’s outline view when creating or evaluating a document’s structure.

Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2009). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Workflow

Flow to Done: Tap Into Your Creative Source

What is flow? It’s kind of like a river of writing, it’s an uninterrupted stream of consciousness directly from the source of your creativity through your brain, into your nervous system, out your hands, into your computer. I like to think of it as zen writing meditation. There is some important prep work that needs to be done before you’re ready for some serious writing flow time.

Bogue, Everett. Write to Done (2009). Articles>Writing>Advice>Workflow

How to Stop Digital Fiddling and Start Writing

Are you prone to digital fiddling? I am. In fact, I’ve increased my skills of digital fiddling so much that I hardly notice that I’m putting off writing. There are three actions you need to take.

Jaksch, Mary. Write to Done (2009). Articles>Writing>Advice>Workflow

Four Keys to Writing Quickly 

Writing quickly is a skill that you should definitely cultivate. This blog post looks at four techniques that you can use when you need to write quickly.

Nesbitt, Scott. ScottNesbitt.net (2009). Articles>Writing>Advice>Workflow

How To Find Time For…Everything! 

Time management is one of the most important skills a freelance worker can learn. With a good time management system you can easily find the time to do the things that are important to you, whether in your professional or personal life. Successful time management can be challenging, especially to those who are new to freelancing or being self-employed.

Chapman, Cameron. Smashing (2009). Careers>Freelance>Project Management>Workflow