AuthorIT: Creating a 2-Column Glossary in Word  

How to modify AuthorIT objects to get a 2-column glossary in the Word output.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2003). Articles>Word Processing>Style Sheets

AuthorIT: Resizing Graphics using JavaScript Code

My client wanted screen shots in their CHM, but the screens were very large thus creating problems when printing a topic. With some help from Dave Gash, I got the large screen shots to open at 50% size, with a function for the user to resize them to 100% either all at once or one at a time. The function also toggled back to 50% at the user's discretion. This solved the problem of large screen shots in the online help, while allowing error-free printing to occur.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2003). Resources>Documentation>Software>DHTML

AuthorIT: Time-Saving Techniques Using AuthorIT  

A presentation about techniques one could employ using AuthorIT.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2005). Presentations>Documentation>Software

AuthorIT: Tips, Articles, Presentations, etc.

Various articles, presentations, tips and hints on using AuthorIT.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2004). Resources>Documentation>Software

AuthorIT: What's it All About?  

As other Help authoring tools (HATs) fall by the wayside or the scuttlebutt about their demise gets stronger, one HAT that continually gets favourable mention is AuthorIT. Maybe you've heard about it, but don't know what it is or how it is different from traditional HATs. In this article, I cover some of the main features of AuthorIT so you'll have enough information to investigate further.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2004). Resources>Documentation>Software

CyberText Consulting: Newsletter/Blog

Lots of hints and tips for Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, AuthorIT, etc.; cool URLs; interesting book reviews; pet peeves; and whatever else piques my interest.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting. Resources>TC>Document Design>Blogs

Designing a Login Form

Over at Smiley Cat Web Design they’ve put together a showcase of many different login and registration forms. While you’re there, take a look at some of the other showcases listed in the sidebar. They have sets for calendars and date pickers, footers, search boxes, and many more.

CyberText Consulting (2008). Articles>Web Design>Forms>Usability

Where to Start With HTML Help

Knowing HTML alone is not enough to create HTML Help. What deliverables does the client need? CHMs (HTML Help)? Web-based Help (HTML files + other things that create the Toc, Index, Search tabs etc.)? Java Help? Oracle Help? Be aware of the limitations of some formats.

CyberText Consulting (2008). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Avoid Culturally Specific References

One of the tenets of good technical communication is to avoid culturally specific references, especially if your material is to be translated into other languages. But what’s a culturally specific reference? In simple terms, it’s a word or phrase that has meaning for members of a cultural group, but has limited meaning, no meaning, or some other meaning for people outside that group.

CyberText Consulting (2009). Articles>Writing>International>Technical Writing

Read-Aloud PDFs

Are you aware that PDF documents are readable by your computer? You can listen to any PDF instead of reading it!

CyberText Consulting (2009). Articles>Accessibility>Visual>Adobe Acrobat

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

Word: Separate Out Macros and Attach Them to All Documents

I needed to make some macros available to all Word documents I opened. I wouldn’t need the macros for every document, but I would need them for many documents. The documents I was working on used different templates, so adding the macro to each template was not an option.

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

Websites 101

A while ago, a small department at my current client's organization asked me to run through with them the basics of setting up a website for their department. By their own admission, they had no clue as to how a website gets created or 'put up there' for the world to see. They were thinking of using Word. Here's my slightly edited 'Websites 101' response to them.

CyberText Consulting (2009). Articles>Web Design