http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/CyberText_Consulting A listing of works published by CyberText Consulting in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/CyberText_Consulting http://tc.eserver.org/35579.html http://tc.eserver.org/35579.html Quick Tables are a quick and easy way to insert a pre-formatted table. However, the default tables are probably not what you want, so you need to know how to add your own. http://tc.eserver.org/35406.html http://tc.eserver.org/35406.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35370.html http://tc.eserver.org/35370.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35302.html http://tc.eserver.org/35302.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/35187.html http://tc.eserver.org/35187.html Are you aware that PDF documents are readable by your computer? You can listen to any PDF instead of reading it! http://tc.eserver.org/33681.html http://tc.eserver.org/33681.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/33523.html http://tc.eserver.org/33523.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/33381.html http://tc.eserver.org/33381.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25835.html http://tc.eserver.org/25835.html How to modify AuthorIT objects to get a 2-column glossary in the Word output. http://tc.eserver.org/25834.html http://tc.eserver.org/25834.html How to modify AuthorIT objects to get newspaper-style columns in the Word output. http://tc.eserver.org/25836.html http://tc.eserver.org/25836.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25833.html http://tc.eserver.org/25833.html A presentation about techniques one could employ using AuthorIT. http://tc.eserver.org/25831.html http://tc.eserver.org/25831.html Various articles, presentations, tips and hints on using AuthorIT. http://tc.eserver.org/25832.html http://tc.eserver.org/25832.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/25837.html http://tc.eserver.org/25837.html 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.