When Writers Make Mistakes

If you take on projects outside of your basic job description, chances are some of them won't work out the way you wanted them to. Generally that isn't too much of a problem around here--nobody should be sticking right to the basic job description, and not every project can succeed. But you also have to work at minimizing the risk.

Miller, Harry. Microsoft (2006). Articles>Writing>Management

WikiWiki as Tech Review Vehicle

Like most technical writers, getting my feature team to review my help topics for technical accuracy is like keeping an Iditarod team from making a dash for the nearest McDonalds or garbage dump in the middle of a blinding blizzard.  Technical contributors want to participate in technical documentation reviews but they rarely have enough bandwidth to do so effectively. Consequently, I spend a lot of time trying to determine the most effective way to squeeze my teammates for feedback.  This can be a painstaking process, especially for technical writers who are unlucky enough to work with teams that are halfway around the world or spread across the country. Some contributors only produce if I corner them in their office with a paper copy.  Others are overly motivated, but I love them all the same.  Most technical reviewers, at least at Microsoft, require a combination of:  incentives (food, beer, ...), attention getters (a stern note from their manager) and tech review tools that fit their working style and team culture.

Parnell, Korby. Microsoft (2004). Articles>Editing>Engineering>Assessment

The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering

The development of the user interface for a large commercial software product like Microsoft Windows 95 involves many people, broad design goals, and an aggressive work schedule. This design briefing describes how the usability engineering principles of iterative design and problem tracking were successfully applied to make the development of the UI more manageable. Specific design problems and their solutions are also discussed.

Sullivan, Kent. Microsoft (1995). Articles>Usability>Operating Systems>Microsoft Windows

The Windows 95 User Interface: Iterative Design and Problem Tracking in Action  

The Windows 95 user interface: iterative design and problem tracking in action.

Sullivan, Kent. Microsoft (2004). Articles>Usability>Operating Systems>Microsoft Windows

A Writer's Thoughts about Technical Writing, Part 2

I have recorded episodes with two of the writers on the Microsoft VSTO UE team (McLean and Norm), and here is the third writer, Brett Samblanet. We talked about the writing process, how Brett became a writer, how school prepared him for his work, and the importance of being able to communicate well and to take criticism.

Miller, Harry. Microsoft (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Audio

Writing the First Draft, Part 1

How technical writers prepare their first drafts--how they get started creating a document out of a bunch of facts and features. That's such an interesting topic I'd like to get as many people as I can to talk about how they do it.

Miller, Harry. Microsoft (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Storyboarding PowerPoint 2003 Presentations to Video and DVD

More and more people are asking how to burn their Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 presentations to DVD. Using PowerPoint and a DVD, you have an easy method of getting your message out, whether as a training video or a digital business card promoting your products or services. And your audience can view your material at home as well as in their offices.

Microsoft (2006). Articles>Presentations>Multimedia>DVD

Configuring Information Rights Management for Messaging in Outlook 2003

Information Rights Management (IRM), a new feature in Microsoft® Office 2003, can help prevent sensitive information from being distributed to or read by people who do not have permission to access the content. In Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003, users can create and send e-mail messages with restricted permission to help prevent messages from being forwarded, printed, or copied and pasted. Microsoft Office 2003 documents, workbooks, and presentations that are attached to messages with restricted permission are automatically restricted as well.

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Software>Email>Security

The Convergence of the Aging Work Force And Accessible Technology

This paper discusses the effects of America’s aging work force on business growth and productivity and illustrates how accessible technology can equip employers and mature workers to face the challenges posed by this demographic trend.

Mosner, Ellen and Craig Spiezle. Microsoft (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Elderly

The Market for Accessible Technology

This report presents findings about individuals who are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. It also includes findings about working-age adults and computer users and presents data about the aging population in the US and its impact on computer use. This report concludes with statements about how these findings affect the information technology (IT) industry.

Microsoft (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Technology

Accessible Technology in Computing: Examining Awareness, Use, and Future Potential

Presents new findings about the use of computers among individuals with difficulties/impairments. It also discusses factors that influence the use of computers and accessible technology and includes data about the current awareness and use of accessible technology. This report concludes with a forecast of growth in the demand for accessible technology and an overview of the opportunities for the IT industry to make accessible technology easier to discover and use.

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology

Guidelines for Usability Testing with Children  

Although user-centered design is a well-supported concept in the literature on adult computer products, not until recently have publications begun to appear addressing the need to include the user in the design process of children’s computer products.

Microsoft (1997). Articles>Usability>Testing>Children

Measuring User Motivation from Server Log Files

Estimating user interest and motivation by just counting page requests from a World Wide Web server log (or "hits") provides a distorted metric of user activity. Some of the reasons why this metric is unreliable are that the path dependent nature of hyperlink usability treats index and navigational aid pages as equal to the goal, because differenes in web browsers can determine how effectively users can percieve content and navigational alternatives, and because the poorly designed structure and content of the documents themselves can inhibit users from finding what they are looking for. This paper proposes that measures of how much time users spend looking at a page are better estimates of user interest than page hits, providing simple human factors principles have been applied. An extended example of how this method might be used to collect and analyze data is also included. The types of decisions that can be made by authors and system administrators based on a time-based metric of user interest is summarized.

Fuller, Rodney and Johannes J. de Graaff. Microsoft (1996). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

Error Message Guidelines

An error message is text that is displayed to describe a problem that has occurred that is preventing the user or the system from completing a task. The problem could result in data corruption or loss. Other message types include confirmations, warnings, and notifications. The guidelines in this topic are intended to help you write clear error messages that are easy to localize and useful for customers.

Microsoft (2006). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing

New Accessibility Features in Internet Explorer 8

Hi, my name is JP Gonzalez-Castellan and I’m the Accessibility Program Manager for IE8. The IE team has been working towards making IE8 the most accessible browser possible, and we wanted to detail some of the work we’ve done toward this end. In this post I will provide you with some background on Accessibility, I’ll cover new UI features (Caret Browsing, Find on Page, Adaptive Zoom, High DPI, etc) and also platform features (support for ARIA, support for IAccessibleEx, and support for additional WinEvents) that improve the Accessibility of the browser.

Gonzalez-Castellan, J.P. Microsoft (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Web Browsers

Usability in Practice: The Human Face Of Software

Welcome to Usability In Practice. This is the first in a series of columns that will focus on the design of the user experience (UX). In the past, user experience was not a high priority for most development projects, but that's changed. Today, end users have a lot of experience with the Web and with software. They want design that's easy to learn and use and that fits their workflow. This column will show you how to deliver such designs.

Kreitzberg, Charles B. and Ambrose Little. Microsoft (2008). Articles>Usability>User Interface>User Experience

Building Blocks

Building Blocks are reusable chunks of a Word document. They can contain any thing a Word document can contain, including pictures, shapes, fields, and even other building blocks.

Boyer, Jodie. Microsoft (2008). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word

Taking Control of Your Table of Contents or Document Map

Table of contents and the Document Map are designed to work best with documents that use styles. Styles not only apply a look and feel to a document, but also provide semantic structure. For example, applying a Heading 2 style to some content that exists under a Heading 1 style implies hierarchy within a document.

Microsoft (2008). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word

Behind the Curtains: Table Styles

Table Styles are my favorite type of Style in Word. They allow you to quickly and consistently format the table itself (e.g. borders, shading, etc.), the content within the table (E.g. line spacing, font color, font size, etc.), and they can also can tell a table when to do these (e.g. shade every other row, bold text in the first column, etc.). The first two enable you to create really rich tables, and the last one (which I'll call Conditional Formatting for the rest of this post) enables you to easily work with those rich tables. Both are quite important.

Microsoft (2008). Articles>Document Design>Style Sheets>Microsoft Word

Make That Look Like This

Have you ever wanted to make some text in your document look like other text in your document? Or maybe you made a picture look just right in last week's status report and really don't want to start from scratch on the picture in this week's status report. Either way, this week's tip will save you some time.

Microsoft (2008). Articles>Word Processing>Style Sheets>Microsoft Word

Out in the Field (Code)

Field codes provide a way to customize your Word document manually. That sounds like hard work, but the field codes also give you an inside look at some of the ways that you can customize a page number or a table of contents. (Really—those are fields.)

Microsoft (2008). Articles>Word Processing>Software>Microsoft Word

Encrypting Documents

How you can be like a super secret CIA agent and encrypt documents using Word 2007.

Microsoft (2008). Articles>Word Processing>Security>Microsoft Word