Avoiding the Drone Syndrome: How to Keep Your Technical Writing Job Interesting in an Age of Automated Publishing  

Information development organizations are under increasing pressure to implement single-sourcing or other automated and highly structured document development processes. Forces driving this trend include translation requirements, niche marketing, the convergence of software and documentation, and shrinking cycle times and budgets. Initially, these changes threaten to remove everything that is challenging and interesting about the technical writer’s work. However, technical writers who successfully adapt to this new environment will find more opportunity than ever to use their analysis and writing skills and to develop additional negotiation and process management capabilities.

Guthrie, Melissa L. STC Proceedings (2000). Careers>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Technical Writing

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Independent Contracting  

With the decline of employer loyalty to employees and the move to outsource peripheral functions, many technical communicators are exploring the possibility of becoming an independent contractor. Although much emphasis has been given to marketing and negotiation skills, there are pitfalls awaiting the entrepreneur who leaps before looking. Among these pitfalls for former corporate employees are structuring time and dealing with isolation. Success as an independent is measured by how well he/she deals with these intangible issues.

Smith, Gem. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Consulting>Contracts

Avoiding Traumatic XML/SGML Transitions: Moving to XML/SGML Without Losing Your Writers Along the Way  

When moving to single-sourcing through XML and SGML, management often spends considerable time on tools evaluation and content management, but not enough on preparing the writers for the paradigm shift to the new environment. This presentation provides some hints for a successful transition for your personnel as well as your documentation.

Gelb, Janice. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>XML>Technical Writing

Avoiding Typeface Terrors  

Appropriately using typefaces is critical to your document’s success. The opposite is conversely true. A poorly selected or implemented typeface can equal a document disaster. When selecting a typeface, technical communicators must consider a typeface’s legibility (how distinct, clear, and recognizable its letters are), readability (how easy it is to read in a text line), and personality (what feeling it conveys). Once selected, typefaces must be carefully used to enhance the document’s message. Typefaces must enhance—not distract from—your document.

Yoshida, Kathleen Burke. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Typography

Baby Steps Can Lead To Giant Leaps In the Way Your Organization Approaches Usability  

Until recently, Landmark Graphics’ UNIX Documentation Group had written user documentation based upon information that was gleaned from surveys, fellow workers, and personal experience. We had little contact with our users and little opportunity to see how our users worked. Last year, we expanded our efforts. We talked to User Groups, supervised a booth at the company’s trade show, and began to visit our clients on site. But we didn’t stop there... we reported the results of our study at our yearly developer’s conference, and we developed a company-wide Usability SIG (Special Interest Group). This paper focuses on our experiences.

Stark, Mary Jo and Mary Rio. STC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Usability

Balancing Paper and Online: Integrating CD-ROM into Document Libraries  

A panel of industry experts provides an overview of the CD-ROM publishing process—and its business issues, for technical communicators who are responsible for implementing CD-ROM publishing in their organizations. The panel will also discuss guidelines for integrating print and CD-ROM documents into a complete user support library, while still gaining the economies of CD-ROM publishing.

Gale, John, Stephanie L. Rosenbaum and Pamela Sansbury. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>CD ROM

Balancing the Elements in Job Aid Design  

Job Aids offer the Technical Communicator a unique opportunity to present acquired product knowledge in a creative format. In order to produce a successful job aid, you must select and blend elements of material, color, graphics, text, typography, and ergonomics in a manner that will be most useful to the intended user. The information for the Job Aid is culled from the larger project deliverables such as User Manuals or Procedure Guides; the creativity for the Job Aid comes from within and is driven by the needs of the user and the limitations of time, money, and environment.

Houterman, John and Kristine E. Henriksen. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Tutorials

Basic Indexing Workshop  

Although we all agree on the importance of a good index, many technical writers find themselves in the position of having to produce an index in a short amount of time with no training or experience. If you have ever been in this situation or anticpate ever being in this situation, this workshop is for you. You’ll learn the six steps required to produce an index that is thorough and easy to use. Then you’ll practice two of those steps: selecting index entries and refining the rough draft of the index. Finally you’ll compare your individual efforts to the rest of the group to see how you did, what more you could have done, and what you can suggest to the rest of the group.

Winsberg, Freya Y. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Indexing

Basic International Technical Communication  

International technical communication is the profession of the present and most definitely of the future. Businesses around the world need technical communicators who are skilled in communicating with a multicultural audience and who are comfortable working as members of international teams. This workshop introduces you to some basic skills you need to master to be successful as an international technical communicator. The skills this workshop focuses on are: performing an international user analysis, identifying cultural bias, generating a glossary for translators, and designing a page with translation and the international user in mind.

Hoft, Nancy L. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>International

Basic Marketing Techniques  

Effective marketing is key to your success. Marketing is based on your image and message, both of which can be delivered in a myriad of methods.

Maggiani, Rich. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>TC>Marketing

The Basics of Quality

Can elements of the ISO 9000 standard help us improve the quality of the documents we write?

STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Quality>Standards>ISO 9000

The Basics of Quality  

With constantly changing deadlines and last minute major revisions, how can technical writers ever hope to create quality documents? Members of the STC Quality Special Interest Group (SIG) will present some basic concepts that will provide insights into ways you can improve the quality of your documentation. They will look at what is meant by 'quality documentation', how documentation quality can be measured, how quality can be implemented in documentation processes, how ISO 9000 requirements can be adapted to help improve the documentation process, and how the relationship between developers and writers can impact documentation quality.

Rupel, Roberta A., Lori H. Fisher, Donald S. Lenk, Ralph E. Robinson and Richard Colvin. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Quality>Technical Writing

The Basics of Quality: Quality and the Writer-Developer Relationship

To bring high-quality communication to the process to improve the quality of the products we produce.

Colvin, Richard D. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Quality

The Basics of the Entity Alphabet©

Has anyone told you something that sounded like 'I folded my S-Corp into a C-Corp, then transferred the shares to an LLC that was the GP of an LLP'? It used to be easy. You were either a corporation, partnership, or if only one owner, sole proprietorship. Nowadays, the proliferation of choice of entities for even small, single-owner businesses can be daunting. While it can all be very confusing, all of this alphabet jargon boils down to two basic issues: taxation and liability. In the old days, you could only have limited liability if you were taxed as a corporation and could only be taxed as a partnership if you had full liability. Now the two issues have been separated, giving modern business owners the full range of possibilities. Let's take a look at how these two issues have been dealt with and what concessions business owners have wrestled out of the IRS in the last 20 years with the introduction of the Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Jurney, Thomas F. STC Williamette Valley (2002). Careers>Management>Legal

The Battle of the Screen Capture Programs

I spent a little time exploring two screen-capture software packages and found out that on the surface, they're a lot alike. Both programs offer the garden variety of formats for saving screen captures (BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, and TGA), and in both cases special tools for optimizing output are available. For example, when saving an image as a bitmap (BMP) using either program you can select a bit depth anywhere between one and 32.

Caldwell, Karla. STC Northeast Ohio (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Screen Captures

Be Able to Say, 'Been There! Done That!': Cultivate your Career Skills through Deliberate Volunteering  

To attain your career goals, you cannot simply go to work and perform the assigned projects, allowing your manager direct your professional path for you. You must treat your working life much like you treat a documentation project and be deliberate. Take charge of your progress by volunteering to complete projects that challenge and advance your capabilities. Plan and prepare for challenging opportunities that provide you with new work experiences; identify and execute tasks that advance your skills, knowledge, and abilities; and evaluate your career development, results, and your accomplishments with each enterprise you complete.

Swindle-Troell, Elizabeth F. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>TC>Planning>Volunteering

Be An Author, Not a Writer: Breaking Into Retail-Market Computer Book Publishing  

Many experienced technical communicators already have the skills and experience required to be successful authors of retail-market computer books. What they generally lack, however, is an understanding of the retail computer book publishing industry: the roles of the various players, options and techniques for landing that all-important first contract, navigating the ins and outs of money and contracts, developing book proposals, and working on their own. By learning more about the industry, technical communicators gain two things: an increased chance of becoming a first-time author and, more importantly, whether this is an appropriate career choice for them.

Benz, Christopher J. and Michelle Corbin Nichols. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Publishing

Becoming a Journal Author  

This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, and preparing a manuscript.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Writing>Publishing

Becoming a Journal Author   

This session will help participants understand how to write and submit a manuscript for publication in Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, its audience, and suggestions for choosing topics, doing research, and preparing a manuscript.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Publishing

Becoming a Journal Peer Reviewer  

This session will help participants understand the process for reviewing manuscripts submitted to Technical Communication. It covers the types of articles the journal publishes, review procedures and criteria, and approaches to writing constructive evaluations.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Editing>Technical Editing

Becoming a Journal Peer Reviewer   

This session will help participants understand the process for reviewing manuscripts submitted to

Hayhoe, George F. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Publishing>Editing

A Beginner's Guide to HTML  

Answers to questions like: where do Web pages come from? What are all those brackets in the text, anyway? How much HTML do I have to learn? How can I get started quickly? What kinds of HTML authoring tools are available to me?

Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Web Design>HTML