Creating a Hypertext Help System for a GUI-Based Client/Server Application  

We are currently in the second phase of development of a large Windows online help system. This paper reviews the major decisions we had to make during the first phase of the project, and lists some project evaluation results that have helped us plan for subsequent phases.

Asher, Betsy, David E. Lasecke and John Wenstrom. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Creating a Multimedia CD-ROM: Bringing a General Information Manual to Life  

There are three parts to the process for creating a multimedia CD-ROM, and each part contains a number of steps. The first part, PLANNING, defines the goal, audience, budget, equipment, team members, theme, reviewers, schedule, and outline. The second part, PRODUCTION, develops, com- bines, and tests the multimedia elements: the script, story board, and audio and visual elements. The final part, PACKAGING, creates the printed infor- mation, the label, and the text and control files that go onto and ship with the CD-ROM.

Jedlicka, Linda Barnes. STC Proceedings (1993). Design>Multimedia>CD ROM

Creating A Paradigm Shift In Managers And Professionals Who Use Standards  

Organizational standards are often just a set of documents put into place for auditors or regulatory bodies. In such instances, the standards usually do not reflect current practices, which are passed along by word-of-mouth. Unfortunately, even if the information is up-to-date, it may not be easily retrievable by the person in immediate need of it. In a hospital setting, this situation can be extremely costly. It can also provide immense opportunities for the technical communicator to become a vital part of a cross-functional team.

Richardson, Verna. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Writing>Policies and Procedures

Creating a Template for a Large Web Site: the U.S. EPAWeb Branding Experience  

Staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created a template then steadily converted Web pages to achieve a 'corporate face' for www.EPA.gov, the Agency's Internet site. Management and maintenance of Agency Web pages rests among the technical subject matter and administrative experts within headquarters, program, and regional offices and laboratories – rather than centralized. Template design, deployment and conversion involved many employees and contractors nationwide, and took almost one year. As of February 1, more than 90% of EPA's Internet pages comply with the template, and staff continue improvements to the Agency's public Web resources.

Ellis, Leonid 'Lee'. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Creating a Unified Web Site Design for the School of Technology at Purdue University  

The problem with any poorly designed web site is inconsistency. As a web designer or developer, one must create a web site as a finite, predictable universe with a specific set of standards and design specifications. When visitors go to any given page on a site, they should be able to recognize that they’re in the same site. The main focus of this paper outlines how a unified web site design was created for the School of Technology at Purdue University. In developing unified web sites it is important to have visual hints throughout a given site such as consistent typefaces for specific needs, consistent color palettes, and consistent placement and layout.

Miller, Susan G. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Web Design>Usability

Creating a User Experience Specification  

Creating any system of sufficient complexity requires a diverse team and a dizzying amount of documentation. While these documents do a great job of conveying components of the system, they do not provide an integrated view. This is because each covers different aspects of the system, written by a different author for a different audience. This paper proposes that project teams should create a user experience specification, a document that shows what the system looks like, how it behaves, and how it works. This specification needs to describe the system for all team members, at a useful level of detail, in a form that encourages team members to read it and inviting enough to get them to participate in the design, as well as allow developers to build from.

Oye, Phil and John Payne. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>User Experience>Specifications

Creating an Academic Program for Technical Marketing Communication  

Technical marketing communication is a growing category of employment. Yet recognition of these employment opportunities has not fully extended to the development of academic courses and programs that would prepare students or enhance the knowledge of working professionals. Students can gain valuable training in current programs for advertising, public relations, business communication, and technical communication. However, because the marketing-oriented programs generally don’t focus on technology products and the technical communication programs don’t focus on promotional materials, students themselves must craft a synthesis of the two aspects—often with incomplete and unsatisfactory results.

King, Janice M. and Judith A. Ramey. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>Marketing

Creating an Editing Policy  

As an editor, you realize how important it is to edit information consistently. What you might not realize how important it is to let the writer know how you are going to edit, what you are going to edit, and what you expect from the writer. An editing policy lets you communicate these things to the writer. When you and the writer know what to expect from each other, you are able to work together as a team to produce a quality document.

Reed, Wendy L. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Creating an Effective Business Plan  

A business plan describes your business’s future, including your vision for your organization, your competition, your products and services, markets you’ll compete in, how you’ll sell yourself, and your financial prospective. A successful plan conveys an organization’s exciting prospects and growth potential. Its overall purpose is to “sell” the business to management and possible backers.

Hansen, Lauren Y. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Planning

Creating an Electronic Service Manual  

Developed by the Technical Information Division of Caterpillar Inc., the Service Information System (SIS) is a state of the art process using the latest in computer technology to electronically create, process and deliver technical service information to Caterpillar dealers worldwide. It utilizes authoring workstations and servers on a distributed network to create and store information elements (I/E's). The I/E's are written using Caterpillar Technical English (CTE) which allows for complete automatic language translation. I/E's are taken from the data base to make traditional publications as well as CD-ROM's. A personal computer is used to display information for shop and field servicemen and to perform interactive diagnostics.

Rennich, Merv and Gerry Meixsell. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation

Creating an Idea Culture: Six Tips for Managers  

The future of technical communication is about generating and implementing new ideas so that your team can change with the times. Other fields are vying for some of the same jobs in an organization that we are capable of performing. If managers do not take time to stay abreast of these changes nor tap into the minds on their team that are generating ideas about how to morph into different realms, then our profession is at a disadvantage to those in related fields who are drafting proposals for new jobs or innovative projects. This paper presents six tips for managers on creating an idea culture. It also argues why it is essential for managers to start their team's idea culture as soon as possible.

Hansen, Heidi and Jennifer Square. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Management>Planning

Creating an Interactive Online User Guide  

Want to create a colorful, interactive online version of your FrameMaker® documents? Not many steps are involved in making the conversion: start with template changes in the FrameMaker files; create a postscript file; convert it into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file using Adobe Distiller®; and add final touches to the PDF file in Adobe Exchange®.

Beren, Wendy G. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Documentation>Online>Adobe FrameMaker

Creating an Orientation Package for Your Organization  

You can create an orientation package to acclimate new personnel and ensure that they receive all the items and information they need in a timely manner. The orientation package can consist of six sections: introduction, maps, organization overview, skills list, other information sources, and checklists. Such an orientation package is currently being used at the IBM(R) Corporation in Cary, North Carolina. Businesses constantly grow and change. People join organizations, transfer between departments and sites, and return after extended absences. The sooner new personnel become skilled in their new positions, the sooner they will be productive and contributing members of the organization.

Flaherty, Erin E. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace

Creating and Sustaining Technical Communication Programs in Colleges and Universities  

This Progression Roundtable brings together leading experts (Dr. Karen A. Schriver, Dr. Russel Hirst, Dr. Susan D. Kleimann, Dr. Dianne Atkinson, Dr. Teresa C. Kynell, and Dr. David McMurrey) on academic programs in technical communication. The Roundtable focuses on existing and 'start-up' technical communication degree or certificate programs in community colleges and universities. Presenters will discuss issues such as curriculum development, marketing strategies, student chapters of STC, student and faculty internships, and linkages with industry. Information about existing programs will be made available to all participants.

Bosley, Deborah S., Karen A. Schriver, Russel Hirst, Susan D. Kleimann, Dianne Atkinson, Teresa C. Kynell, and David McMurrey. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC

Creating and Using Online Documentation  

This workshop provides hands-on experience in preparing and using online documentation as well as setting up and maintaining an online library.

Jedlicka, Linda Barnes, Margaret Eissler Jones and Herbert E. Vogt. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online

Creating Animated Graphics for the Web on a Tight Budget  

Creating your own animated graphics is not as far out of reach as you may think. Even though many Web information developers lack the skills to venture into animation, in a relatively short amount of time they can learn how. We will demonstrate a few of the actual animations that we’ve created in-house, and also share what was involved in our decision-making: who should do the work, the costs involved, and the software issues we encountered.

Hamilton, Karen J. and Gary Basham. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Multimedia>Interactive

Creating Award-Winning Computer Servicing Documentation  

Creating award-winning computer servicing documentation involves knowing something about customer service engineers, what content to provide, what kinds of art work best in different contexts, and differences in producing hard copy vs. online documentation. If you want to move from writing software or marketing documentation, find a good mentor to help you gain experience with these elements.

Nelson, Dennis T. and Donald C. Phippen. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Documentation

Creating Easy-To-Use Documentation for Paper, Online and Multimedia  

The term 'easy to use' is typically used in connection with the user interface of software applications. However, the term can also be used to describe documentation, referring to techniques of organization, layout, or design that make information both easy to understand and easy to find. As the technology associated with documentation moves toward online and multimedia documentation, the concept of ease of use becomes even more important and relevant. In this paper, we address some of the differences between paper and online documentation that impact the development of easy-to-use online documentation, and outline some of the high-level, emerging issues to be aware of in the development of multimedia documentation.

Baldasare, John, Marie T, Dumbra and Barbara C. Trevaskis. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Usability

Creating Editing Metrics  

Using simple templates, you learn how to customize editing metrics to represent your department processes.

Avanzato, Chris. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Editing

Creating Goal-Oriented, Task-Based Navigation for Information with the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)  

By organizing information around the goals that users are trying to accomplish, you can provide task-based information that truly addresses user needs. This article walks through the steps for creating more useful information navigation by implementing information development best practices with examples in the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).

Swope, Amber and Michael Priestley. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA

Creating Graphics for Both Web Pages and PDA Displays  

Today, the most common graphic file format used on web pages is raster, which has certain limitations. A new technology called Scalable Vector Graphics is emerging as the raster alternative. SVG files contain all the traits of normal vector graphics. Their unique properties make them more suitable for mobile product displays. By comparing and contrasting SVG and raster traits, one can best determine the correct file format for specific end output displays.

Kubik, Sara. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Standards>SVG

Creating More Effective Graphs: Trellis Display  

Trellis display is a framework for visualizing multivariate data. The outcomes collected during an early agricultural experiment on the yields of barley are displayed using Trellis, which in the case study discussed revealed an anomaly in the data which was overlooked during many conventional statistical analyses of these data.

Robbins, Naomi B. STC Proceedings (1999). Presentations>Graphic Design>Charts And Graphs

Creating Multimedia Hardware Procedures with ShowMe How  

Learning the correct steps to install or remove a computer component, such as a memory module, can involve, at best, hands-on instruction or, at worst, only written instructions. To increase the likelihood that customers and service personnel will be able to perform correctly the hardware service procedure for each fieldreplaceable component, Sun MicrosystemsTM now ships high-quality multimedia of removal and replacement procedures, called ShowMeTM How, on CD with each UltraTM Workstation and Enterprise Workgroup Server.

Barron, Rick, Steve Hix, Paul Lorence and Jenny R. Redfern. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Software

Creating Multiplatform Information Sets  

The proliferation of open systems and software that runs on multiple platforms is a challenge to those of us who are responsible for documenting these systems. This paper attempts to address the issues that arise when trying to create multiplatform information sets. Writing multiplatform documentation is a challenge not only for those responsible for documentation, but for those responsible for creating the software. You are starting with many pieces of a puzzle that you need to sort through and put together to create a usable information set.

Flanagan, Ruth-Ellen. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online