#13823
The Practice of Indexing for Technical Writers
There are scores of books on technical indexing that are really useful in teaching us how to create an index the right way, with the least amount of stress, while keeping up with the documentation development lifecycle. This is, of course, when you do not have the luxury of a full-time indexer. That, so far, has been a dream in the various companies I have worked at and not a very coveted one at that. Usually it is left to the writers to put whatever indexing skills they have into practice. The theory goes that it is best to index as you write. Usually this is feasible, with the embedded indexing features that are provided with packages such as FrameMaker, Word, and so on. But even being an indexing enthusiast, like me, does not always guarantee that this will happen. From experience, you tend to get so caught up in the process of writing, structuring, organising, and reviewing documents, that taking time out to index breaks your train of thought.
Doulton, Melanie. TC-FORUM (2002). Articles>Indexing
#23405
Problems with Colors - and the Solution: Color Management
The profession of the technical editor is rapidly changing, from the pure text manufacturer to a data manager, which leads inevitably to intensive occupation with the production of the final product: the technical documentation on paper or online. The color matching reproduction on the local screen or printer plays a new, important role. Particularly since the meaning of color in documents increases rapidly.
Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Color
#23438
Project in Partnership Across Borders - Bridging the Communication Gap
The whole process and structure of globalisation is still very fragile indeed. As international business and international relations converge, businessmen will need to learn much more about diplomacy and diplomats will need to become more knowledgeable about business
Harris, Anke. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>Collaboration>International
#21890
Qualification or Certification for Technical Communicators
Technical communication as a profession should have some mechanism for identifying and validating the work that its professionals do. In many countries in Europe, professional societies have made some progress in this direction.
Rainey, Kenneth T. TC-FORUM (2001). Careers>Certification>Professionalism
#23393
Executives as well as customers demand quality from technical communicators. However, the requirements of both groups seem hard to combine: Executives want quality to be achieved inside the company by applying quality standards without causing any delay or additional costs. Establishing customer-based quality, on the other hand, usually demands extra money and extra time. Nevertheless both demands can and should be utilized for developing a user-oriented quality system.
Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Quality
#23408
Quality in Technical Communication: Do We Need to Rethink the Concept?
Technical communicators have always been proud of the quality of their work. Can it be that we are overdoing it? Do we need to change our understanding of what we do? Is readiness to compromise and economize to keep pace more important today than perfecting our work?
Giammona, Barbara A. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>TC>Quality
#23404
Recommends that INTECOM set up a working group to further research technical communicators' preferences and then establish guidelines.
Blicq, Ronald S. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Standards
#23500
Here is a summary of a survey that I conducted in April 1999. These results reflect replies received as of 10 June 1999.
Allen, Jeff. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Glossary
#23439
Safety Risks in Mechanical Engineering
The cause for the careless handling of possible dangers is not so much unwillingness, but rather the lack of know-how. There are no standardised and well-documented processes that are simple to implement and use.
Walther, Andreas. TC-FORUM (2002). Articles>Risk Communication>Engineering
#23461
The language industries are rapidly embracing the use of translation tools such as automatic terminology lookup, terminology mining, terminology consistency checkers, and machine translation. Authoring tools that involve access to a termbase are also appearing, at least in the context of controlled language, but will over time no doubt also be used in the authoring processes where the syntax is less controlled.
Wright, Sue Ellen. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation
#23492
Screenshots with the Mouse Pointer
How to produce screenshots which include the mouse-pointer.
Springer, Hans. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures
#23471
Should Documentation Be Written in English in Countries Where the Natural Language is Not English?
Though ours was quite an international group, we soon found that we shared similar experiences. Comparing our experiences led us to affirm that when non-native writers produce English documents, mother tongue reviewers are required.
Payne-Charby, Anne-Marie. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization
#23396
There are several ways of spelling English – the English/Canadian style, and the American style. Both are correct.
Dobsen, David. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Style Guides>Standards
#23416
During 1998 a member survey was made by FTI, the Swedish Society for Technical Communication as a follow up to a survey made in 1991. Some 25% answered of the 400+ FTI members. Here follows a selection of the results along with some comments.
Näsström, Johan. TC-FORUM (1999). Careers>TC>Regional>Scandinavia
#23392
Technical Communication and Encryption: Adding Value to the Technical Communicator's Job
Working on a global scale might give you the opportunity to add value to your technical communicator's job. In particular, when dealing with encryption on the Internet, you should be aware of restrictions which might have an impact on your documentation.
Flacke, Marie-Louise. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Documentation>Security
#23452
Technical Communication in Europe
When the Euro comes to bring the EU-countries closer together on the financial level, technical communication won't stay behind.
#23413
Technical Communication in Israel
Israel rates as one of the highest per-capita technology consumers in the world, but its actual market size is small, as the total population is only about six million. This means that most high tech companies here must find additional markets outside of Israel. Therefore, most technical writing is in English, which is accepted in many countries and is also a more practical source language (for localization) than Hebrew.
#23414
Technical Communication in Sweden: Education, Certification and Internationalization
In spite of the limited population, Sweden is a highly industrialised nation with a number of globally well known industries. As the home market for these industries is far too small, they have to rely on the export markets to sell their products. This situation creates a rather special situation for technical communicators in Sweden. We have to translate the manuals into a large number of languages. And, as our own culture really does not have a dominating position in the world, we have to adapt the information to the target cultures on the different markets. Internationalization is a part of our everyday life.
Näsström, Johan. TC-FORUM (1999). Careers>Certification>Localization>Scandinavia
#23432
Technical Communicators - Experts or Laypersons?
Camille Johnson (CJ) in Forum 02/2000 (SA 16) indicates that a TC (Technical Communicator) can work on (almost?) any subject without any special training. I am dismayed by the frightening carelessness of this statement!
Fuckner, Ingrid. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#23425
Technical Communicators - Seen from Under a Rock
A conversation about the role, qualifications and self-understanding of technical communicators.
Johnson, Camille. TC-FORUM (2000). Careers>TC
#23451
Technical Communicators - the Need for Categorisation
We all know that products are designed and developed by a variety of experts, such as engineers, programmers, scientists, and designers. And each of these experts belongs to a particular category. For example, engineers are divided into such categories as Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, or Aeronautical Engineer. Without that categorisation, there is no way that we can possibly know in what field a particular expert specialises. But who creates product documentation?
Curwen, Chris. TC-FORUM (2001). Articles>TC>Professionalism
#23423
Technical Communicators for the Global Marketplace
Today, the translation of technical documentation is no longer a process which can be ignored until the source text has been produced. Translation issues need to be taken into account both prior to and during source-text production, and thus, to some extent, they become tasks of the technical communicator. This article gives an overview of current developments in the workflow patterns leading to multilingual technical documentation and outlines the consequences these developments should have for degree programmes in technical communication and translation.
Göpferich, Susanne. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Localization
#23419
Technical Communicators vs. Developers Through the Ages
For technical communicators, usually busy looking ahead, the new milennium is an occasion to review our history and achievements so far, and the development of our slightly strained relationship with those who tend to emphasize the T and disregard the C in TC: the developers.
Wigestrand, Henrik. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>History
#13824
Research I recently conducted highlighted the high level of involvement technical communicators have in the design of user interfaces. Most technical communicators make some contribution, ranging from comments to developers if, from their perspective, something on the interface does not work, to actually designing the interface elements. This led me to propose a question for an idea market for IPCC 98 in Quebec. The question I asked participants was: How do you, as technical communicators, contribute to interface design? The question generated a lot of interest, with technical communicators sharing their experiences and providing many examples of what they do and how they contribute. Here is a summary of the points they raised.
Fisher, Julie L. TC-FORUM (1999). Design>User Interface
#13000
Technical Communicators’ Forum (TC-Forum)
The idea for TC-Forum evolved during Forum 95. Forum 95 was an international conference organized by the international umbrella organization INTECOM, the International Council for Technical Communication. Forum conferences take place every five years. The first one was held in Malmö, Sweden, in 1975, the last one in Germany in 1995.
