http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Technical_Communication_Online A listing of works published by Technical Communication Online 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/Technical_Communication_Online http://tc.eserver.org/35353.html http://tc.eserver.org/35353.html Reports on an online survey of 158 technical communication teachers who were asked about their experiences with mentoring. Finds a divergence between the academic mentor's experiences in mentoring and previously reported research on the protégée's mentoring experiences. Argues that risks are inherent in mentoring and proposes a new model that acknowledges them. http://tc.eserver.org/35354.html http://tc.eserver.org/35354.html Discusses the impact of an agile software development process on usability testing. Reports opinions about usability testing within a company before and after a change to agile. Presents strategies to incorporate usability testing into agile product development. http://tc.eserver.org/35355.html http://tc.eserver.org/35355.html Examines focus group data about Spanish speakers' preferences for health communication. Contrasts known preferences of Mexican Spanish speakers with Spanish speakers in the U.S. Makes recommendations from the data for communicating health information to Spanish speakers within the U.S. http://tc.eserver.org/35356.html http://tc.eserver.org/35356.html Provides a historic overview of research on printed software tutorials. Describes developments in design approaches, refinements in design, and user experience. http://tc.eserver.org/35357.html http://tc.eserver.org/35357.html Examines the Chinese culinary instruction genre. Analyzes culinary texts produced from 500 BC to the present. Argues for a historicized and contextualized understanding of technical communication in China. http://tc.eserver.org/35358.html http://tc.eserver.org/35358.html Describes the most challenging aspect of creating slides for an oral presentation. Presents two principles for creating informative and persuasive graphics. Explains how to use drawing tools to communicate the schema of the slide and to emphasize important portions of the images. http://tc.eserver.org/35359.html http://tc.eserver.org/35359.html Discusses the cognitive shortcuts that may hinder technical communicators in empathizing with readers. Explores the issue of judging the severity of problems detected in a document evaluation. Demonstrates how cognitive shortcuts may affect technical communicators' capability to assess the likelihood and impact of reader problems. http://tc.eserver.org/35360.html http://tc.eserver.org/35360.html Reports on the current state of curriculum in 84 Master's programs. Answers questions about program location, degree names, course requirements, internships, and cumulative experiences. Suggests additional research areas to provide more information on how well academic programs are meeting the needs of students and other stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/35361.html http://tc.eserver.org/35361.html Provides extensive guidance on applying to Master's and PhD programs for practitioners. Provides tips on applying for current students. Provides tables listing current graduate programs in technical communication, organized by state. http://tc.eserver.org/35362.html http://tc.eserver.org/35362.html Describes the activities of a university “directed research group,” highlighting interesting tensions that emerged therein. Asserts that actively exploring such tensions with students creates a rich learning environment. http://tc.eserver.org/35363.html http://tc.eserver.org/35363.html Discusses the potential of goal-based scenarios as an approach to designing online learning environments. Explores practical applications of goal-based scenarios for online training. Presents a procedural approach to designing a goal-based scenario. http://tc.eserver.org/34195.html http://tc.eserver.org/34195.html Discusses color properties and color systems. Re-examines and supports Jan V. White's advice to technical communicators to use color to increase document usability. Discusses what technical communicators should know about color to work effectively with professional printers. http://tc.eserver.org/34196.html http://tc.eserver.org/34196.html Defines basic sales terms. Explores ways to use text and illustrations to create engineering marketing slides. Examines six methods of strengthening the persuasiveness of engineering marketing slides. http://tc.eserver.org/34197.html http://tc.eserver.org/34197.html Reviews the extreme claims that have been made about PowerPoint. Sets forth practical design ideas that are especially applicable to technical presentations. Explains three ways in which PowerPoint can subtly influence the intended meaning of deck authors and shows how these problems can be addressed. http://tc.eserver.org/34198.html http://tc.eserver.org/34198.html Explores how and why the German and Chinese cultures differ in the presentation and perception of technical information. Presents a theoretical framework for technical communication across different cultures. Provides guidelines to technical communicators in Sino-German technical communication and services. http://tc.eserver.org/34199.html http://tc.eserver.org/34199.html Provides a framework of experiences and skills employers call for in job postings. Shows that potential employers are seeking very technical or domain-specific knowledge from technical writers. Shows that specific technology tool skills are less important to employers than more basic technical writing skills. http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html In this article we seek to reframe accountability by means of an emphasis not on auditing but on student performance, not on the development of databases but on the creation of reflective practice. We attempt to demonstrate one model of program assessment that focuses on student performance as the center of a reflective assessment framework that can act as a technology transfer model for the diffusion of program assessment knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/32610.html http://tc.eserver.org/32610.html If technical communication has come of age, then its faculty owe their newer colleagues (and themselves) a clear road map for professional development and career progress. Hiring new faculty for maturing academic programs demands attention to the systems of promotion and tenure, which anchor faculty review and reward structures and define academic career success. http://tc.eserver.org/32375.html http://tc.eserver.org/32375.html Why are virtual worlds increasingly relevant to technical communicators? What human factors influence the design of virtual worlds? This article explores these two important questions from a technical communication perspective. http://tc.eserver.org/32235.html http://tc.eserver.org/32235.html Technical communication can be viewed as both a discipline and a profession. As a discipline, it concerns itself with the pursuit of knowledge and the development of theory. As a profession, it attempts to meet the needs of the individuals it serves through the application of knowledge and theory. Research links the discipline and the profession and sustains both by providing the bases from which to develop new areas of inquiry and to find solutions to problems. http://tc.eserver.org/31083.html http://tc.eserver.org/31083.html Pressure from various green organizations (such as the Forest Stewardship Council and ForestEthics), government agencies, and environmentally aware consumers combined with the development of new vegetable-based materials have resulted in the availability of several alternatives to petroleum-derived chemicals for printing and paper made from wood pulp. These alternatives are increasingly price-competitive and a bargain when all costs to our environment are considered. Whether you print documents from your desktop computer or regularly contract with a printing company to produce 100,000 annual reports, user guides, or newsletters, you now have environmentally responsible printing choices. Such choices offer your company an opportunity to reduce its environmental footprint and favorably position itself in the growing Green Market. As a technical communicator, you can also feel better about your work product. This tutorial describes some of the business benefits of going green and outlines the choices that you can make when you print documents, from choosing an environmentally responsible print company to selecting vegetable-based inks and recycled or alternative paper. Even if your organization rarely produces paper-based documents for its customers, you likely can still reduce your office's paper consumption. This tutorial tells you how. http://tc.eserver.org/31084.html http://tc.eserver.org/31084.html Lightweight literate programming (LLP) combines software documentation and coding in a way that can scaffold collaborations between technical communicators and programmers. We review the genesis and history of LLP, including its relationship to established single-sourcing methods. We then detail its use by programmers and discuss two models for writer/programmer collaboration using LLP. We finish by suggesting a few studies of working relationships between writers and programmers that LLP could facilitate. http://tc.eserver.org/31087.html http://tc.eserver.org/31087.html This article proposes that technical and professional communication instructors reconsider the treatment of the concept of plagiarism in current curriculum. I begin by examining existing approaches to teaching technical communication students about plagiarism and explaining the need for rethinking plagiarism in light of contemporary technical communication practices. The second section suggests several preliminary steps for addressing these issues, including revisions to plagiarism policies, classroom practices, and the treatment of plagiarism in textbooks. I conclude with a call for increased industry-academic dialog on the dissonance between the treatment of plagiarism in the classroom and in workplace practices. http://tc.eserver.org/31085.html http://tc.eserver.org/31085.html Although it claims to adhere to user-centered design principles of participatory design and democratized technology, open-source software often fails to effectively address the usability needs of typical software users. In many cases, it embodies a system-centered design approach facilitated by the efforts of developer-users. In addition to the existing participation in open-source projects in the classroom, technical communicators should actively critique open-source software and promote user-centered design principles in open-source software projects. http://tc.eserver.org/31086.html http://tc.eserver.org/31086.html This article analyzes several decks of playing cards designed to communicate technical or scientific information ranging from military topics to the domestic arts to medical subjects. It places each deck in its historical context, describes the appearance and organization of the cards, and speculates about intended audience and purpose, drawing upon relevant secondary literature. It then extrapolates the conventions of this unusual genre. Finally, it argues that technical communicators can profit from this study because it raises questions and offers insights about such important topics as audience adaptation, organizational patterns, and ethical practices. Ultimately, this study may encourage reflection about these and other issues and perhaps lead to discovery and innovation. http://tc.eserver.org/28553.html http://tc.eserver.org/28553.html Braun Corporation's home-grown documentation processes served the organization well for its first 50 years as it grew from a local to a nationally-competitive producer of mobility and accessibility products. Now poised to become a global leader in its field, this corporation found its efforts hampered by ineffective and outdated documentation practices, which were hurting the company's competitive advantage. This article describes Braun Corporation's curious mixture of global reach and local isolation. By bringing in a technical communicator with expertise in user-centered design, Braun has begun reforming its formerly exhaustive documentation and communication practices. While technical communicators have incorporated a variety of strategies to develop user-centered and task-based documentation, less attention has been placed on changing the cultures of these organizations. The case presented here represents a shift from establishing documentation procedures to critically assessing and reforming existing procedures for the global workplace, describing the shift from ineffective and exhaustive processes to effective processes with defined goals and measurable outcomes. The article concludes with an inventory for determining whether other organizations are over-documenting processes and products, and offers suggestions for creating better documentation procedures. http://tc.eserver.org/28552.html http://tc.eserver.org/28552.html Single sourcing, XML, and other forms of multimedia have changed technical communicators' work processes and on-the-job duties. Beyond the requirements for traditional skills in writing, editing, and designing, technical communicators must now play enhanced roles within professional environments including organizing, creating, and managing information. To help simplify the complex tasks of creating multimedia documents, in this article we examine the impact that new technologies have had on the technical communication profession. Referring to a wide variety of sources about the fundamental changes to our profession, we synthesize information regarding managing multimedia documents. Although in this article we focus on object management, with an emphasis on the tasks, skills, and tools required of authors of such documents, in future articles we will address object creation and object presentation. http://tc.eserver.org/28555.html http://tc.eserver.org/28555.html In today's shrinking global marketplace, many technical communicators face challenges related to intercultural communication. This article examines ethical issues in intercultural communication, beginning with a brief survey of classical ethical models, then focusing on the guidelines for ethical communication developed by Allen and Voss to provide a framework for discussion. Of Allen and Voss's 10 values for ethical communication, we focus on privacy, legality, teamwork, social responsibility, and cultural sensitivity. We offer specific suggestions for avoiding stereotyping, tokenism, and ethnocentrism in technical documentation, including before-and-after examples. We examine the risks involved in using graphics and icons and in attempting to translate idiomatic usages. The article concludes with guidelines for technical communicators preparing documentation for international audiences and with suggestions for managers who wish to give their employees guidance regarding ethical and effective intercultural communication. http://tc.eserver.org/28554.html http://tc.eserver.org/28554.html To evaluate Web sites, usability experts often use methods that were originally employed for the evaluation of software applications. In doing so, they assume that these methods will work exactly the same for both types of test objects. However, there is a major difference between transactional software applications and informational Web sites, a difference that could have an effect on the workings of various usability methods. As such, we felt that it was valuable to repeat one of our previous studies in which we compared concurrent think-aloud protocols, retrospective think-aloud protocols, and constructive interaction to evaluate a Web application, this time using a Web site. The results of our study showed that in some respects, the methods did work differently depending on the test object they were applied to. However, we conclude that the three methods are largely interchangeable and that the decision to choose one variant of the think-aloud method over the other should be based on practical considerations. http://tc.eserver.org/28551.html http://tc.eserver.org/28551.html This article presents three problems with existing information architecture frameworks. First, they are too focused on organizing information based on topic. Second, they treat facets as a supplemental form of classification. Third, they conflate the organization and representation of information. Analysis of these three problems suggests that information architects should provide navigation systems and user interfaces'based on an underlying framework of faceted classification'that allow users to flexibly navigate through complex information spaces in the service of particular tasks and goals. To this end, this article introduces a faceted classification framework, and provides an example of a model framework, called 'Facets are Fundamental' (FaF). The purpose of the FaF framework is to explicitly designate faceted classification (rather than a hierarchical classification) as the starting point of the IA development process. Both of these approaches encourage information architects to employ non-topical methods for organizing and representing information. http://tc.eserver.org/28556.html http://tc.eserver.org/28556.html This study reports on the use of graphics by engineers as a method of stimulating the writing process (rhetorical invention). Information presented here comes from working engineers, based on a questionnaire developed after informal conversations and then administered to 15 participants in private industry, with questions about specific writing genres and types of graphics. Results show that graphics have a powerful function in stimulating writing ideas. Although individual writers' preferences in graphics are strong, patterns could be seen in (1) overall number of graphics types used by each writer, (2) specific types of graphics used by each writer based on the writing genre, and (3) the most common types of graphics used overall. http://tc.eserver.org/28550.html http://tc.eserver.org/28550.html Because information architecture is taking center stage in many different information development contexts, technical communicators must fully understand the impact that information architecture has on their customers and their business. This special section, and the breadth of areas considered and discussed in the articles, demonstrate this impact. http://tc.eserver.org/28549.html http://tc.eserver.org/28549.html The Society for Technical Communication has good reason to be proud of its two major publications, Intercom and this journal. Both have garnered significant awards from the annual APEX competitions, and both serve important purposes. But why do we publish both a journal and a magazine? How did they develop? Why should the STC publish a journal at all? http://tc.eserver.org/26851.html http://tc.eserver.org/26851.html How do software companies evaluate whether accessibility criteria mandated by law are met? Confirmation is often provided by filling out a checklist. However, the method used for determining compliance to the checklist is not specified. Typically the task of filling out the checklist is done by accessibility specialists, usability professionals, quality assurance testers, or, in one case we know of, the development team that wrote the software. We have conducted several types of accessibility evaluations, walkthroughs, and testing with scenarios by sighted test participants and testing by blind test participants. While testing with blind participants takes considerable preparation time, we have uncovered important findings that were not revealed with sighted participants. We consider accessibility testing by blind participants an important component of our evaluations. http://tc.eserver.org/26849.html http://tc.eserver.org/26849.html In the first part of this article, we analyze a number of communication challenges and relate them to problems in conveying the November draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Based on our analysis, the second part of our article offers a number of recommendations for improving the comprehensibility of the WCAG 2.0 for its various intended audiences. Although our discussion has the November draft as its focal point, the recommendations are more widely applicable to other complex documents with diverse audiences. In the final part, we propose a new vision for the WCAG. http://tc.eserver.org/26852.html http://tc.eserver.org/26852.html Many disabled or elderly users have embraced the Web as a way to get easier access to information, services, contacts with others, and entertainment. But very often, Web sites are creating barriers for them, at the same time as they are reducing barriers of access. We can safely assume that Web sites are made by designers who have no intention to exclude groups of users from using the site. Our studies, however, have proved that good intentions are not enough to create Web content that is accessible and also usable for people with various kinds of physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. Web designers need to familiarize themselves with accessibility guidelines and apply them properly, but that goal is seldom achieved. Even when the guidelines are applied, a site's ease of use for people with disabilities needs to be confirmed in a usability test with actual users who have disabilities. This article describes how to conduct user-focused tests with test participants who are elderly or who have disabilities. http://tc.eserver.org/26850.html http://tc.eserver.org/26850.html This article reports on a study performed for AARP on the needs of older Web users. It defines a model of older users that includes four dimensions (age, ability, aptitude, and attitude). It defines 20 heuristics, as well as personas and tasks for reviewing Web sites, and a methodology for doing persona-based, task-based heuristic review that would allow us to evaluate many sites in a relatively short time in a highly realistic way. Finally, it reports the results of an analysis of 50 Web sites for general audiences that include older adults, using that methodology. http://tc.eserver.org/26848.html http://tc.eserver.org/26848.html This annotated bibliography discusses over 120 print and online resources related to Web accessibility. It lists and describes resources that offer practical advice on how to implement accessibility, particularly in relation to the WCAG 1.0 and Section 508 standards. It also summarizes the findings of empirical studies that have examined Web site accessibility via automated tests, such as Bobby, and studies that have gauged user performance with assistive technologies, such as screen readers. The bibliography lists forums for discussing accessibility with other practitioners and researchers, and it cites sources for news and events related to accessibility. The bibliography concludes with a short discussion of trends in accessibility research. http://tc.eserver.org/26853.html http://tc.eserver.org/26853.html This article discusses accessibility barriers as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and provides a basic primer on how technical communicators can remove these barriers during their Web design process and test to ensure the barriers were removed. The article focuses on 10 common barriers to a meaningful experience for people with disabilities, barriers that a technical communicator can consider when designing online information. Working on accessibility issues before online information goes live will help to reduce re-work and re-design and can save a lot of headaches for a technical communicator. http://tc.eserver.org/26458.html http://tc.eserver.org/26458.html Glossaries are lists of specialized word definitions contained in technical documentation that can assist the nontechnical user to comprehend fully the technical topic at hand. In a joint project with SAS Institute, I sought to discover how glossaries were first developed, what guidelines are available for technical writers in the writing of glossaries, and what rhetorical technique might be of value for glossary writers. I found that glossaries are much more than simple word lists; they are, in fact, an opportunity for the technical writer to outline and protect the parameters of technical discourse between a company and its customers across multiple communications channels, and different languages. In an increasingly global technical environment, an explicit connection between the rhetorical technique of definition and the writing of glossary definitions should be made to aid technical writers in this task. http://tc.eserver.org/26459.html http://tc.eserver.org/26459.html Along with China’s rapid development in science and economy, technical communication between Chinese and Westerners is becoming more and more important. The purpose of this study is to promote the teaching of technical communication in China by introducing it into China’s college English for specific purposes. Postgraduate classes from grades 2001 to 2004 at Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing were assigned to study English for Technical Communication, a course that integrated the concepts of technical communication into English for specific purposes. In the survey of Grade 2004, over 96% of the graduates claimed that it was necessary for them to study English for Technical Communication; more than 90% of the students confirmed that the course was practical; and 90% of them claimed that the course had significantly improved their abilities in technical communication. Therefore, introducing technical communication in English for specific purposes would be a feasible way to develop the teaching of technical communication in China. http://tc.eserver.org/26457.html http://tc.eserver.org/26457.html The traditional design of presentation slides calls for a phrase headline supported by a bulleted list. Recently, many critics have challenged the effectiveness of this design. This article argues for a significantly different design that offers numerous advantages in most communication contexts but that is particularly well suited to technical presentations. Originating at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and refined in more than 400 critique sessions at Virginia Tech, this alternative design is characterized by a succinct sentence headline supported by visual evidence. What distinguishes this design from other visual -evidence designs are its specific layout and typography guidelines, which were chosen to make the communication efficient, memorable, and persuasive. Although more difficult to construct than the traditional design, the alternative design shows much promise as a more effective means of conveying technical information to various audiences. This article outlines the key advantages and challenges of using this design, and concludes by assessing attempts to disseminate this design through lectures, workshops, and the Web. http://tc.eserver.org/26461.html http://tc.eserver.org/26461.html This article reviews the following books on digital photography: Shoot like a pro!: Digital photography techniques by Julie Adair King; Digital photography bible: Desktop edition by Dan Simon; How to do everything with digital photography by Dave Huss; Total digital photography: The shoot to print workflow handbook by Serge Timacheff and David Karlin; The practical guide to digital imaging: Mastering the terms, technologies, and techniques by Michelle Perkins; Digital photography expert: Light and lighting by Michael Freeman; The essential lighting manual for digital and film photographers by Chris Weston; Digital photography expert: Close-up photography by Michael Freeman; Professional techniques for black & white digital photography by Patrick Rice. http://tc.eserver.org/26462.html http://tc.eserver.org/26462.html On the morning of 29 August, Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama with winds clocked at 140 miles (225 km) per hour and more than a foot (30 cm) of rain. Although the hurricane spared New Orleans, the major population center of the area, a direct blow, the storm surge caused several of the cityï¿s levees to fail, flooding 80% of the city with up to 20 feet (6 m) of water fouled by sewage, oil, and other pollutants. It will be many years before the coastal areas of southeast Asia and the U.S. Gulf Coast have rebuilt and recovered from this year's disasters. Likewise, it will take time for us to create better disaster plans and disseminate them to the public, and for the value of those plans to be perceived. Neither of these facts makes the rebuilding, recovery, and planning any less necessary. We must do all we can to ensure that they happen as quickly as possible. We should see clearly that we can't afford to do any less. http://tc.eserver.org/26460.html http://tc.eserver.org/26460.html Technical communicators encounter many stresses in their professional lives. Deadlines, overly ambitious projects, and uncooperative subject matter experts can make their work exceptionally stressful. To the communicators, such stress may be so common as to seem benign, but it actually has serious consequences that range from a loss of career fulfillment to severe health problems. This article explains what stress is and how it is generated in the workplace. It also explains the health consequences of stress, and why companies often see stress as the employees’ problem, even as it eats into profits and productivity. Much research has been done on workplace stress in the last two decades, leading to many suggestions on how to reduce it. This article reviews these suggestions, which include everything from exercise programs to cognitive/behavioral training. It also considers the implications of workplace stress research for technical communicators and the communicators’ efforts to get more influence within the workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/26041.html http://tc.eserver.org/26041.html This commentary summarizes the seven articles in this special issue and also argues that technical communication as a profession is in the midst of a disruption caused by low-cost innovators. Technical communicators can counter this trend by drastically reducing costs and increasing productivity in current operations. But the most valuable strategy is the difficult task of pursuing customer knowledge, which is difficult to replicate by those with little access to customers. Working for the customer and providing them with the information they need to be successful in using products and systems is critical to the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/26039.html http://tc.eserver.org/26039.html As the profession of technical communication develops and evolves, practitioners are forming formal and informal organizational structures that support collaborative communities. These organizational structures are emerging within commercial companies and professional societies such as the Society for Technical Communication. This article describes evolving methods and best practices that technical communicators can apply in the workplace to create an environment that supports effective communities of practice. We identify specific techniques and best practices, including methods of assessing the effectiveness and business impact of communities in the workplace, and interventions for improvement. We also reference a specific technical communication organization, Data Management (DM) User Technology at IBM Corporation, as a case study of ways to implement an organizational infrastructure that supports both skill-based communities of practice and multidisciplinary goal-based communities. http://tc.eserver.org/26042.html http://tc.eserver.org/26042.html Technical communicators have often defined their relationship with technology using a metaphor of 'technology as tool,' an outlook that reinforces perceptions of practitioners as 'tool jockeys,' threatens the sustainability of the field, and isolates academics and practitioners alike from design and business decision-making and from better intellectual connections with other fields. We suggest that one potential solution is a new approach to training; if technical communicators can conduct technology training in ways that shift this metaphorical focus, they can not only better connect academics with practitioners but also create new connections with other fields, outlooks, and theories, becoming the sort of profession that survives global economic shifts and succeeds in both academic departments and industry. http://tc.eserver.org/25766.html http://tc.eserver.org/25766.html On the basis of both established theories of the differences between cultures and recommendations in advice literature from different cultures, we believe that it is likely that cultures will differ in what they consider to be an effective introduction to a presentation. In this article, we report on an exploratory experimental study with 300 respondents in the Netherlands, France, and Senegal regarding their appreciation of and response to three introductions to a presentation about a mobile phone. The results show that the cultures differ with respect to the introduction they prefer. The Dutch respondents appreciated the overview most, while the French respondents preferred the ethical appeal, and research participants from Senegal preferred the anecdote. It is likely that the introduction that gains greatest attention and that best increases the ability to listen in a culture will be most appreciated in that culture. http://tc.eserver.org/25765.html http://tc.eserver.org/25765.html While many bemoan the fact that television is a central source of science information for much of the United States, professionals charged with informal science education tasks have welcomed opportunities afforded by the medium. Creating TV programming that meets both institutional goals and audience preferences, though, is a challenge fraught with difficulties. To develop such programming, one tempting formative research option is to conduct focus groups with potential audience members. In this article, we present guidelines for focus group implementation as well as crucial caveats to which we should adhere in interpreting data from such efforts. To illustrate the guidelines, we discuss a formative evaluation undertaken for the Discoveries and breakthroughs inside science television news project to understand how some people respond to science news stories. http://tc.eserver.org/25735.html http://tc.eserver.org/25735.html To help technical communicators become better informed producers of interactive new media productions, this article examines how motion can be used properly to create effective interactive information systems for the computer screen. This article provides a brief analysis of how cinema works and then demonstrates how a number of cinema techniques influence new media production. The article then concludes by offering suggestions for how to effectively apply a few basic cinema techniques directly to technical communication practice. http://tc.eserver.org/25743.html http://tc.eserver.org/25743.html Technical communicators have lately become interested in participatory design as a way to structure and guide their research and development efforts, particularly in online media. But attempts to use participatory design - in technical communication and elsewhere - have been hampered because participatory design has typically been seen as an orientation or field rather than a methodology with its own methods, techniques, and acceptable range of research designs. In this article, I work with a range of participatory design sources to describe it as a methodology useful for technical communicators. After providing the historical and methodological grounding for understanding participatory design as a methodology, I describe its research designs, methods, criteria, and limitations. Finally, I provide guidance for applying it to technical communication research. http://tc.eserver.org/25747.html http://tc.eserver.org/25747.html Usability testing is increasingly popular and effective for guiding Web site redesign. However, like any method, it has limitations, including a narrow focus at the expense of larger contexts. Analyzing Web sites with other techniques, including 1) rhetorical analysis based on research in rhetoric, design, and content of similar texts, and 2) content analysis based on matching Web content to an organization’s goals for its Web sites, can yield additional information. This information, which traditional usability tests don’t provide, can help designers better create Web sites. Web designers should not rely exclusively upon usability testing to provide information about Web site design, but instead should also examine how the sites invoke the audiences that they desire to reach. http://tc.eserver.org/25734.html http://tc.eserver.org/25734.html Whether articles have been applied on the job or have simply expanded our mastery of the field, how can we tell which articles practitioners find useful? This is the question I've wrestled with over the past three months. Unfortunately, supplying an answer isn't as easy as asking the question. http://tc.eserver.org/25746.html http://tc.eserver.org/25746.html Despite the proliferation of books and articles dealing with usability testing as a sub-field of technical communication, there remains one artifact that is underdefined: the usability highlights video. Several sources suggest that usability testers should deliver a video to their clients, but there is no common description of the contents of this video or the rhetorical purpose it fulfills. In this article, we examine the use of the highlights video as described in the literature, but we go further to discover some ways practicing usability professionals understand the role of the highlights video. Through the use of generic conventions, rhetorical theory, and industrial practices, we attempt to draw conclusions that point to some common uses of the highlights video that can instruct both teachers in the usability classroom and practicing usability experts as they create videos for client projects. http://tc.eserver.org/25733.html http://tc.eserver.org/25733.html As a cognitive framework for making meaning of the world, the narrative provides a powerful form for structuring information, and has been adopted as a useful design framework for many communicative forms, including interactive media. This paper reports on the use of visual narrative for user-testing an interactive museum show. The viewers’ perceived narratives of a sequence of graphics from a show on brain science were compared to the designers’ intended narrative. Mapping the audience’s reading of the visual arguments proved a useful testing structure in developing the show, with color and pattern tracking proving especially critical when viewers experienced novel or abstract information. http://tc.eserver.org/25767.html http://tc.eserver.org/25767.html Because we have no definitive information that describes the curriculum for a typical technical communication program, programs have developed and evolved into unique offerings. http://tc.eserver.org/25241.html http://tc.eserver.org/25241.html Only when we fulfill the function of the document rather than embellishing it, can we improve the communication-value of that avalanche of 'information' we pour out for them out there. Unfortunately, the flamboyance of today's graphic culture is so gripping, that we often mistake the medium for the message. The medium is never the message, the message is always the message. http://tc.eserver.org/25244.html http://tc.eserver.org/25244.html This article first reviews three shortcomings in Tufte’s argument, then summarizes the booklet’s well-taken points, before offering guidelines for effective slides, no matter the tool. These guidelines and some of the analysis are based on more than 150 in-depth discussions of slides I have conducted with engineers, scientists, executives, and other professionals at workshops. http://tc.eserver.org/25242.html http://tc.eserver.org/25242.html This article details a step-by-step process for creating, implementing, and maintaining a corporate style guide to ensure consistency in organizational communication. Through literature research, analysis of sample style guides, and practitioner interviews, this article provides recommendations for gaining management support, building a process to develop a style guide, determining content, encouraging employee buy-in, and maintaining a corporate style guide. http://tc.eserver.org/25239.html http://tc.eserver.org/25239.html The study reported here assessed the effects of isolation on attention. Is it true, in other words, that isolating an element in a visual display—moving an element away from other elements and surrounding it with white space—will inspire a greater allocation of attentional resources to the isolated element than to other elements on a page or screen? http://tc.eserver.org/25238.html http://tc.eserver.org/25238.html For this study, we recruited low-vision users with a variety of vision problems who need software to magnify computer text. Although we did not systematically recruit for specific vision problems, the fact that our users had different needs gave us one of the most critical insights in this study: The needs of low-vision users are too diverse for simple solutions to Web accessibility and usability. We show a few ways in which today’s Web sites are missing the needs of all low-vision users and provide guidelines for fixing those problems. However, the diversity of vision needs and the resulting adaptations that low-vision users require mean that there are no simple solutions to making Web sites work for everyone. In this article, therefore, you will not find many simple guidelines. Instead, we raise a critical issue and suggest a 'vision of the future' solution. http://tc.eserver.org/25243.html http://tc.eserver.org/25243.html In this article, we describe how a knowledge-building community perspective can lead to a framework for designing an informational Web site. We illustrate the framework through our work on the Arthritis source, an informational Web site helping users acquire information about arthritis. The resulting framework provides one means of addressing challenges that arise in the design and development of such informational Web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/25240.html http://tc.eserver.org/25240.html Consistency in the visual appearance of Web pages is often checked by experts, such as designers or reviewers. This article reports a card sort study conducted to determine whether users rather than experts could distinguish visual (in-)consistency in Web elements and pages. The users proved to agree on the elements and pages that were consistent, even when they demonstrated different approaches in describing why elements or pages belonged together. Color, background, and font proved to be the main visual cues that users paid attention to. Card sorting with visual elements is not only a suitable tool for testing visual consistency, but also offers new ways to investigate the effects of particular visual elements of Web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/24159.html http://tc.eserver.org/24159.html This article connects the research into electronic editing reported by the author in two previous articles to a well-established theory of innovation adoption and diffusion. Everett M. Rogers's theory is first summarized, with emphasis on the perceived characteristics of innovations central to the innovation-decision process. The three most important of these categories for organizing personal judgments about an innovation are used to develop a model of the innovation-decision process with regard to electronic editing in technical communication. The central role of reinvention in the gradual, erratic diffusion of diverse e-editing practices in technical communication is discussed. The author explains and advocates a user-centered ethic of technology adoption, a perspective that values the agency of workplace communities in selectively adopting and reinventing innovations to support the work they do while preserving or enhancing their quality of life on the job. http://tc.eserver.org/24160.html http://tc.eserver.org/24160.html None of the previous studies on screen captures addressed the functions in the framework. There was no empirical research on any of the four functions of screen captures. This article presents our research on these functions. Each section starts with a brief explanation of the function. Next, we illustrate the screen capture designs used to test the function. The remainder of each section explains the setup and results of the empirical study. The article ends with some general conclusions about the functions of screen captures. http://tc.eserver.org/24161.html http://tc.eserver.org/24161.html The study reported in this article examined the effect of street address and external links on perceptions of credibility of a Web page. The study attempted to determine how readers process these cues by drawing on key theories in both technical communication and psychology, including the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The article includes a review of relevant literature on which the experiment reported here was based, hypotheses concerning the expected outcomes of the experiment, the methodology, the results, and a discussion of the results. Finally, conclusions and implications for future research are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/24158.html http://tc.eserver.org/24158.html This article reports on the results of testing two versions of an information product, Usability Testing and Research: one version, an Adobe Acrobat Reader e-book with an index with the locators hyperlinked to the page reference for each entry; the other version, the same e-book without an index, but with the full-text search capabilities provided by Acrobat Reader. We first summarize the current literature regarding human indexing and information retrieval by machine (search engines). We then describe the methodology for testing, the testing results, our conclusions, and implications for future research. http://tc.eserver.org/24162.html http://tc.eserver.org/24162.html Technical writers and editors are beset with rules. As authoritative as they are, published style guides such as The Chicago manual of style, MLA, APA, and Gregg do not address reading theory but hang their prescriptions on the flimsy mantle of tradition. This article challenges some putative rules of grammar and mechanics in an effort to improve technical texts for the people who read them. http://tc.eserver.org/24163.html http://tc.eserver.org/24163.html Writing for the Web is often presented as being fundamentally different from writing for print. However, a review of the literature relating to Web writing and print writing shows that many of the guidelines proposed for the Web have a long history in print. For example, key Web writing guidelines such as 'write for scannability,' 'write for restless readers,' and 'write in coherent chunks' can be found in the literature about print. The guidelines for writing on the Web are extensions of the guidelines for print writing, rather than new ideas. Instead of comparing writing at the level of communication medium by contrasting the Web and print, it may be more helpful for writers to use genre to compare writing styles. This would involve using communication purpose and form as the basis of any comparison, with the communication medium being secondary. http://tc.eserver.org/22435.html http://tc.eserver.org/22435.html The elements of technical writing includes a basic definition of technical writing--'writing about subjects in technical disciplines'--as well as a high-level outline of the book. Few prefaces contain as thorough a summary of changes as Pearsall offers. The summary of changes in this second edition acknowledges the necessity for current information in the changing technical writing arena, listing several specific changes from the first edition. http://tc.eserver.org/22432.html http://tc.eserver.org/22432.html When it comes to mentors in technical communication, Jonathan Price is as good as they get. If he were a novelist, I might describe his stuff with words like salty, earthy, and gut-level. What he provides is different from cold theory, and certainly not the same as statistics. It's street-smart. When Price talks, you know he's been there and done that, and you've got him sitting beside you as you work, helping you through the pitfalls, urging you on. http://tc.eserver.org/22422.html http://tc.eserver.org/22422.html If you like to think about your work philosophically, or even if you don't, David M. Levy's book tackles some of the big questions in our profession: paper versus digital, reading versus viewing, libraries versus the Web, brick and mortar schools versus distance education. And the great thing about the book is that he thinks you don't have to choose between one or the other in each of these apparent dichotomies; in fact, what's needed is a balance between the two. http://tc.eserver.org/22434.html http://tc.eserver.org/22434.html The group that would probably benefit most from reading Submit now is marketers, particularly entry-level marketing managers or marketing students. The book does a fine job of connecting basic concepts of persuasion to designing Web sites that will motivate the four different types of Internet shoppers discussed earlier. I could, however, foresee how experienced marketers could find the information contained in this book too basic for their needs. http://tc.eserver.org/22423.html http://tc.eserver.org/22423.html This book, like many others published these days, is about the World Wide Web. However its approach to the Web is unlike much of what I've read. Unspun: Key concepts for understanding the World Wide Web is not a how-to book; it does not offer instruction on using the Web to communicate. Instead, editor Thomas Swiss asks in his introduction, 'What are we talking about when we talk about the Web?' http://tc.eserver.org/22433.html http://tc.eserver.org/22433.html You should not read this book if you're looking for the final answer to what's the matter with the Internet. Poster points us toward the issues that he thinks will affect the Internet's ultimate shape—politics, authorship, ethnicity, citizenship, identity—but he leaves us with more questions than answers. By questioning and observing, and by applying key technological theories, he suggests a way of approaching a critique of the Internet. http://tc.eserver.org/22436.html http://tc.eserver.org/22436.html <i>XML Pocket Consultant</i> is the latest in Microsoft Press's Pocket Consultant series. Other books in the series include guides to server administration developed for IT professionals. Stanek explains in his introduction that XML pocket consultant is aimed at a wider audience, namely 'developers creating XML-based solutions, administrators who support XML-based solutions and technologists working with XML.' http://tc.eserver.org/22360.html http://tc.eserver.org/22360.html One comes away from the book with a feeling of an enormous challenge—technical, organizational, budgetary, and political. If you or your boss is considering developing and deploying a content management system at your place of work and you both want to know what you might be in for, get this book. http://tc.eserver.org/22363.html http://tc.eserver.org/22363.html When I first looked at this book, I was very much impressed with its layout. There are lots of beautiful and clear examples, along with well laid-out pages. Chapters consist of various CSS projects, such as creating an events calendar. You can download companion files for each chapter in zipped form from a Web site the author has set up. So the book is in fact an instructional one, one that you can use to learn as you go or just read straight through, depending on your preference. http://tc.eserver.org/22361.html http://tc.eserver.org/22361.html Rebecca E. Burnett covers all the topics you'd expect in an introductory textbook for technical communicators. And she covers them thoroughly. http://tc.eserver.org/22362.html http://tc.eserver.org/22362.html Peter Kentie's new book bridges a gap between books for beginning Web designers and advanced works for practitioners interested primarily in the usability of Web pages. http://tc.eserver.org/22344.html http://tc.eserver.org/22344.html Page's book makes the first attempt to open the door to examples of tables of contents of P&amp;P from a variety of organizations. He also makes an admirable attempt to position and show the P&amp;P analyst/writer as more than a scribe, as a leader who adds value by formulating best P&amp;P practices in collaboration with others for their organization. http://tc.eserver.org/22342.html http://tc.eserver.org/22342.html I enjoyed Lopuck's book. She uses graphics well and includes plenty of illustrations to support her points. The icons that point out tips and warnings are also effective. This book is a nice reference to keep handy during the design and evaluation of Web sites and Web pages. http://tc.eserver.org/22343.html http://tc.eserver.org/22343.html You may not find all the answers to your evolving questions, but the authors throughout the book do a good job of analyzing relevant research questions, defining the current state of Web-based education, and suggesting areas for continuing research. The book comes as close as you'll find to 'everything you always wanted to know about Web-based instruction,' with its in-depth coverage of today's Web education issues and research. http://tc.eserver.org/22276.html http://tc.eserver.org/22276.html Even though you might not be a copyeditor in a publishing house, the information that Stainton provides can be useful to any editor as well as to any writer. http://tc.eserver.org/22275.html http://tc.eserver.org/22275.html Haile argues that 'books on technical writing often ignore the problems writers face in presenting equations and the problems readers face in decoding them.' That's often true. And, just as Edward Tufte's books show a passion for truth in statistical charts, Haile's analyses and prescriptions demonstrate how much he cares about clearing away the clutter that stands between readers and the underlying science. http://tc.eserver.org/22274.html http://tc.eserver.org/22274.html Browne and Jermey say that 'increasingly sophisticated retrieval methods' will be needed as the Web gets more complex. They believe that good, back-of-the-book-style indexes 'are effective tools for improving the speed and accuracy of user searches.' With their book as a guide, you are in a position to determine that for yourself and for your Web site. http://tc.eserver.org/22252.html http://tc.eserver.org/22252.html As the word craft in the title of the book suggests, the ability to give good presentations is not a genetically linked trait but a craft that can be learned. http://tc.eserver.org/22250.html http://tc.eserver.org/22250.html In this book, the Rays have put together most (if not everything) that you need to know to create HTML/XHTML documents. Although not groundbreaking, the information is presented in a straightforward style and arranged in an easily accessible manner. Basically, it's a 'one-stop' reference for prospective coders. http://tc.eserver.org/22251.html http://tc.eserver.org/22251.html Organized into three parts ('Initiation stories,' 'The process,' and 'Life on and off the job'), the stories cover the gamut of job titles, employers, and years of experience. The book also lists contributors' stories by topic, making it easy to locate subjects such as 'authoring, ethos and identity,' 'collaboration and teamwork,' or 'ethics.' There's a little something for everyone in this readable book, even if you've been in the field for years—and especially if you're ready for something just a little bit different. http://tc.eserver.org/22224.html http://tc.eserver.org/22224.html As with previous editions, the editors have done a marvelous job. This is the type of book that every writer should have. As I stated before, it is not a how-to-write book, but more of a 'tools for writing' book. I find myself referring to it often when I'm thinking of how to pronounce a specific word or how to go about putting together a proposal, abstract or white paper, or even how to interview an engineer or programmer for information about a product I'm documenting. http://tc.eserver.org/22220.html http://tc.eserver.org/22220.html Recommends to get this book from the library rather than purchase it. Its downfalls (typos, superficial treatment of some topics, and references to quickly outdated technology) will prevent it from becoming a timeless book in my professional collection. http://tc.eserver.org/22221.html http://tc.eserver.org/22221.html As the information technology sector continues to grow, an understanding of KM practices will become increasingly essential to organizational success. Because technical communicators are creators and managers of content/knowledge, they will need to understand KM practices to anticipate how their jobs may change to meet KM needs. The collection Knowledge and information technology management: Human and social perspectives provides technical communicators with both an overview of KM practices and insights into the future development of KM as a field. For this reason, the book is a valuable resource that technical communicators should read to better prepare themselves for future developments in the field. http://tc.eserver.org/22223.html http://tc.eserver.org/22223.html <i>Managing Data Mining Technologies in Organizations: Techniques and Applications</i> is rich in information and should be of great interest to its intended audience of academics and professionals who are knowledgeable about data mining. The book's price and highly technical nature will likely keep those merely curious about data mining from actually purchasing it, but should you need facts on data mining for one of your documentation projects, a library copy may provide just the information you need. http://tc.eserver.org/22225.html http://tc.eserver.org/22225.html Finally, give this book to the CEO who blithely assumes that the corporation can simply replace classroom learning with e-learning without missing a beat. This book goes a long way toward dampening the hype surrounding online education by acknowledging that e-learning requires a shift in organizational priorities, teacher and learner attitudes, and ways of operating. http://tc.eserver.org/22222.html http://tc.eserver.org/22222.html I would recommend this book to subject matter experts who lack writing expertise. The exercises and examples are especially beneficial to lone writers who often do not have an expert writer nearby to review their writing. http://tc.eserver.org/22182.html http://tc.eserver.org/22182.html By providing excellent and easy-to-read overviews of certain legal developments, <i>CyberRegs</i> helps readers understand the ever-changing challenges of regulating cyberspace interactions. By including listings of online resources on specific legal topics, the author also provides a method for augmenting what one learns in the book itself. For these reasons, CyberRegs is a resource that can continue to prove useful even after the laws it examines have changed. http://tc.eserver.org/22181.html http://tc.eserver.org/22181.html <i>The Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook</i> is not a beginner's manual. Sidles does not walk you step-by-step through the basics of trapping or scanning. Instead, hers is an approach that expands on the knowledge of the graphic design professional. I think her aim is to help you become someone who easily knows how to avoid buying paper that will curl or using overprinted type that is illegible. Sidles, with her print production experience, seems to care about sharing the wisdom she has acquired through decades of haps and mishaps—no small benefit. http://tc.eserver.org/22180.html http://tc.eserver.org/22180.html Rubie uses a question-and-answer format for his book, which makes the book difficult to sit and read cover to cover but works well when one uses it for reference. http://tc.eserver.org/22171.html http://tc.eserver.org/22171.html Presents a sample of audience analysis results and discusses how they were used to make design decisions. Reflects on the strategy, the insights gained from the data, and the impact of the results on the subject Web site. http://tc.eserver.org/22175.html http://tc.eserver.org/22175.html The Internet is continually changing how we think about "the office." Online media now allow us to exchange information with overseas colleagues almost as quickly and as easily as we can with coworkers located across the hallway from our workstations. This new degree of access, however, means that cultural differences could affect workplace interactions. http://tc.eserver.org/22172.html http://tc.eserver.org/22172.html Reports a qualitative study of e-editing practices and attitudes in specific workplace contexts. Sheds light on how specific workplace contexts influence perceptions and interpretations of e-editing's benefits and drawbacks. http://tc.eserver.org/22168.html http://tc.eserver.org/22168.html Identifies funding sources and describes the proposal review process. Provides example criteria and identifies ways to write proposals to meet the needs of its audience of reviewers. http://tc.eserver.org/22169.html http://tc.eserver.org/22169.html Describes how one company approaches usability testing of documentation and incorporates usability testing into its writing process through a Documentation Usability Team. http://tc.eserver.org/22167.html http://tc.eserver.org/22167.html Asserts that typography has not occupied a significant role in discussions of visual rhetoric. Extends those discussions by investigating whether typeface persona shapes readers' interactions with a document. http://tc.eserver.org/22170.html http://tc.eserver.org/22170.html Finds that user's guides, reference manuals, and help account for most products, and about half are print. Reports that no widely used method or metric of assessing effectiveness exists http://tc.eserver.org/22173.html http://tc.eserver.org/22173.html Asserts that technology has made remote interaction commonplace but that lack of face-to-face contact can be disorienting. Explores rules for remote teams and special behaviors needed to integrate members on those teams. http://tc.eserver.org/22107.html http://tc.eserver.org/22107.html I'm always skeptical when I first read the praise for a book, especially when a full page of testimonials is published just inside the front cover, as well as on the back. However, by the time I finished reading Brooke Broadbent's <i>ABCs of E-Learning,</i> I could've added my blurb of congratulations on a job well done. http://tc.eserver.org/22100.html http://tc.eserver.org/22100.html If one of the savory ironies of reviewing a text on technical communication is the potential for contradiction between discussion of principles and execution of principles, then one of its joys is finding a book that hits the mark. Gurak and Lannon's <i>A Concise Guide to Technical Communication</i> does just that. http://tc.eserver.org/22103.html http://tc.eserver.org/22103.html <i>The Copyeditor's Handbook</i> is a solid resource for novice and experienced copyeditors alike. Although it functions well as a textbook and a general learning tool, it certainly is not a replacement for The Chicago manual of style, nor does it purport to be. It's a book that acknowledges an assortment of vexing copyediting questions and offers multiple answers to most of them. http://tc.eserver.org/22109.html http://tc.eserver.org/22109.html If you're planning to conduct a survey, invest $70 USD in Dillman's book. It provides some of the finest methodological guidance available for conducting surveys. http://tc.eserver.org/22106.html http://tc.eserver.org/22106.html I was excited to receive my copy of <i>Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design and Development,</i> because I was in the middle of a new software development project and would be responsible for approving the look and feel of the user interface (UI). I was interested in learning more about evolving standards, the proper selection of interface controls based on users' tasks, the best way to decide on and create UI style sheets for use by the development staff, and the problem of quantifying that elusive quality called usability. I hoped this book would enlighten me with practical examples I could put to immediate use. Unfortunately, in that regard, <i>Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design and Development</i> was mostly a disappointment. It might have been better titled <i>A Project Manager's Handbook,</i> because the author's treatment of the topic is extremely broad but not very deep. http://tc.eserver.org/22104.html http://tc.eserver.org/22104.html Ever wonder about the relationship between academia and the corporate world? Or if you are on the corporate side (as I am), have you wondered why academia operates as it does? (And vice versa.) If so, <i>Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century</i> offers great insights that may help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds influence and can alter the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/22101.html http://tc.eserver.org/22101.html If you're a professional technical communicator who is interested in gleaning a few tidbits of knowledge for yourself, while simultaneously preparing witty answers to the questions asked of you by those who don't know anything about the things you do, you might want to add a yellow or orange book to your bookshelf. You wouldn't be completely dumb or idiotic if you did. http://tc.eserver.org/22108.html http://tc.eserver.org/22108.html This book is a great resource for designers who want a better understanding of typography. Writers can also benefit from this book, especially from the chapter on legibility, but may be overwhelmed by the level of detail. Although I am not a graphic artist, I feel inspired to consider the use of typography more carefully in the projects I design, and having read this book, I have a better understanding of the design process that creates the typefaces I use. http://tc.eserver.org/22102.html http://tc.eserver.org/22102.html If you want a usability reference that includes research, theory, tools, and practical applications within one cover, <i>Usability Testing and Research</i> is the book for you. http://tc.eserver.org/22105.html http://tc.eserver.org/22105.html This book addresses the issues of online writing and particularly writing e-mail, which should concern all us who spend a good chunk of our days in front of a computer screen creating and replying to e-mail messages. The book is structured in three parts: 'The virtual mensch,' 'Alpha mail,' and 'Words of passage.' http://tc.eserver.org/22062.html http://tc.eserver.org/22062.html When we are trying to envision the structure of a Web site, we may sketch diagrams on white boards, create outlines, fill whole walls with yellow stickies. Kahn and Lenk offer many sophisticated ways of visualizing your site. If you are planning a new site or reorganizing an existing site, this book provides an historical context for your information architecture, in-depth studies of complex sites, and a wide range of inspiring diagrams and site maps. http://tc.eserver.org/22063.html http://tc.eserver.org/22063.html Every graphic designer or editor who has been forced to explain to a client why there is nothing—text or image—on a part of a page should have Gail Deibler Finke's newest book. It demonstrates clearly and convincingly 'the power of white in graphic design.' http://tc.eserver.org/22061.html http://tc.eserver.org/22061.html It is easy to see why the first edition of Michael Young's book won the top award, 'Distinguished Technical Communication,' in the 2000–-2001 International Technical Publications Competition. Young has taken the complex subject of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and written about it in such a way as to make learning about XML an enjoyable experience. http://tc.eserver.org/22018.html http://tc.eserver.org/22018.html <i>Easy Web Graphics</i> would be a good choice for novice or intermediate users of Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Photo Editor who want to make better use of those products. http://tc.eserver.org/22017.html http://tc.eserver.org/22017.html When I first picked up <i>Reporting Technical Information,</i> I thought from the title it was going to be a primer on writing technical reports. Instead, this book turned out to be a basic, though somewhat better than average, textbook on technical writing. http://tc.eserver.org/22016.html http://tc.eserver.org/22016.html Bob Gordon and Maggie Gordon, authors of <i>The Complete Guide to Digital Graphic Design,</i> reinforce effective design principles by creating a text that visually inspires and instructs. With its vibrant colors and captivating images, the book demonstrates the capabilities of graphic design through instructive images and text. Each page provides a snapshot into the creativity and power of graphic design. http://tc.eserver.org/22012.html http://tc.eserver.org/22012.html If you could own only one book on copyediting, Karen Judd's <i>Copyediting: A Practical Guide</i> would be an excellent choice. Even if you already own the second edition, published in 1990, you will certainly find useful updates in the new third edition. http://tc.eserver.org/22014.html http://tc.eserver.org/22014.html As an accomplished photographer of science and engineering research, Felice Frankel knows how to capture her readers' attention—her exquisite images in Envisioning science communicate their amazing power, by her design, and ultimately 'teach us to see' science in a different way. We are witnesses to the excitement of discovery represented in such images as cadmium selenide nanocrystals, self-assembled polyhedra, yeast colonies, and mouse embryo lungs, thereby illustrating the book's educational value. http://tc.eserver.org/22015.html http://tc.eserver.org/22015.html <i>The Handbook of Digital Publishing</i> is a remarkable work for both its breadth of content and the quality of explanation. The handbook is, quite simply, overwhelming. From animation to ZIP files, surely these two volumes have it covered. I looked up things I knew and things I didn't. For both, I found in Kleper a lucid, detailed explanation, usually complete with topic history, technical specifications, and options for use. http://tc.eserver.org/22011.html http://tc.eserver.org/22011.html Technical communication is often compared with translation. In both cases, practitioners modify messages created by one culture so the meaning of such messages can be understood by the members of another culture. For translators, the cultures involve different languages, while technical communicators focus on bridging the differences between professional cultures (for example, engineers versus more general audiences). http://tc.eserver.org/22013.html http://tc.eserver.org/22013.html Have you ever wondered how to submit a piece of your work for publication, or have you done so, only to be rejected? According to Moira Allen, there are important procedures to follow when writing a perfect pitch for a potential publication. As the author of two books and over 200 articles and columns in well-known periodicals, Allen has also served as the editor for online publications such as <i>Inkspot</i> and <i>Inklings.</i> With this level of experience alone, Allen is more than qualified to offer good advice on writing queries, yet in addition, she includes 16 other contributors who provide tips from their specific areas of expertise for writing successful queries, pitches, and proposals.