Technical Communication Camp

A few of my favorite (web) things

2008-07-02T14:07:00Z

It has finally stopped raining in Pittsburgh (for the moment) so I'm going to blog while the sun shines.

I love the 'Burgh, but it does rain quite a bit in June. We have a large arts festival -- the Three Rivers Arts Festival -- that coincides with the rain every year. But it all seems to work out.

So ... here are a few of my favorite (web) things ...

You can build your own fonts (and share them) with FontStruct http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/ (I read about this @ http://www.slate.com/id/2192535/)
The Duck Island Greeking Machine generates greeked text in seven "languages" (Classical Latin, Hillbilly, Marketing, The Matrix, Metropolitan, Pseudo German, and Techno Babble). Very handy. http://www.duckisland.com/greekmachine.asp
If you need to map colors for different outputs, the Tridesign PMS/RGB/Hex color (actually colour) chart is very useful. http://www.tridesign.com.au/index-tess1.php?ItemNo=2055

While on the subject of the web -- I highly recommend Janice (Ginny) Redish's new book Letting Go of the Words -- Writing Web Contents that Works. Lots of great information and solid examples. I have post-it notes all over my copy.

Lastly, an interesting article from slate.com about how we read online http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ (Jakob Nielsen is referenced).

More later

Dynamic Help: I’ve got it and you can have it too

2008-05-22T21:01:00Z

I’ve worked on a number of software products, and there were several that were ideal candidates for dynamically updating, embedded help – but since that sort of effort is usually software developer-intensive, I was never able to make it happen (not for lack of trying by myself and some wonderful software developers).

The wait is over; and convergence was the answer. Doc-To-Help is developed by ComponentOne; ComponentOne develops components software developers use to streamline Visual Studio development. The C1 DynamicHelp for Winforms control was born.Short tour: this control can easily be dropped into the main window of your app, as well as in dialog boxes. Once the software developer has configured it, that’s all they have to do. Mapping a compiled Help file to the user interface is the information developer’s job, because the control includes a mapping interface. Once you’ve mapped, the end user has help that updates automatically as they navigate the interface. The right help at the right time. You can see it in action in Doc-To-Help 2008 (download a trial version at http://www.componentone.com/Products/DocToHelp.aspx) If you are attending the STC Annual Conference in Philadelphia next week, you can see it there at the Doc-To-Help booth. The Dynamic Help control will be available in June. I’ll be talking about the project itself (among other things) at DocTrain East this fall. See http://www.doctrain.com/east/program_detail/all_around_user_assistance_delivering_layers_of_information_efficiently/ for more information on that.

"Camp" on the Road: STC Annual Conference in 10 Days

2008-05-22T14:21:00Z

Since I need to play a bit of catch up; a few updates and thoughts...

Can't think of a better way to kick off summer camp than the STC Summit in Philly. (Full disclosure: I'm currently an STC Director At Large, but I've been attending the Annual Conference for years.) Hope to see you there.

Earlier this month I attended DocTrain West in Vancouver. I did a talk titled "Documentation Planning and Library Design in a Web 2.0 World." I'll be posting more on this subject later. While I was there Tom Johnson interviewed me for a podcast that he will be posting on his "I'd Rather Be Writing" blog. Looking forward to hearing it.

Great Web 2.0 read (albeit from a marketing perspective) -- "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" by Li and Bernoff.

More later!

Welcome to Technical Communication Camp!

2007-10-05T20:33:00Z

There are a number of tech comm blogs out there (the ones I keep up with are listed on my blogroll) but the cool thing is that they are all different, with different themes, perspective, and – probably most importantly – tone.

Today, I’m adding my voice to the mix.

My blog’s name, Technical Communication Camp, refers to the fact that we are always learning – and that we should try to have a bit of fun along the way.

With that in mind, I plan to keep you up-to-date on what is going on in the world of technical communication, handy tips and tricks, and maybe even try my hand at podcasting.

Smores anyone? :-)