|
|
|
The newsletter of Scriptorium Publishing
|
|
Volume
8, Issue 2
April/May 2005
|
|
In this issue:
New Improved Look! Special Pricing,Too!
Conference Roundup: WritersUA and Tri-Doc
Solution Brief: Streamlined Authoring for Military
Standard Documents
Late Spring and Summer Training Schedule
More, More, More: Technical Writing 101 Reprinted
Today's Vocabulary Word: Palimpsest
|
| |
|
|
New
Improved Look! Special Pricing, Too!
|
|
We recently updated our look! We redesigned our web site in March,
and we updated our logo as well. If you attended recent conferences
(more on those in the next story), you saw
the new designs incorporated into our booth display.
To celebrate our updated look, we're offering discounts in our
online store to Illuminations
subscribers, who received coupon codes in the email version of this
newsletter. If you don't already get the email version, subscribe
today to get exclusive discounts.
We're also taking suggestions for our new mascot's name (see the
top left of this page). Please email
any ideas to us.
|
| |
|
|
Conference
Roundup: WritersUA and Tri-Doc
|
|
WritersUA
At the WritersUA
conference in Las Vegas on March 20–23, the interest in
XML and structure had grown significantly since last year. Sarah
O'Keefe gave presentations about structured authoring implementations
and analyzing different types of links in content. In the exhibition
hall, we showed off our new logo and booth for the first time.
We also offered a DocFrame
demo. FrameMaker users considering the move to structure got to
see how our DocFrame solution allows users to quickly implement
structure, XML, and standards-based single-sourcing.
STC Tri-Doc
The Carolina chapter of the STC presented the Tri-Doc
conference in Raleigh, NC, on April 8–9. Sarah O'Keefe
gave four presentations covering XML and structured authoring topics,
and Matt Arnold, Sheila Loring, and Alan Pringle were at our booth,
where they handed out chocolates and other freebies. We were glad
to see such high attendance at our local STC chapter's conference!
If you are interested in receiving PDF versions of the handouts
for Sarah's conference presentations, contact sales@scriptorium.com.
Also, Sarah will offer two presentations at the
STC Conference in Seattle (May 8–11).
|
|
|
|
Solution
Brief: Streamlined Authoring for Military Standard Documents
|
|
We're pleased to offer the first in a new series of solution briefs.
In these short overviews, we explain a client's requirements and
how we addressed those requirements.
This month's solution brief, Streamlined
authoring for military standard documents (260KB, PDF), gives
an overview of how we updated a client's FrameMaker workflow to
improve and automate adherence to military
specifications for documentation. The client also wanted to
produce XML and HTML content.
The templates we implemented automated most of the tasks authors
were doing manually (such as typing headers and footers for each
page and manually creating tables of contents). The new process
also enabled the client to output XML content and to create HTML
files by applying XSL transforms to the XML.
If you have more questions about our work on this project, contact
info@scriptorium.com.
|
| |
|
|
Late Spring and Summer Training Schedule
|
|
Our public classes for late spring and summer are as follows:
If you register and
pay three or more weeks in advance of a class, you're eligible for
discounts.
To see all of our public training dates for 2005, check out our
schedule. Scriptorium Publishing
is an Adobe Authorized Training Center. Our instructors are Adobe
Certified Experts (ACEs) in FrameMaker 7 and have additional teaching
credentials, such as Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+). For more
information about our training, contact training@scriptorium.com.
|
| |
|
|
More, More, More: Technical Writing 101 Reprinted
|
|
We just reprinted the second edition of Technical
Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical
Documentation by Alan Pringle and Sarah O'Keefe. More than two
dozen colleges and universities have adopted the book for classes
on technical writing, and we appreciate the continuing positive
feedback on the book.
In addition to explaining the technical writing process (planning,
writing, editing, and production), the second edition contains an
up-to-date overview on structured authoring and XML. It's a great
book for anyone who has just started (or is considering) a job in
technical communication. You can purchase Technical Writing 101
from our online
store or at Amazon.com.
If you're an instructor teaching technical writing courses, contact
us at books@scriptorium.com
about receiving a review
copy.
|
| |
|
|
Today's Vocabulary Word: Palimpsest
|
|
In medieval times, a palimpsest was a manuscript that had been
reused, generally by scraping off the old ink and then writing on
the clean surface. It seemed to be an appropriate title for our
new blog,
which focuses on technical publishing topics.
We encourage you to visit the blog and comment on our postings.
|
| |
|
|
Comments? Questions?
Want to subscribe to the newsletter?
|
|
We welcome your suggestions
for newsletter topics. Drop us a line at comments@scriptorium.com.
If you know colleagues
who could benefit from our services, please let them know about
us. They can also contact sales@scriptorium.com
or training@scriptorium.com.
To subscribe to Illuminations
and Scriptorium Publishing's announcement list, send email to majordomo@scriptorium.com.
In the body of the message,
type:
subscribe illuminations your email address
To unsubscribe, type:
unsubscribe illuminations your email address
|
| |
|
Want to read a back issue?
Check out our newsletter archives.
Copyright ©
2005 Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Last modified
June 10, 2005
.
|
