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Webcast: The technology is the easy part! Leading through change

Change is constant in technical communication. Whether dealing with new technology, shifts in organizational structures, or growing business requirements, content creators must be able to adapt. In this webcast recording, a panel of content experts—Jack Molisani of The LavaCon Conference and ProSpring Staffing, Erin Vang of Dolby Laboratories, Sarah O’Keefe of Scriptorium, and moderator Toni Mantych of ADP—answer questions and give advice about dealing with change in the industry.

Gretyl Kinsey

March 28, 2016

Content pitfalls Industry insights Structured content

Do I need a content strategy consultant?

Do you need a content strategy consultant? If the following signs are uncomfortably familiar to you, the answer is yes:

You have contradictory content across departments. Customers get frustrated when the specifications in product literature don’t match what’s in the sales content they read earlier. They then call support to clear up the contradictions. It’s much more efficient to create the content once and reuse it across departments. Increased consistency and accuracy follow.

Alan Pringle

March 21, 2016

Content management QA

QA in techcomm: you need a test bed

When I first started as a QA tech at a small game company, I was immediately thrown into the QA test bed. It was a place where we could test production-ready content without being interrupted by ongoing development or server restarts. Functionality was well-documented and could be used to test against our users’ bug reports.

Jake Campbell

March 14, 2016

Content management Localization Translation

Translation and the complexity of simple content

Translating content for foreign markets can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. While it’s important to keep costs in check, the critical element to watch is quality. The only sure-fire way to ensure quality in translation is to build it into your source.

Bill Swallow

March 7, 2016

Case studies

Considering the true costs of customized structures: DITA specialization

Balancing the standardization of structured content against creative requirements is not just about formatting. When companies choose an XML standard, such as DITA or DocBook, they must evaluate whether to use the default structure or modify it to better fit requirements. The discussion about such changes is a creative process itself. When should a company change default structures?