“No PDF for you!” The destructive power of arrogant thinking
I love it when an offhand remark on Twitter turns into a smart conversation.
Author: Alan Pringle
When IT is MIA, content strategy crumbles
Last year, I told you to hug it out with your IT department. Play nicely with your IT group, but you also need to ask tough questions and get commitments. Otherwise, IT problems can derail your content strategy.
From toilets to techcomm: tallying tool risks
I’m about to replace an old toilet, not-so-affectionately nicknamed the Lazy River.
Five tips for converting content to DITA
So, you’ve decided to move to a DITA-based workflow. Before you convert your existing content to DITA, consider these five tips, which encompass both big-picture and coding-specific issues.
Webcast: The realities of ebook distribution
In this webcast recording, Alan Pringle discusses the challenges of ebook distribution and how Scriptorium has addressed them when selling EPUB and Kindle editions. Topics covered include:
- Formatting differences in ereader devices and apps
- Pricing
- Other lessons learned through painful experience
Pay no GREAT attention to that man behind the curtain
Every department has its resident tech wizard: the maintainer of the templates, the DITA Open Toolkit, the wiki, and so on. What happens when that wizard flies off to a new kingdom?
From tech writer to DITA superhero
In the world of superheroes, technical writers could just slide down a pole or do a clandestine spin to transform themselves into DITA technologists. Of course, nothing is that easy, so what does the transformation from tech writer to DITA superhero really require?
Five questions to ask before distributing content as HTML
HTML5! Mobile! Responsive design!
It’s easy to get distracted by sparkly buzzwords when you investigate distributing your technical content as HTML. Instead, focus on a few basic but essential questions:
Adapt or die: style guide edition
Being cognizant of your environment and adapting accordingly is a good survival technique for any being (as Darwin recognized), and it’s particularly true in the professional world. And that’s why I’m puzzled by how much time tech writers spend agonizing over style and word choices in tech comm forums, on Twitter, and elsewhere.
Mission: Impossible? Consistently good ebook formatting across devices
Your mission, should you decide to accept it: distribute content as ebooks.
