Opinion
The treachery of images: Top 10 tips for SVGs
Every image format has its promises, foibles, and shortcomings. We make up for those foibles and shortcomings by understanding how best to work with each format.
“No PDF for you!” The destructive power of arrogant thinking
I love it when an offhand remark on Twitter turns into a smart conversation.
The future of computer book publishing
Computer book publishers have always struggled to keep up with software releases. The rise of cloud-based software with incremental releases requires new thinking.
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.
Structured authoring AND the web
We read Tom Johnson’s post on Structured authoring versus the web with some dismay. Tom is a persuasive, influential writer, but his article misses the mark in important ways.
Cheap writers can be expensive
Given the choice between an inexpensive writer with a limited skill set and a professional technical communicator, which should you choose?
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.
The truth is out there
One of the most important issues in technical content is to establish a single source of truth for technical data. More often than not, our workflow assessments uncover multiple sources of dubious accuracy.
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?
Rebranding as a business case for XML
Reuse and automated formatting are the most common justifications for XML, but recently, we have heard a new reason from several customers: rebranding.
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?
The politics of DITA
Deciding on a content model is a critical step in many of our projects. Should it be DITA or something else? The answer, it seems, often has more to do with our client’s corporate culture than with actual technical requirements.
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: Managing increasing content velocity
Content velocity is the speed at which we create and produce content, the speed of the publishing process itself, and the speed of change in content requirements—what we need to produce and the delivery mechanisms.
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.
Counterfactual ExtendScript history
In the late ’50s, my mom worked for the library at a large Canadian university. One day the library received an official letter from the U.S.S.R. asking the library to please return the Soviet Union’s encyclopedia for “revisions.”
2013 predictions in technical communication
Here we go again! My traditional blog topic to kick off a new year: predictions.
Mission: Impossible? Consistently good ebook formatting across devices
Your mission, should you decide to accept it: distribute content as ebooks.
When content strategy fails, RoadRunner edition
Our home Internet connection is usually reliable, but today I come home to what I think must be an outage. No Internet on any of our Wifi networks.
The power of complexity in visual communication
One of the axioms of technical communication is to keep things simple. But sometimes, complex communication is the better alternative.
DITA for presentations, aka how to avoid PowerPoint
After a number of years using PowerPoint and OpenOffice/LibreOffice Impress to create slide decks, I’ve grown frustrated with the enforced separation of information in PowerPoint-like products.
Dodging the dragons of content strategy
Some patterns are beginning to emerge as we apply content strategy to technical information.
