Getting your DITA content into a high-design format like InDesign is a tricky prospect. The biggest stumbling block is the fact that there is no intrinsic link between your ICML and the template that you flow it into. In the end, your InDesign template (you’re … Read More
Content strategy amateur hour
“My team is looking into how we can use <incumbent tool> to handle our new content requirements.” That’s what I heard from a manager during a recent phone call about a company’s expanding content needs. The tools-focused response made me cringe.
Beware the monster of change management: THE MAGNIFIER
For his 1959 horror movie The Tingler, director/producer William Castle had movie theater seats rigged with buzzers to scare moviegoers during a scene when the Tingler creature is loose in a theater. Patrons in those seats probably didn’t enjoy the jolt—or making a spectacle of … Read More
Are you ready to rumble for your content strategy?
If you can’t handle some rough-and-tumble adversity, you are not ready to manage the implementation of a new content strategy.
Avoiding buyer’s remorse: techcomm tools edition
Yes, you can call me overly cautious. Before making a purchase, I will research the you-know-what out of the item. If it’s a big purchase, I’ll hire a professional to help me make my decision (particularly when it comes to real estate). I’d rather part … Read More
From toilets to techcomm: tallying tool risks
I’m about to replace an old toilet, not-so-affectionately nicknamed the Lazy River.
The true cost of incumbency bias
When selecting authoring and publishing tools, there is an unfortunate human instinct to cling to the familiar. This ranges from a slight preference for the tool currently in use to “You will pry this software from my cold, dead hands.”
New to tech comm? Expect the unexpected
When I started at Scriptorium a year ago, I knew almost nothing about tech comm. I knew what technical content was, having used it many times, but I’d never really thought about how it was produced.
Avoiding an extinction event
The elimination of the distribution monopoly for content is upending the publishing industry and technical communication specifically.
Would you use just a gardening trowel to plant a tree?
As technical communicators, our ultimate goal is to create accessible content that helps users solve problems. Focusing on developing quality content is the priority, but you can take that viewpoint to an extreme by saying that content-creation tools are just a convenience for technical writers: … Read More