focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: On indexes
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014/07/on-indexes.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Friday, July 4, 2014. I love indexes. I love using a good index and I love creating a good index. All this dates back to my childhood and cookbooks. The Joy of Cooking. In those days, had an index that was truly a joy. The person who created it (perhaps Mrs. Rombauer herself) knew cooks well enough to know what they would be looking for, and gave us a long, redundant, gloriously usable index. Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Friday, July 04, 2014.
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: September 2014
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Monday, September 15, 2014. I encountered this bizarre dropdown list today. And it's required! Monday, September 15, 2014. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). View my complete profile. A flare for help. Every page is page one. I came I saw I learned. I'd rather be writing. Less work more flow. Tech writing @ BCIT. Simple template. Powered by Blogger.
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: DITA in times of contraction
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014/03/dita-in-times-of-contraction.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Sunday, March 23, 2014. DITA in times of contraction. As I have argued before. In many cases DITA doesn't so much save money as redistribute it. Where before you spent the lion's share of your doc budget on salaries for writers, now you're spending the most money on tools developers, information architects, editors, and software. Now imagine that the company has a profit dip and needs to cut costs. Who and what is expendable? That fragile CMS doesn't run itself, an...
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: November 2013
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2013_11_01_archive.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Saturday, November 9, 2013. Musings on tech writer interviews. That it's ceasing its practice of asking brain teasers in interviews. Their VP of People Operations said they'd stop asking things like, "How many golf balls fit into an airplane? And "How many gas stations are in Manhattan? And “How would you weigh your head? Mostly, though, I've had pretty good experiences being both interviewer and interviewee. I think the trick is to make a connection and exchan...
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: Usability - Talking the talk and...
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014/08/usability-talking-talk-and.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Saturday, August 2, 2014. Usability - Talking the talk and. Two years ago at the Fluxible conference in Kitchener, I attended a talk by James Wu, lead tablet designer at Kobo, called "Rethinking the Tablet UX". I was really taken with the talk. I even wrote a blog post about it, here. It made me think that usability at Kobo was pretty darned advanced. On the device, there's a warning saying "Please eject your eReader before unplugging your USB cable", but it doesn'...
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: Helping developers write better API references
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014/03/helping-developers-write-better-api.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Sunday, March 23, 2014. Helping developers write better API references. Several years ago I gave a presentation to developers at my company about how to write better API references. The goal was to help developers who produced public APIs to write code comments that would be more useful to the mobile app devs who used the APIs. Tell me how to do it! I firmly believe that personas should be prescriptive rather than descriptive.). Both: Tech writers collaborate with ...
2012.midwestux.com
Speakers | Midwest UX
http://www.2012.midwestux.com/speakers
The Midwest UX Conference. Is a unique three-day event that combines inspiring talks with hands-on activities presented by a mix of regional professionals and international experts. Join us May 31 - June 2, 2012. In Columbus, Ohio. Skip navigation and go to main content. May 31 - June 2, 2012. Buchanan is a widely published author and speaker. He is also Co-Editor of Design Issues, the international journal of design history, theory, and criticism published by the M.I.T. Press. He ser...From a record tur...
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: July 2014
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2014_07_01_archive.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Saturday, July 12, 2014. My division, Data Services, provided databases that users could access, and they paid based on usage (so much per data point). Data Services provided statistical software that ran on our mainframe and could be used for the timesharing fee. We provided enormous economic and financial databases, but really shone in the areas of energy and aviation. This is the first in a planned series of articles about what Lepore calls the disruption machine.
focusonreaders.blogspot.com
Focus on Readers: September 2013
http://focusonreaders.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
A technical writer in the software biz. Sunday, September 8, 2013. The lesson of databases: use only when necessary. The current CIDM newsletter has an article about content management systems: Why do organizations hate their content management system? The article is scathing about companies that make bad purchasing decisions, and scathing about CMS vendors that make difficult, bloated products. Sunday, September 08, 2013. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). View my complete profile. A flare for help.
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