SmartTechWriting: March 2006 Archives

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Mar30	The XML Open Standard and Documentation Tools Jeff Carr March 30, 2006 Know More: Part of what's so exciting about the impending release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista is Microsoft's decision to adopt an open standard for their Office applications. If you're as interested as I am in watching this development progress, check out Brian Jones' Open XML Formats blog. I'm particularly interested in seeing some new publishing tools developed for XML-based documents. Flare is supposed to be an XML Help authoring tool, made by the folks who created RoboHELP. If you have any favorite XML authoring tools, please post them here. Posted at 8:26 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar29	What Do You Publish Your Manuals In? Jeff Carr March 29, 2006 Personally, I prefer FrameMaker, however that's not always an option. Word seems to be popular for manuals that are under 100 pages, but productivity starts heading south fast as the manual grows bigger.Has anyone tried combining Word and MS Publisher?... Continue Reading Posted at 8:56 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar23	Take the Authors Guild Survey Jeff Carr March 23, 2006 Whether you're a member of the Authors Guild or not, if you do any freelance writing, please allocate about 2 minutes to taking this survey. It will help inform the Guild about your views on copyright protection and recourse for... Continue Reading Posted at 1:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Something to Make All Writers Proud Jeff Carr March 23, 2006 One of the many blogs I read everyday is William M. Arkin's Early Warning. He's a journalist, I'm a writer, and free speech is something that all of us should cherish.In today's blog, Arkin recounts an incident that occured in... Continue Reading Posted at 9:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar20	How Many Roles Can a Technical Writer Fill? Jeff Carr March 20, 2006 Mark, at the Semicolon blog, writes that he sees 3 discrete technical communication jobs: Technical Writer, Technical Editor, Documentation Manager. I'm going to add a few to his list in a moment.Mark also mentions that the technical writer and technical... Continue Reading Posted at 4:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar19	Re-defining Technical Writing Jeff Carr March 19, 2006 According to one publisher I spoke with, books about technical writing haven't performed well. I have a theory about that.It's not that there aren't very many of us. The Society for Technical Communication has estimated that there are about 100,000... Continue Reading Posted at 7:55 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar15	Business Intelligence Grows Hotter than Ever Jeff Carr March 15, 2006 In line with my earlier post on the value of finding a niche, I'm going to point you towards the area of Business Intelligence. It's a high growth area that really needs good technical writers.My interest in the business application... Continue Reading Posted at 1:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar13	Find a Niche to Call Your Own Jeff Carr March 13, 2006 In 1989, I was collaborating on creating an online database that would collect, store and search information from elementary school physical education programs. My partner in this project was a former Olympic medalist from the Czech Republic, who, at the... Continue Reading Posted at 5:33 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 9	Are Technical Writers Better Off With Less Technical Knowledge? Jeff Carr March 9, 2006 Ed left a comment to yesterday's post which I thought I'd address as a stand-alone issue, rather than in the Comments section. Ed's question is a good one, and in fact, it's one of the reasons why companies like to... Continue Reading Posted at 1:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 8	Breaking Into Technical Writing Jeff Carr March 8, 2006 Two days ago, I met with a recent college graduate (degree in English Literature) who was interested in learning how to become a technical writer. She had no relevant technology experience. On the same day (in fact, 3 hours after... Continue Reading Posted at 7:02 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 7	Complexity Causes 50% of Product Returns Jeff Carr March 7, 2006 A Technical University of Eindhoven study just discovered a fact that consumers have long known. A lot of the electronic gizmos that they've been purchasing are too complicated to use. 20 minutes seems to be the average time when a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:46 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 5	Video Game Manuals: Where Print Books Rule Jeff Carr March 5, 2006 Strategy guides for video games are not a huge niche in the computer books market, but they are a respectable one. According to market data reported in today's New York Times, they generated just under $70 million dollars last year... Continue Reading Posted at 10:45 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 3	The Writer Magazine Assigns Article on Top 10 Tech Markets Jeff Carr March 3, 2006 About 30 days ago I sent a query letter for a feature article on the Top 10 technology markets to The Writer magazine. Yesterday, the Managing Editor e-mailed me with the assignment! I'm so pleased, because this is a magazine... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 2	A Writer's Trial by Fire and Self Publishing Jeff Carr March 2, 2006 There's a hot thread happening over at Studio B's e-mail list on traditional and non-traditional publishing, started by Publishing Hacks blogger Robbie Allen. New Internet-driven paradigms for writers, technical and otherwise, are going to change many things, particularly the profit... Continue Reading Posted at 9:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 1	Editors and Writers are Different Species Jeff Carr March 1, 2006 In my experience, editors aren't writers, and writers aren't editors. Then again, many so-called "technical writers" aren't writers, but that's a different post.I recently had this discussion at work. The sort of documentation my team develops has a very specific... Continue Reading Posted at 5:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

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Mar30	The XML Open Standard and Documentation Tools Jeff Carr March 30, 2006 Know More: Part of what's so exciting about the impending release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista is Microsoft's decision to adopt an open standard for their Office applications. If you're as interested as I am in watching this development progress, check out Brian Jones' Open XML Formats blog. I'm particularly interested in seeing some new publishing tools developed for XML-based documents. Flare is supposed to be an XML Help authoring tool, made by the folks who created RoboHELP. If you have any favorite XML authoring tools, please post them here. Posted at 8:26 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar29	What Do You Publish Your Manuals In? Jeff Carr March 29, 2006 Personally, I prefer FrameMaker, however that's not always an option. Word seems to be popular for manuals that are under 100 pages, but productivity starts heading south fast as the manual grows bigger.Has anyone tried combining Word and MS Publisher?... Continue Reading Posted at 8:56 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar23	Take the Authors Guild Survey Jeff Carr March 23, 2006 Whether you're a member of the Authors Guild or not, if you do any freelance writing, please allocate about 2 minutes to taking this survey. It will help inform the Guild about your views on copyright protection and recourse for... Continue Reading Posted at 1:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Something to Make All Writers Proud Jeff Carr March 23, 2006 One of the many blogs I read everyday is William M. Arkin's Early Warning. He's a journalist, I'm a writer, and free speech is something that all of us should cherish.In today's blog, Arkin recounts an incident that occured in... Continue Reading Posted at 9:28 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar20	How Many Roles Can a Technical Writer Fill? Jeff Carr March 20, 2006 Mark, at the Semicolon blog, writes that he sees 3 discrete technical communication jobs: Technical Writer, Technical Editor, Documentation Manager. I'm going to add a few to his list in a moment.Mark also mentions that the technical writer and technical... Continue Reading Posted at 4:10 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar19	Re-defining Technical Writing Jeff Carr March 19, 2006 According to one publisher I spoke with, books about technical writing haven't performed well. I have a theory about that.It's not that there aren't very many of us. The Society for Technical Communication has estimated that there are about 100,000... Continue Reading Posted at 7:55 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar15	Business Intelligence Grows Hotter than Ever Jeff Carr March 15, 2006 In line with my earlier post on the value of finding a niche, I'm going to point you towards the area of Business Intelligence. It's a high growth area that really needs good technical writers.My interest in the business application... Continue Reading Posted at 1:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar13	Find a Niche to Call Your Own Jeff Carr March 13, 2006 In 1989, I was collaborating on creating an online database that would collect, store and search information from elementary school physical education programs. My partner in this project was a former Olympic medalist from the Czech Republic, who, at the... Continue Reading Posted at 5:33 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 9	Are Technical Writers Better Off With Less Technical Knowledge? Jeff Carr March 9, 2006 Ed left a comment to yesterday's post which I thought I'd address as a stand-alone issue, rather than in the Comments section. Ed's question is a good one, and in fact, it's one of the reasons why companies like to... Continue Reading Posted at 1:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 8	Breaking Into Technical Writing Jeff Carr March 8, 2006 Two days ago, I met with a recent college graduate (degree in English Literature) who was interested in learning how to become a technical writer. She had no relevant technology experience. On the same day (in fact, 3 hours after... Continue Reading Posted at 7:02 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 7	Complexity Causes 50% of Product Returns Jeff Carr March 7, 2006 A Technical University of Eindhoven study just discovered a fact that consumers have long known. A lot of the electronic gizmos that they've been purchasing are too complicated to use. 20 minutes seems to be the average time when a... Continue Reading Posted at 7:46 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 5	Video Game Manuals: Where Print Books Rule Jeff Carr March 5, 2006 Strategy guides for video games are not a huge niche in the computer books market, but they are a respectable one. According to market data reported in today's New York Times, they generated just under $70 million dollars last year... Continue Reading Posted at 10:45 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 3	The Writer Magazine Assigns Article on Top 10 Tech Markets Jeff Carr March 3, 2006 About 30 days ago I sent a query letter for a feature article on the Top 10 technology markets to The Writer magazine. Yesterday, the Managing Editor e-mailed me with the assignment! I'm so pleased, because this is a magazine... Continue Reading Posted at 6:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 2	A Writer's Trial by Fire and Self Publishing Jeff Carr March 2, 2006 There's a hot thread happening over at Studio B's e-mail list on traditional and non-traditional publishing, started by Publishing Hacks blogger Robbie Allen. New Internet-driven paradigms for writers, technical and otherwise, are going to change many things, particularly the profit... Continue Reading Posted at 9:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Mar 1	Editors and Writers are Different Species Jeff Carr March 1, 2006 In my experience, editors aren't writers, and writers aren't editors. Then again, many so-called "technical writers" aren't writers, but that's a different post.I recently had this discussion at work. The sort of documentation my team develops has a very specific... Continue Reading Posted at 5:30 AM \| Permalink \| Comments

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