I started my career as a technical writer, writing documentation for a few years before I made the transition to marketing writing. I'm glad I took this path, because it gave me tools for presenting very technical subject matter effectively and clearly in promotional text.

Find out what technical writers know that copywriters don't and watch next week for a related post on what technical writers can learn from copywriters.

If your are not familar with Framemaker and want some basic information on it's use, check out the following links:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1680953/how_to_use_adobe_framemaker_part_1.html?cat=15

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1680977/how_to_use_adobe_framemaker_part_2.html?cat=15

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1680999/how_to_use_adobe_framemaker_part_3.html?cat=15

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1681019/how_to_use_adobe_framemaker_part_4.html?cat=15

Hello All,

I need a urgent solution for the following issue.

In the JavaHelp Search Result, I am getting two search results for the same topic.

For example, if the word in the search text box is "Display Result", it displays two search results. One points correctly to the required HTML page and the other when clicked, displays a blank page.

Kindly let me know first of all why two results are displayed and why the other one is blank.

Only one entry has to be displayed which points to correct html page when the search result is clicked.

Survey on skin editor for help authoring tool

HI . I am student at National Institute of Design , And I am doing some Research Regarding Skin editors in Help authoring tools(specific to Robohelp) For my project.Kindly, fill in the survey Asap.Here is the link...

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=K6ce79LFlwbZuRFVDZxXJA_3d_3d

Thanks ,

I have a question:
I work in software as a technical writer. The application I write for is constantly changing and, as such, the documentation requires updates almost weekly. There are dozens of documents. Each is stored in as many as 5 different locations, so when I have to make a modification to one of the documents, I have to do the same to all. I am familiar with single source authoring but I would still have to re-publish each document from my single source authoring tool (Author-it 5), and repost the document at each location.
My question is this:

Managing Writers: A Real World Guide to Managing Technical Documentation
Richard L. Hamilton,
XML Press, Ft. Collins, CO 2009

Review by Jeannine M. E. Klein, Ph.D.
Aside from the 1996 classic Managing Your Documentation Projects by JoAnn Hackos and its 2006 update, Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People, few books exist in the specialized niche where management meets technical writing. General technical management books abound; there is even a relatively significant library on technical writing per se. But when it comes to herding that particular species of cats known as technical writers, few guideposts exist. Richard L. Hamilton addresses this void with Managing Writers: A Real World Guide to Managing Technical Documentation. Technical writers new to management should find the book helpful when navigating the unfamiliar waters of HR, project coordination, and technology acquisition; experienced managers new to the technical writing team will appreciate the insights into this specialized branch of technology.

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TimBox® is a "transparent" XML authoring software allowing to produce any type of manuals (user-manuals, maintenance manuals, user guides, etc.) and on-line helps directly from a task model. TimBox outputs documents in different formats: PDF, RTF, XML and HTML (the latter can also be compiled into CHM format). TimBox® is a TimGroup (www.timgroup.fr) product released in november 2008.

I, too, am wonmdering where the time for the customer interaction will come from.

While I entirely agree that said interaction is an overwhelmingly positive experience (both for writers and their management), my day/week/month is pretty much a zero sum game at this point -- any time I spend on facebook would be time I wouldn't be doing something else.

In a previous gig(three years ago), our senior managers (R&D VPs) thought that having docs on a wiki would be cool, leading edge, and reduce the headcount need in pubs.

by Suzette Leeming

I ventured into the online help world in the mid 90’s and reviewed a few different help authoring packages at that time, such as HelpBreeze, Doc-to-Help, and RoboHelp. At that time, almost all help authoring packages used Word. I went through a similar review around 2005, although my needs had changed; I wanted a single-source solution that didn't use Word. When I was offered the opportunity to review Doc-to-Help 2009, I eagerly looked forward to seeing how much the software had evolved and to seeing whether or not it was still dependent on Word.