1. Should I User Third-Party Software In My Website?
(Web Design/Web Design Tips and Articles)

... is made super-simple. With just a few small tweaks of already existing components, I can have an online gallery or an online catalogue (or both). If I spent the time making from scratch what others have ...

2. Free Alternatives to Expensive Technical Writing Software
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... that technical writers use. It wasn't just that they took a lot of time to learn, it was that they cost so much money. The three most commonly used software tools--Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PhotoShop, and ...

3. How to Write Editing Comments For Authors
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... cause. It also helps the author by suggesting how to improve the sentence. Often authors will just go with my suggestion and be thankful for the extra effort. The next comment (below) is perhaps one of ...

4. Using Comic Books for Technical Instruction
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... view people have of what technical writers do. Of course this view is completely inaccurate because technical writers create all kinds of documents and information pieces, not just instructions. But even ...

5. What is a Technical Writing Portfolio?
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... technical editing, the whole of it), is an applied discipline. In other words, technical writers don't just sit around and theorize about ideas, they make things. As such, technical writing is more like ...

6. 5 Important Books in Technical Writing
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... in various software tools--like MS Word, for example--how to carry out these lessons. Johnson-Sheehan's book is not as narrowly focused on just a few disciplines like some others are. In fact, he goes ...

7. Using Old School Web Design
(Web Design/Web Design Tips and Articles)

... for a number of years. And yet at the same time, these elements are very much a part of current web design trends, but just in different forms. We don’t see animated gifs anymore, but we do see Flash images, ...

8. Writing Blog Content as Technical Writing
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... relaying information to a specific audience) they in fact are practicing tech writing, just not the more traditional kind. Another downfall is that the tools and methods used are not consistent with what ...

9. How to Use Color in Your Documents
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... alone, however, should be used in synch with white space, font size, type and placement of whatever it is you want someone to be attracted to. Furthermore, just because something is filled with a bright ...

10. Web Design: Font and Page Size
(Web Design/Web Design Tips and Articles)

... the best. People can more easily read on the screen when using these fonts. Thus, when setting font type, these are perhaps the best used. Actually many specify "verdana, sans-serif;" just to be safe. ...

11. How to Write Policies and Procedures
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

A friend of mine who owns a small business asked me to write a set of policies and procedures for him. It occurred to me that he had little idea what he needed, just that he needed something. This is ...

12. Technical Communication and Programming: Internal and External Documentation
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... training or expertise, we'll have different ideas of elements that are or should be obvious: but they might not be obvious to everyone. So again, drop this tip and just critically analyze your code. It ...

13. How to Use Metaphors in Web Site Design
(Web Design/Web Design Tips and Articles)

... in the website. The site uses the simple image of a "Wurlitzer" jukebox (figure 1) to provide a metaphor for the music player. The designers could have just as easily listed the songs without this metaphor, ...

14. Persuasive Writing Example
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... Are their employees really doing something useful, or are they just goofing off on company time? If we don’t tell them, they’ll never know. And every organization—and its employees—want to know that the ...

15. PowerPoint Tips
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... to say on a slide. But this is just too much for an audience to either focus on or understand. Instead, put the main, concise point on the slide and use that as a platform to explain the idea the main ...

16. The Use of Programming Source-Code Comments
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... is the norm, and empirical research is just not valuable. Perhaps if I'd performed a content analysis on the programmer's meeting notes instead of actually looking at their source-code I could have gotten ...

17. Resume Guide Part 5
(Resume Writing/Resume Writing Lessons)

Can’t I Make Just One? So now that we’ve looked at how resumes are looked at, and we’ve discussed a little bit about how they should be written, let’s take care of another issue that my students often ...

18. Resume Guide Part 4
(Resume Writing/Resume Writing Lessons)

... This is the only way to prove your qualifications. I talk about this a bit more later, but notice the stories in the cover letter example. Jessica could have just said that she’s conducted investigations, ...

19. Resume Guide Part 3
(Resume Writing/Resume Writing Lessons)

... more buried in the text than it can be in a resume. A person reading a cover letter is willing to take more time to find the important information, just like you might when you read a magazine or newspaper ...

20. Resume Guide Part 2
(Resume Writing/Resume Writing Lessons)

... qualifications, you always want to begin the sentences with active voice verbs as in the example. If you’re not sure whether your sentences are active or passive, just look at the word beginning the sentence. ...

21. Minimum Functionality for Increased Usability
(Usability/Usability Tips, Lessons and Articles)

... for different purposes. Just look at the number of audio devices the iPod integrates into. Each is just a bit different and has different capabilities and purposes. Each is bought by different people choosing ...

22. Resume Guide Part 1
(Resume Writing/Resume Writing Lessons)

... at your abilities? I mean how much can that one or two pages really tell your future employers about you anyway? If you could just talk to them instead, you know they’d be falling all over themselves ...

23. How to Align Text
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... readers you'll find in the U.S.--the easiest to read is Left Justified text with a ragged right edge. That is how this text is written. This style does a couple of things. First, it supports the way people ...

24. Technical Communication and Programming: Using Writing Rules
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... takes to accurately review and document code. Or, when faced with setbacks, these activities are usually the first to be sacrificed, justified by a consensus to come back later and do them when time allows ...

25. Usabiltiy in Logos
(Usability/Usability Tips, Lessons and Articles)

... The bottom line is to understand that principles of usability can apply to everything, not just physical objects. When using or creating graphics, documents, symbols or logos, stop and try to think about ...

26. Usability Case Study: Apple Newton
(Usability/Usability Tips, Lessons and Articles)

... or do you? Is it ready to be released, or do the concepts need to be perfected first? Is the product usable, or just cool? For technical, professional and business communication help in the Las Cruces, ...

27. How to Use Font Types: The Sequel
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... And I'm sure you get that from this passage, but the font contrasts with that messge: it wrestles with it. It just doesn't look right, does it? Thus, it is easy to see that font can actually shape your ...

28. What Font Size to Use
(Technical Communication/Technical Communication Lessons)

... elements used on the page, such as figure titles and table captions. If font larger than 12 point is used, it may look odd or unprofessional (that's just not what our eyes are used to). And if it's too ...