| |
| |
| |
| Is This the Job for Me? | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Market Is Booming | |
| |
| |
| What Is a Technical Writer? | |
| |
| |
| A Growing Community | |
| |
| |
| Where You'll Fit In | |
| |
| |
| Exactly What Does a Tech Writer Do? | |
| |
| |
| Can Anyone Be a Tech Writer? | |
| |
| |
| What a Market! | |
| |
| |
| The Shortage of Technical Writers | |
| |
| |
| Making a Living | |
| |
| |
| Making a Difference | |
| |
| |
| |
| What Does a Technical Writer Do, Anyway? | |
| |
| |
| Filling Some Big Shoes | |
| |
| |
| A Tech Writer's Day | |
| |
| |
| Turning "GeekSpeak" Into Plain English | |
| |
| |
| Figuring Out What's First and Putting It There | |
| |
| |
| Writing and Maintaining Documents | |
| |
| |
| Understanding How Things Work | |
| |
| |
| Being a Catalyst for Change | |
| |
| |
| Being Involved in the Design Process | |
| |
| |
| The Technical Writer Is the First End User | |
| |
| |
| |
| Having the "Write" Stuff | |
| |
| |
| But Can You Write? | |
| |
| |
| The "Wow" Factor | |
| |
| |
| "Yes, We Have No Bananas": Communicating Clearly | |
| |
| |
| "Get It?" "Got It!" | |
| |
| |
| Juggling Flaming Sticks | |
| |
| |
| Playing Well with Others | |
| |
| |
| Getting Along | |
| |
| |
| Saying "No" | |
| |
| |
| Saying "Yes" | |
| |
| |
| Being Ready, Willing, and Able | |
| |
| |
| |
| Breaking Into the Field | |
| |
| |
| All Roads Can Lead to Tech Writing | |
| |
| |
| Writer or Techie? Both Can Succeed | |
| |
| |
| The Accidental Tech Writer | |
| |
| |
| Building a Solid Foundation | |
| |
| |
| Master the Basics | |
| |
| |
| Learn the Tools | |
| |
| |
| Proving Yourself | |
| |
| |
| What's in a Writing Test? | |
| |
| |
| Showing Samples | |
| |
| |
| Building a Portfolio | |
| |
| |
| Recast Your Resume | |
| |
| |
| See Yourself as a Professional | |
| |
| |
| Making the Most of What You Have: For the Career Changer | |
| |
| |
| Let's Discuss Degrees | |
| |
| |
| Why Is It So Hard to Get an Interview? | |
| |
| |
| Use a Recruiter | |
| |
| |
| Network, Network, Network | |
| |
| |
| Go to the STC Conference | |
| |
| |
| Winning Interview Tips | |
| |
| |
| Persistence Pays Off | |
| |
| |
| |
| What Makes a Good Document? | |
| |
| |
| "A" Is for Accuracy | |
| |
| |
| Completeness Counts | |
| |
| |
| Make Processes, Documents, and Sets Complete | |
| |
| |
| Completeness Includes Editing and Proofreading | |
| |
| |
| Check for Completeness Early and Often | |
| |
| |
| Clarity Is in Good Writing | |
| |
| |
| Consistency | |
| |
| |
| Having a Handle on Usability | |
| |
| |
| Knowing Usability When You See It | |
| |
| |
| Time and Money Well-Spent | |
| |
| |
| A Natural Career Path for Tech Writers | |
| |
| |
| Keys to Improving Document Usability | |
| |
| |
| Will It Fly? Judging Documents | |
| |
| |
| Classifying Your Documents | |
| |
| |
| When Is a Manual Not a Guide? | |
| |
| |
| Defining the Document Content | |
| |
| |
| |
| Tech Writers, Start Your Engines... | |
| |
| |
| |
| Five Steps to Creating a Technical Document | |
| |
| |
| Step by Step | |
| |
| |
| |
| Gather Information | |
| |
| |
| |
| Plan | |
| |
| |
| |
| Write | |
| |
| |
| |
| Verify | |
| |
| |
| |
| Redo | |
| |
| |
| Creating a Document Plan | |
| |
| |
| Milestones | |
| |
| |
| |
| Getting Started | |
| |
| |
| Your First Assignment: Taking Over a Document | |
| |
| |
| Adopting a Document | |
| |
| |
| Maintenance and Tune-Ups | |
| |
| |
| Out with the Old, In with the New | |
| |
| |
| Knowing What Needs Fixing | |
| |
| |
| How Much Rewriting Should You Do? | |
| |
| |
| Where to Begin--A Plan of Attack | |
| |
| |
| If There's No Time | |
| |
| |
| Break Down Your Schedule | |
| |
| |
| Check Your Progress | |
| |
| |
| No Matter What Happens, Stay Calm | |
| |
| |
| |
| Learning Your Topic | |
| |
| |
| The Importance of Product Knowledge | |
| |
| |
| Getting to Square One | |
| |
| |
| Product Ins and Outs | |
| |
| |
| Leave a Paper Trail | |
| |
| |
| Capture Your "Newbie" Experience | |
| |
| |
| Label Notes Clearly | |
| |
| |
| Keep Notes Based on User Tasks | |
| |
| |
| Ask and Ye Shall Learn | |
| |
| |
| Become an Expert in the Field | |
| |
| |
| Learn the Specifics | |
| |
| |
| Play Around | |
| |
| |
| Meet the People Who Can Help You | |
| |
| |
| Ask to Share the Wealth | |
| |
| |
| Learn About Related or Allied Products | |
| |
| |
| Take Your Time | |
| |
| |
| |
| It's All About Audience | |
| |
| |
| Who Will Read This Document? | |
| |
| |
| Novice User | |
| |
| |
| Power User | |
| |
| |
| Programmer or Software Developer | |
| |
| |
| System Administrator | |
| |
| |
| Matching the User with the Document Type | |
| |
| |
| Fine-Tuning What You Know | |
| |
| |
| What Is My User's Job Title? | |
| |
| |
| What Is My User's Job Function? | |
| |
| |
| What Tasks Is the User Performing with This Program? | |
| |
| |
| How Will the Reader Use the Document? And How Often? | |
| |
| |
| How Does the Product Help the User? | |
| |
| |
| What Possible Problems Might the User Encounter? | |
| |
| |
| How Computer Literate Is the User? | |
| |
| |
| How Educated Is the User? | |
| |
| |
| Is English the User's Native Language? | |
| |
| |
| Same Software, Different Users | |
| |
| |
| The Home User | |
| |
| |
| The Technical User | |
| |
| |
| The Big-Spending User ... Er, the Task-Oriented User | |
| |
| |
| Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek | |
| |
| |
| When There's No Face-to-Face Contact | |
| |
| |
| What If the User Is Highly Technical? | |
| |
| |
| |
| Gathering Information | |
| |
| |
| Determining Content | |
| |
| |
| Description-Based: What the Product Does | |
| |
| |
| Task-Based: What the User Does | |
| |
| |
| Gathering Information | |
| |
| |
| Task-Based Documents | |
| |
| |
| Description-Based Documents | |
| |
| |
| Interviewing SMEs | |
| |
| |
| Keeping Up | |
| |
| |
| Patience and Persistence: Eyes on the Prize | |
| |
| |
| |
| Racing Toward the Finish | |
| |
| |
| |
| The First Draft | |
| |
| |
| Jump Right In, the Water's Fine | |
| |
| |
| In the Beginning: Creating a Document Outline | |
| |
| |
| Outline Format | |
| |
| |
| Shuffling the Virtual Index Cards | |
| |
| |
| Drafting Your Draft | |
| |
| |
| The Hipbone's Connected to the Leg Bone: Fleshing Out the Outline | |
| |
| |
| How Fast Is "On Time"? | |
| |
| |
| Battling Writer's Block | |
| |
| |
| |
| Everybody's an Editor | |
| |
| |
| Getting Feedback | |
| |
| |
| Confirming Information | |
| |
| |
| Showing What's Still Needed | |
| |
| |
| Choosing Reviewers | |
| |
| |
| Preparing the Draft for Review | |
| |
| |
| Include a Cover Sheet | |
| |
| |
| Be Firm About Return Dates | |
| |
| |
| Conducting the Review | |
| |
| |
| The Tabletop Review | |
| |
| |
| The Distributed Copies Review | |
| |
| |
| The Electronic Review | |
| |
| |
| Who's On First, What's On Second | |
| |
| |
| Consolidating Reviewer Feedback | |
| |
| |
| Resolving Conflicting Feedback | |
| |
| |
| Once More, with Feeling | |
| |
| |
| |
| Front and Back Matter (They Sure Do!) | |
| |
| |
| About Front Matter | |
| |
| |
| Copyright Information | |
| |
| |
| Table of Contents | |
| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| Typographical Conventions | |
| |
| |
| About Back Matter | |
| |
| |
| Appendixes | |
| |
| |
| Glossaries | |
| |
| |
| The Index | |
| |
| |
| |
| Indexing | |
| |
| |
| Why an Index? | |
| |
| |
| It Helps You Find Your Way | |
| |
| |
| But Doesn't the Table of Contents Do That? | |
| |
| |
| Why Everyone Hates Indexing | |
| |
| |
| Another Document's Markers | |
| |
| |
| What Makes a Good Index | |
| |
| |
| Knowing What the User Wants | |
| |
| |
| Descriptive Entries | |
| |
| |
| No Dead Ends | |
| |
| |
| Seeing Is Believing | |
| |
| |
| Creating an Index | |
| |
| |
| Manual vs. Computer Indexing | |
| |
| |
| Some Rules for Indexing | |
| |
| |
| Common Indexing Errors | |
| |
| |
| Master Indexes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Making the Final Laps | |
| |
| |
| Rewriting and Editing | |
| |
| |
| How Much Is Enough? | |
| |
| |
| Keep Things Moving | |
| |
| |
| Editing Your Own Work | |
| |
| |
| Editing Another Writer's Work | |
| |
| |
| Proofreading | |
| |
| |
| Making Proofreading Easier | |
| |
| |
| Testing the Document | |
| |
| |
| Document Testing on a (Time) Budget | |
| |
| |
| A Testing Checklist | |
| |
| |
| A Final Document Checklist | |
| |
| |
| Freezing the Document | |
| |
| |
| Collecting Post-Freeze Changes | |
| |
| |
| Don't Thaw--Add On | |
| |
| |
| Handing Off the Final Deliverables | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Deliverables | |
| |
| |
| User Documentation: The User's Main Course | |
| |
| |
| Standard User's Guides | |
| |
| |
| "Getting Started" Guides | |
| |
| |
| Tutorials | |
| |
| |
| Quick Reference Cards | |
| |
| |
| Introductions | |
| |
| |
| Installation Manuals | |
| |
| |
| Release Notes | |
| |
| |
| Troubleshooting Manuals | |
| |
| |
| The Heavyweights | |
| |
| |
| Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) | |
| |
| |
| Reference Guides | |
| |
| |
| Specifications | |
| |
| |
| System Administrator Guides | |
| |
| |
| "Oh, and Could You Write This, Too...?" | |
| |
| |
| |
| Knowledge Is Power | |
| |
| |
| |
| "You Want It When?" | |
| |
| |
| "You Can Have It Good, Fast, or Cheap: Pick Two" | |
| |
| |
| What Do They Really Mean? | |
| |
| |
| Battling the Inner Perfectionist | |
| |
| |
| When Speed Is of the Essence | |
| |
| |
| Working with Contractors | |
| |
| |
| Planning an Entire Project | |
| |
| |
| Considering the Medium | |
| |
| |
| A Bit About Scheduling | |
| |
| |
| Project Scope: How Wide Is Big? How High Is Up? | |
| |
| |
| Calculating Time | |
| |
| |
| Size, Scope, and Quality | |
| |
| |
| Working Backward: Planning the Schedule | |
| |
| |
| |
| Style Guides: Not Just a Fashion Statement | |
| |
| |
| What Is a Style Guide and What Does It Do? | |
| |
| |
| Style and Speed | |
| |
| |
| Guideline or Requirement? | |
| |
| |
| Why Consistency Is Important | |
| |
| |
| Follow the Bouncing Word | |
| |
| |
| For Me to Know and You to Find Out | |
| |
| |
| "Elegant Variation" Doesn't Improve Style | |
| |
| |
| Classic Styles | |
| |
| |
| Creating a Style Guide | |
| |
| |
| The Mini Style Guide | |
| |
| |
| Just Another Technical Document | |
| |
| |
| How Do You Know Which Style Is "Right"? | |
| |
| |
| |
| Writing Clearly | |
| |
| |
| Best Writing Practices | |
| |
| |
| Respect the Reader | |
| |
| |
| Active Voice: Don't Worry, Be Active | |
| |
| |
| Commas: Dangerous Punctuation--The Serial Comma | |
| |
| |
| Emphasis: We Really Mean It | |
| |
| |
| Gender-Neutral Language: He Said, She Said | |
| |
| |
| Humor: Funny Is as Funny Does | |
| |
| |
| Imperatives: That's an Order | |
| |
| |
| Negatives: Let's Be Positive, People | |
| |
| |
| Paragraph Length: Six Is Enough | |
| |
| |
| Parallel Structure: No Surprises | |
| |
| |
| Present Tense: Be Here Now | |
| |
| |
| Second Person: Yes, You | |
| |
| |
| Should: Should You or Shouldn't You? | |
| |
| |
| Kiss--Keep It Short and Simple | |
| |
| |
| Call a Spade a Spade (Not a "Manually Operated Multipurpose Soil Manipulation Instrument") | |
| |
| |
| Learning from Simplified English | |
| |
| |
| Simple as 1, 2, 3: Writing Procedures | |
| |
| |
| Divided by a Common Language: The International Audience | |
| |
| |
| |
| The Right Tool for the Job | |
| |
| |
| The Tools | |
| |
| |
| The Many Tasks of a Tech Writer | |
| |
| |
| Tools, Wonderful Tools! | |
| |
| |
| Your Computer Is Your Best Friend | |
| |
| |
| The Value of Being Familiar with UNIX | |
| |
| |
| ... and Linux | |
| |
| |
| Leave the Apples at Home | |
| |
| |
| Writing Tools Must Fit Your Project | |
| |
| |
| Desktop Publishing | |
| |
| |
| Word Processing Programs | |
| |
| |
| Choosing the Program That's Right for You | |
| |
| |
| Graphics Tools Illustrate Your Points | |
| |
| |
| Image Files | |
| |
| |
| Screen Captures | |
| |
| |
| Photo-Retouching Programs | |
| |
| |
| Drawing Programs | |
| |
| |
| Online Tools Launch You into Cyberspace | |
| |
| |
| Creating PDFs | |
| |
| |
| HTML Editors | |
| |
| |
| Web Development | |
| |
| |
| SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) | |
| |
| |
| XML (eXtensible Markup Language) | |
| |
| |
| Help Tools Mean Really Ready Reference | |
| |
| |
| Wrapping It Up | |
| |
| |
| |
| Document Design | |
| |
| |
| Whose Job Is It, Anyway? | |
| |
| |
| Get Help When You Can | |
| |
| |
| Enhance Document Usability with Visual Elements | |
| |
| |
| See How Others Have Done It | |
| |
| |
| Page Setup | |
| |
| |
| Page Size | |
| |
| |
| Margins | |
| |
| |
| Bindings | |
| |
| |
| Page Layout and Design | |
| |
| |
| Column Width | |
| |
| |
| Color Me Interesting | |
| |
| |
| Just My Type: Mastering Typography | |
| |
| |
| Avoid Hyphenation | |
| |
| |
| Type Talk | |
| |
| |
| Cutting to the Chase | |
| |
| |
| Headings | |
| |
| |
| Body Text | |
| |
| |
| Developing Your Layout | |
| |
| |
| Tables and Figures | |
| |
| |
| Use Meaningful Graphics | |
| |
| |
| Online Design and Distribution | |
| |
| |
| PDF Documents | |
| |
| |
| WWW Files | |
| |
| |
| |
| WWWriting for the Web | |
| |
| |
| Virtual Verbiage | |
| |
| |
| Online Help | |
| |
| |
| Web-Based Documentation | |
| |
| |
| CD-ROM Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Computer-Based Training | |
| |
| |
| When Online Help Is No Help | |
| |
| |
| What's Different About Reading Documentation Online? | |
| |
| |
| What's Different About Writing Online Documentation? | |
| |
| |
| Single-Sourcing | |
| |
| |
| Getting to WWWork | |
| |
| |
| Planning | |
| |
| |
| Implementing | |
| |
| |
| Verifying and Redoing | |
| |
| |
| |
| I Love My Job, I Love My Job, I Love My Job | |
| |
| |
| |
| Office Alternatives: Working Outside the Box | |
| |
| |
| Consultant or Captive? | |
| |
| |
| You Say Consultant, I Say Contractor | |
| |
| |
| The Best of Both Worlds | |
| |
| |
| Free Agents | |
| |
| |
| The "Bottom Line" Is on a Tax Form | |
| |
| |
| Can You Really Work Without Getting Out of Your Bathrobe? | |
| |
| |
| Discipline? Me? | |
| |
| |
| A Time to Rest and a Time to Work | |
| |
| |
| That "Hermit" Feeling | |
| |
| |
| When the Walls Start Closing In | |
| |
| |
| All These Problems Have Solutions | |
| |
| |
| There's Still No Place Like Home | |
| |
| |
| About Telecommuting | |
| |
| |
| How to Work Off-Site and Still Be a Team Member | |
| |
| |
| |
| You Didn't Think It Would Be Like This! | |
| |
| |
| The "Dark" Side of Technical Writing | |
| |
| |
| Choose Your Deadline: Aggressive or Insane? | |
| |
| |
| Documentation Always Comes Last | |
| |
| |
| When You've Got to Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat | |
| |
| |
| Changes, Changes, Changes | |
| |
| |
| Take Control | |
| |
| |
| "I Don't Get No Respect" | |
| |
| |
| Working with Problem People | |
| |
| |
| You're Doing All the Work While Someone Else Gets the Credit | |
| |
| |
| Who Owns the Documentation? | |
| |
| |
| How Proprietary Is Proprietary Information? | |
| |
| |
| Getting Samples for Your Portfolio | |
| |
| |
| The Light Side of Tech Writing | |
| |
| |
| |
| Managing Your Career | |
| |
| |
| Where Do You Go from Here? | |
| |
| |
| A Junior Technical Writer Job Description | |
| |
| |
| A Technical Writer Job Description | |
| |
| |
| A Senior Technical Writer Job Description | |
| |
| |
| Documentation Manager | |
| |
| |
| Moving Up | |
| |
| |
| Moving Out | |
| |
| |
| Moving Into Another Field | |
| |
| |
| Keeping Your Knowledge Current | |
| |
| |
| Networking Doesn't Stop Just Because You're Employed | |
| |
| |
| Join Professional Organizations | |
| |
| |
| Go to STC Meetings | |
| |
| |
| Join the TECHWR-L Mailing List | |
| |
| |
| Appendixes | |
| |
| |
| |
| Tech Talk--The Tech Writer's Glossary | |
| |
| |
| |
| For Your Bookshelf | |
| |
| |
| |
| Professional Organizations and Web Sites | |
| |
| |
| Index | |