A lot of people I know, it seems, are talking about Twitter. Quite a lot of these discussions seem to revolve around the question: is it actually useful? At the moment, I’m not sure myself. I’m asking myself whether it’s a useful tool for technical authors. So what is Twitter? Twitter describes itself as a… Read more »
Cherryleaf Blog
Announcing a Facebook club for technical authors
This week we received this email from a technical author: “I’ve been using Facebook for a few months and find it a great way to communicate with old friends and people with similar interests. I would love to set up a Tech Author group so that Tech Authors can share ideas issues etc however I… Read more »
Confessions of a technical author – What can technical communicators learn from David Ogilvy?
David Ogilvy was an advertising genius who distilled his successful concepts and techniques into a bestselling book I’ve just finished reading, called “Confessions of an Advertising Man”. I wanted to read his book, because I often find it useful to look at other professions and ask whether their ideas could be applied to the world… Read more »
Issuu – A Web-based pdf viewer for technical authors?
Issuu is a Web site that allows you to upload magazines or newsletters and then view them as interactive, magazine-style online publications in your Web browser. It’s a free service and has been described as a YouTube for magazines. There are a few manuals on it already. The Issuu document is presented in a way… Read more »
Zen and the art of Help files
I’ve finally received my copy of Garr Reynolds’ excellent book, “Presentation Zen“. This book is about creating better, clearer presentations in a Zen-like frame of mind. If you have seen any of my presentations, then you’ll know I prefer his photo-image style to the bullet point style that is more commonly used. I would argue… Read more »