Yesterday, I wrote: “There are some activities that seem like they always could be improved. One is creating an authoring environment where professional technical communicators and other staff can work together.” Writing online Help is different from writing some other types of content, in that it involves topic-based authoring. Content is stored in modular, re-usable and flexible… Read more »
Category: editing
Editing and proofreading content with linters
A linter is a software utility that flags “suspicious usage” in software. Although linters are used by developers mostly to write more bug-free code, there are a few utilities emerging that work with documentation. They could be useful if you’re writing Web pages, markdown files or XML files. Write good checks for passive voice, repeated words, adverbs, weasel words,… Read more »
Case study: Creating an easy to use Listener Guide for the Samaritans and the Prison Service
Through its Listener Scheme in prisons, Samaritans provides emotional support to prisoners who are struggling to cope, are self harming or are feeling suicidal. Guidance for Samaritans volunteers that run and support Listener schemes was contained in a hard copy manual (the Guide to Prisons) which was cumbersome to update, difficult to navigate and not… Read more »
Voltaire, typos, and the jitters – writing the IBM Style Guide
This guest post is from Peter Hayward of IBM (UK): Voltaire said that “the art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” Technical editing is a bit like practising medicine. It has a focus on both prevention and cure, except we don’t have nature on our side. With editing, nature… Read more »
Cherryleaf launches new course on editing and proofreading
We’ve just introduced a new classroom training course on editing and proofreading. This course is aimed at individuals who have to create text and documents as part of their day to day work. They are not professional copywriters but may be called upon to provide reports, leaflets, instructions, fliers or web copy as part of… Read more »