One of the challenges for organisations moving to a new content management system for their user documentation is selecting an authoring tool that is: powerful enough, and can be used by non-Technical Authors as well as the professional Technical Authors. Many organisations want staff, such as developers, to be able to add content to the… Read more »
Category: Technical Author
How the new Kindles might affect the role of the Technical Author
Here are some initial thoughts on how the new Kindles from Amazon might affect the role of the Technical Author. Yet more diversity in reading platforms Technical Authors know this already – their content needs to work on lots of platforms and across different mediums. It’s more evidence that the layout must not be baked… Read more »
Technical Authors and the reverse classroom movement
It’s “back to school” time, and, in the UK, it’s a time when the way schools teach and test students is being debated to a great extent. The “reverse classroom” or “flip teaching” is a new approach that is being promoted as a way to teach in this Web-savvy, “always on” age. According to Wikipedia, the… Read more »
Creating personalised Help content in customisable software
Since we began Cherryleaf, we have presented and blogged on future trends in technical communication. Sometimes our predictions have come true, and other times they have not (yet!). At the tekom conference, back in 2003, I made a prediction that Technical Authors would be creating Help systems where the Help was personalised to the user’s… Read more »
The power of semantics
Words can have great meaning, if you understand what they signify. For example: Wind in the Willows, Bradley, Nimrod, Jerusalem, Flower of Scotland, Danny Boy, Cwm Rhondda, Abide with Me, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, smokestacks, Milton’s Pandemonium, Ex Terra Lucem, a floating tree, Accrington Pals, Remembrance, GOSH, NHS, unions, The Jarrow march, Suffragettes, Chelsea Pensioners, Empire Windrush, soldiers, sailors, airmen, Voldemort,… Read more »