Call for input: Next Generation of Microsoft Help Platform

The following was posted on the STC Member Forum, under Online Help. Microsoft is planning the next-generation Help platform and we are soliciting input from STC members. If you or someone in your organization is responsible for designing, developing, planning, or managing user assistance systems, we WOULD LIKE YOUR FEEDBACK. We want to gain a… Read more »

New software – Microsoft Expression

Microsoft Expression is a new software suite released this week that includes professional design tools for standards-based Web sites. Expression Studio is a key component of Microsoft’s strategy for improving the user experience delivered by applications. We’ve yet to test it out, but it appears to be a vast improvement on FrontPage. Rachel Andrew’s review… Read more »

Technical Author Training

We’re putting the finishing touches to two new online courses. Realistically, we’re likely to “go live” in January. Watch this space! Also, Carol Johnston is now a Certified Flare Instructor. We should have a second Flare trainer certified this month. We’re not aware of any other certified Flare trainers in Europe, apart from Cherryleaf’s.

TICAD 2006

I spent yesterday at TICAD 2006, exhibiting and speaking at the conference. There were some really good speakers this year. I liked Tom Fitzgerald’s suggestion of taking one question from the support team that isn’t documented and calculating the costs for handling these calls. For one client, he’d extrapolated the cost for all the gaps… Read more »

What makes a good user document?

That’s the question I’ll be asking myself this week. I have been asked to be a “remote judge” for a technical communication competition. In the judging guidelines it states: “Two judging criteria are basic in the competitions: – Judge the work the contributors actually did.– Judge how well the work does what it is intended… Read more »