Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Friday, March 06, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Old Habits
Hi Emily,
Here is a poem I worked on tonight:
Mr. Grenham showed us your poem about what yellow is like. Good work!
Love,
Daddy
TechWrite Publishing
Buy Clarity, By TechWrite
www.TechWritePublishing.com
Office: 781-715-1603
Mobile: 781-223-1396
Here is a poem I worked on tonight:
Old Habits
Old habits. Please, what kind of thing are they?
Settled, regular practices. That’s what they are.
Why do habits hinder the way,
Like stickers on a beautiful hillside?
Human nature, a preacher would say.
Old unhappy habits die hard, hard, hard,
While sincere resolutions emerge stillborn.
Bad habits love to stick and stay here.
How to shake one? Not through private hope.
Only with pluck, prayer, and a powerful heart.
Mr. Grenham showed us your poem about what yellow is like. Good work!
Love,
Daddy
TechWrite Publishing
Buy Clarity, By TechWrite
www.TechWritePublishing.com
Office: 781-715-1603
Mobile: 781-223-1396
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Late Night Thoughts from June 2008
Hi Everyone,
The longer you put off writing something, the
harder it is to pick up your pen and start. That's
what happens with these newsletters: one month
passes, then another, and soon I have a hundred
mental excuses for not doing anything. That's a
lot of reasons for delay. I wouldn't call it
writer's block - just writer do nothing...
I've been receiving mail from Frank Rumbauskas at
www.nevercoldcall.com. The format is narrow column
and plain text. You can scan down the column
rapidly, just as you can in a well-formatted HTML
page. The columns in this newsletter are so
narrow, though, that reading speed is quite high.
You can see I've tried that format here.
~ Job at SigmaTel.
~ Link to Broadside article and rest of article on help systems.
~ Latest STC news - EOY celebration on June 21.
Here are links related to the items above:
For SigmaTel:
http://sigmatel.com/
For the Broadside article:
http://www.stcboston.org/broadside/pdf/broadside_newsletter_May_2007.pdf
For the EOY celebration at the STC website:
http://www.stcboston.org/programs/juneprogram.shtml
So let's see how this looks when we send a test
e-mail. This doesn't do a hard wrap automatically:
you have to select the text and order it up!
The longer you put off writing something, the
harder it is to pick up your pen and start. That's
what happens with these newsletters: one month
passes, then another, and soon I have a hundred
mental excuses for not doing anything. That's a
lot of reasons for delay. I wouldn't call it
writer's block - just writer do nothing...
I've been receiving mail from Frank Rumbauskas at
www.nevercoldcall.com. The format is narrow column
and plain text. You can scan down the column
rapidly, just as you can in a well-formatted HTML
page. The columns in this newsletter are so
narrow, though, that reading speed is quite high.
You can see I've tried that format here.
~ Job at SigmaTel.
~ Link to Broadside article and rest of article on help systems.
~ Latest STC news - EOY celebration on June 21.
Here are links related to the items above:
For SigmaTel:
http://sigmatel.com/
For the Broadside article:
http://www.stcboston.org/broadside/pdf/broadside_newsletter_May_2007.pdf
For the EOY celebration at the STC website:
http://www.stcboston.org/programs/juneprogram.shtml
So let's see how this looks when we send a test
e-mail. This doesn't do a hard wrap automatically:
you have to select the text and order it up!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
STC Boston's Events Calendar
Hi Everyone,
I met a colleague yesterday who is interested in becoming active in STC's Boston chapter again. So I sent her some information about our upcoming programs. Our meetings for the rest of the current academic year are:
April 18 – Program on Epic and ArborText at the Hilton Garden Inn in Burlington.
May 23 – Online Showcase at The MathWorks in Natick.
June 20 – End of year celebration, location to be determined.
You can learn details about speakers, directions, and registration at STC Boston's events calendar. Click the event in the calendar to open the program page for that meeting. The calendar includes the chapter's monthly programs as well as meetings of our special interest groups.
For more information about STC Boston's programs, please contact Steven Greffenius at 781-715-1603. And thanks for your interest!
I met a colleague yesterday who is interested in becoming active in STC's Boston chapter again. So I sent her some information about our upcoming programs. Our meetings for the rest of the current academic year are:
April 18 – Program on Epic and ArborText at the Hilton Garden Inn in Burlington.
May 23 – Online Showcase at The MathWorks in Natick.
June 20 – End of year celebration, location to be determined.
You can learn details about speakers, directions, and registration at STC Boston's events calendar. Click the event in the calendar to open the program page for that meeting. The calendar includes the chapter's monthly programs as well as meetings of our special interest groups.
For more information about STC Boston's programs, please contact Steven Greffenius at 781-715-1603. And thanks for your interest!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Introduction to Steven Greffenius
Hi, I'm Steven Greffenius. Do you sell a complex piece of equipment or software application? Do you want to make learning how to use your products easy and even enjoyable? Hire a seasoned professional to communicate your technology to your customers. Since 1997, TechWrite Publishing has served engineering firms in greater Boston with superior publications and help systems. Do right by your customers, and give them the best instructions you can. Contact TechWrite Publishing and ask for me, Steven Greffenius.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Thought for the Day
"The world is good-natured to people who are good-natured."
~ William Makepeace Thackeray
~ William Makepeace Thackeray
Saturday, February 24, 2007
TechWrite and Content Management for Small and Medium Firms
A colleague wrote to me with some questions about how TechWrite can meet the needs of its customers in the future. Here's a revised version of my thoughts in response:
As always, your thinking is clear and raises the right issues. You're right, I don't want to create a staffing agency for writers. Even if you specialize in contracts for communicators, you compete with hundreds of other agencies. A publishing company, however, competes with only a few other firms, and those firms each have their own special character. One of those prospective competitors operates efficiently and pays attention to process. Successful firms have to pay attention to that.
Anyway, I think that a we've reached a point in our technology that a publishing company - especially one that publishes online - doesn't have to sustain the overhead required for office space and all the other expenses that go along with office space. Yes, working in one place has big advantages, but you can build a publishing firm as a virtual company.
Second, I think companies need help when they put a large amount of material online. They want to be efficient about it, and they want to serve their stakeholders well. One of our colleagues consults with companies about how to manage that process, but he doesn't do the work himself. He counsels firms about how to manage the process internally. Perhaps, though, they'd like to have an outside firm coordinate and execute the process.
Third, we've all found, as we work at various firms, that they have much material stored away on their networks. A lot of it is disorganized and out of date, but whatever shape it's in, much of it is still useful. Firms would like efficient ways to use these materials to meet current requirements. It costs a lot to create things from scratch. People with our skills know how to make good use of this valuable stuff lying around.
Printed materials are going by the by very fast now. Even publishing to a CD is something you rarely see these days. With broadband connections, the most efficient way to publish is via the internet, period. Yet the processes for doing so are still in early stages of development. That's why you hear so much discussion about content management systems: we're still figuring out how to do it. A firm like TechWrite Publishing can contribute, not only to the discussion, but also by helping firms accomplish key tasks in this area.
The emphasis in the discussion so far is to help large firms manage their content. Small to medium firms need similar help: it's obvious to them even if it's not so clear how to solve those problems. A common way to solve the problem is to hire a technical writer, stick the writer in a cubicle and tell the writer to create content for the next release. That method works just well enough that this approach hasn't changed much over the years. Much more efficient is to grasp the firm's publishing needs at the outset, and integrate publishing processes with other things the firm has going on.
I truly think TechWrite Publishing can help firms in this area. Experts like us can make connections between customers' needs and communications tasks. We can put processes in place that help firms communicate effectively, without spending more than they can afford. Old processes don't change easily, though, so TechWrite needs to persuade prospective customers that they can benefit a lot from taking a more comprehensive approach to their online publishing.
I like to produce good materials, but I don't want to be the writer in a cubicle anymore. Even though I like to write, organize, analyze, outline, design, revise, publish, research, learn, improve, and do all the other things that writers do, I don't like to leave things unfinished so much. Again and again, firms run out of money before they finish a project, or they leave a project unfinished for some other reason. Money is the universal language of decision making in business, as it should be, so the reason for ending a project before it's done usually comes back to money. That doesn't have to be the case, though.
Suppose you were able to offer firms a publishing process where the value of the investment was visible more quickly? Firms don't need immediate gratification, but they do want to see what they're getting. Writers continually make the case that their work is under-valued, that they can't make their supervisors see the importance of what they do. But we're stuck there. The standard statistic in our field is, look how much we were able to reduce customer calls to the call center. A lot of firms don't have call centers, though, and those that do aren't going to shut them down because they've improved their documentation.
So we have the difficulty that arises when ideas are a little ahead of their time. How do you create something new when old ways are well established? The established way is to put a writer in a cubicle, go through the proper development and review process, then put the new content out there and hope it does the job. The old way has worked well enough, especially for print publication.
Now we have all these new ideas that can help firms efficiently organize and publish their valuable content online. If the publishing processes are efficient enough, it would mean that publication projects actually get done, rather than languish. They languish because they lack proper planning and follow-through, and they lack clear processes adapted to online publishing. Better processes would address problems of efficiency, organization, easy access to information, and the like. More publishing projects would actually be completed.
I like marketing. I like sales, too, when I'm successful at it. I know, though, that these activities are hard to do alone. In fact, it's hard to accomplish almost anything of value alone. The accomplishments of productive teams are everywhere to see. Almost everyone wants to be part of a productive team. Perhaps TechWrite can create a team that meets genuine publishing needs. These needs arise with the growth of online publishing, and of course with the development of complex technology that people want to understand quickly. TechWrite can contribute in these areas, but it can't contribute so much under the old model of a lone writer in a cubicle.
As always, your thinking is clear and raises the right issues. You're right, I don't want to create a staffing agency for writers. Even if you specialize in contracts for communicators, you compete with hundreds of other agencies. A publishing company, however, competes with only a few other firms, and those firms each have their own special character. One of those prospective competitors operates efficiently and pays attention to process. Successful firms have to pay attention to that.
Anyway, I think that a we've reached a point in our technology that a publishing company - especially one that publishes online - doesn't have to sustain the overhead required for office space and all the other expenses that go along with office space. Yes, working in one place has big advantages, but you can build a publishing firm as a virtual company.
Second, I think companies need help when they put a large amount of material online. They want to be efficient about it, and they want to serve their stakeholders well. One of our colleagues consults with companies about how to manage that process, but he doesn't do the work himself. He counsels firms about how to manage the process internally. Perhaps, though, they'd like to have an outside firm coordinate and execute the process.
Third, we've all found, as we work at various firms, that they have much material stored away on their networks. A lot of it is disorganized and out of date, but whatever shape it's in, much of it is still useful. Firms would like efficient ways to use these materials to meet current requirements. It costs a lot to create things from scratch. People with our skills know how to make good use of this valuable stuff lying around.
Printed materials are going by the by very fast now. Even publishing to a CD is something you rarely see these days. With broadband connections, the most efficient way to publish is via the internet, period. Yet the processes for doing so are still in early stages of development. That's why you hear so much discussion about content management systems: we're still figuring out how to do it. A firm like TechWrite Publishing can contribute, not only to the discussion, but also by helping firms accomplish key tasks in this area.
The emphasis in the discussion so far is to help large firms manage their content. Small to medium firms need similar help: it's obvious to them even if it's not so clear how to solve those problems. A common way to solve the problem is to hire a technical writer, stick the writer in a cubicle and tell the writer to create content for the next release. That method works just well enough that this approach hasn't changed much over the years. Much more efficient is to grasp the firm's publishing needs at the outset, and integrate publishing processes with other things the firm has going on.
I truly think TechWrite Publishing can help firms in this area. Experts like us can make connections between customers' needs and communications tasks. We can put processes in place that help firms communicate effectively, without spending more than they can afford. Old processes don't change easily, though, so TechWrite needs to persuade prospective customers that they can benefit a lot from taking a more comprehensive approach to their online publishing.
I like to produce good materials, but I don't want to be the writer in a cubicle anymore. Even though I like to write, organize, analyze, outline, design, revise, publish, research, learn, improve, and do all the other things that writers do, I don't like to leave things unfinished so much. Again and again, firms run out of money before they finish a project, or they leave a project unfinished for some other reason. Money is the universal language of decision making in business, as it should be, so the reason for ending a project before it's done usually comes back to money. That doesn't have to be the case, though.
Suppose you were able to offer firms a publishing process where the value of the investment was visible more quickly? Firms don't need immediate gratification, but they do want to see what they're getting. Writers continually make the case that their work is under-valued, that they can't make their supervisors see the importance of what they do. But we're stuck there. The standard statistic in our field is, look how much we were able to reduce customer calls to the call center. A lot of firms don't have call centers, though, and those that do aren't going to shut them down because they've improved their documentation.
So we have the difficulty that arises when ideas are a little ahead of their time. How do you create something new when old ways are well established? The established way is to put a writer in a cubicle, go through the proper development and review process, then put the new content out there and hope it does the job. The old way has worked well enough, especially for print publication.
Now we have all these new ideas that can help firms efficiently organize and publish their valuable content online. If the publishing processes are efficient enough, it would mean that publication projects actually get done, rather than languish. They languish because they lack proper planning and follow-through, and they lack clear processes adapted to online publishing. Better processes would address problems of efficiency, organization, easy access to information, and the like. More publishing projects would actually be completed.
I like marketing. I like sales, too, when I'm successful at it. I know, though, that these activities are hard to do alone. In fact, it's hard to accomplish almost anything of value alone. The accomplishments of productive teams are everywhere to see. Almost everyone wants to be part of a productive team. Perhaps TechWrite can create a team that meets genuine publishing needs. These needs arise with the growth of online publishing, and of course with the development of complex technology that people want to understand quickly. TechWrite can contribute in these areas, but it can't contribute so much under the old model of a lone writer in a cubicle.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Constant Contact and Ezine Director
To a colleague who asked about online publishing services for distributing e-newsletters and other mailings:
I tried out Constant Contact back in 2002. Constant Contact puts its logo at the bottom of all messages when you’re using the free trial, of course, but I found they continued to do it even after we paid for the service. If you ask them to take it off, they do, but it took a little bit of effort.
I think others aren’t as sensitive to that kind of thing as I am, but I thought I’d let you know that logo removal is possible after the trial period. Your old newsletter had a home-grown feel, and that distinguished it positively from others. On the other hand, the list management you get from an online service saves a lot of time. (I use Ezine Director at www.ezinedirector.com).
...I do like Ezine Director, or I wouldn’t have stayed with them. It’s simple, but it requires some willingness to learn on your own, too. It doesn’t aim for the turnkey publishing model of Constant Contact. Uploading lists in Ezine Director is quite easy: a real strength.
As for templates, I moved away from Constant Contact because of their complete reliance on pre-cooked templates. That’s how it was four years ago, anyway: you could go with a very basic plain text template, or walk your way through a series of screens that took the fun out of online publishing. When I was done filling in all the blanks and checking off all the boxes, I still didn’t like the result much, and there wasn’t much I could do to make changes.
Ezine Director doesn’t offer any templates. That’s where you have to be self-reliant, and they tell you so. I’m not an HTML expert by any means, though I’ve learned a little along the way. The best method is to work with a WYSIWYG HTML editor, then paste the source HTML from the editor to Ezine Director. I used FrontPage before I started using a Mac, and that worked well enough. The Mac has raised difficulties in that area. I had to look hard to find a simple, low-priced, WYSIWYG HTML editor for the Mac. I finally settled on Nvu, which is open source and free. Nvu is available for Windows also, and you should try it out if you’re interested in an HTML editor that has a lot of features, considering that you don’t have to buy it. The website is www.nvu.com. Here’s a blurb from their home page:
“Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.”
That’s encouraging to us non-experts!
For historical interest: The simple template and colors I use for Tips & Analysis began as a more complicated Constant Contact template years ago. I’ve used the layout both for my website and for the newsletter. But I like to keep things simple, not busy, and until I used my own editor I couldn’t make the layout look the way I wanted it to look.
Nothing is ever simple, though. After great care with the template, I generated the HTML for the newsletter you just received from a Word document, knowing that you take your professional sanity in your hands when you do that. Sure enough, I paid for it in time and headaches. That was after I learned the hard way that the best way to prepare the text for a newsletter is in a plain text editor, then paste the text into a simple HTML template. Anyway, the formatting of the current newsletter turned out fine, but under the hood, the source code is a near nightmare at first glance. So much for my simple template.
I tried out Constant Contact back in 2002. Constant Contact puts its logo at the bottom of all messages when you’re using the free trial, of course, but I found they continued to do it even after we paid for the service. If you ask them to take it off, they do, but it took a little bit of effort.
I think others aren’t as sensitive to that kind of thing as I am, but I thought I’d let you know that logo removal is possible after the trial period. Your old newsletter had a home-grown feel, and that distinguished it positively from others. On the other hand, the list management you get from an online service saves a lot of time. (I use Ezine Director at www.ezinedirector.com).
...I do like Ezine Director, or I wouldn’t have stayed with them. It’s simple, but it requires some willingness to learn on your own, too. It doesn’t aim for the turnkey publishing model of Constant Contact. Uploading lists in Ezine Director is quite easy: a real strength.
As for templates, I moved away from Constant Contact because of their complete reliance on pre-cooked templates. That’s how it was four years ago, anyway: you could go with a very basic plain text template, or walk your way through a series of screens that took the fun out of online publishing. When I was done filling in all the blanks and checking off all the boxes, I still didn’t like the result much, and there wasn’t much I could do to make changes.
Ezine Director doesn’t offer any templates. That’s where you have to be self-reliant, and they tell you so. I’m not an HTML expert by any means, though I’ve learned a little along the way. The best method is to work with a WYSIWYG HTML editor, then paste the source HTML from the editor to Ezine Director. I used FrontPage before I started using a Mac, and that worked well enough. The Mac has raised difficulties in that area. I had to look hard to find a simple, low-priced, WYSIWYG HTML editor for the Mac. I finally settled on Nvu, which is open source and free. Nvu is available for Windows also, and you should try it out if you’re interested in an HTML editor that has a lot of features, considering that you don’t have to buy it. The website is www.nvu.com. Here’s a blurb from their home page:
“Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.”
That’s encouraging to us non-experts!
For historical interest: The simple template and colors I use for Tips & Analysis began as a more complicated Constant Contact template years ago. I’ve used the layout both for my website and for the newsletter. But I like to keep things simple, not busy, and until I used my own editor I couldn’t make the layout look the way I wanted it to look.
Nothing is ever simple, though. After great care with the template, I generated the HTML for the newsletter you just received from a Word document, knowing that you take your professional sanity in your hands when you do that. Sure enough, I paid for it in time and headaches. That was after I learned the hard way that the best way to prepare the text for a newsletter is in a plain text editor, then paste the text into a simple HTML template. Anyway, the formatting of the current newsletter turned out fine, but under the hood, the source code is a near nightmare at first glance. So much for my simple template.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Boston Consultants Network Now and Beyond
Kofi Annan delivered a farewell address in Missouri. In more ignominious circumstances, Donald Rumsfeld said goodbye to his troops earlier this month. So I’m reminded as 2006 comes to a close, it’s time to look back and look forward briefly. I’ll leave my post as vice-chair of CNET at the end of the year, so let’s take a look at where our organization has been, and where it’s headed.
Way back in 2000, CNET underwent a transition in its leadership. The old guard had been in place for three years and longer. New people volunteered to keep the network healthy, even through a recession that was especially hard on consultants. We helped each other out and kept going through a difficult time.
Six years later, capable individuals still show their desire to maintain and grow CNET’s presence and strength. Tom Vaughan will lead for another year as chair, as will Seth Aaronson as treasurer. Stuart Jones volunteered to take on the vice-chair’s job. Tom Maglione is our new webmaster, and Joe Czapski is our new secretary. John Nitzke has initiated several networking dinners. Ron Goodstein has done outstanding work on programs and our e-mail database. All the members of the steering committee have shown a willingness to participate and contribute. Thank you!
CNET has pursued a lot of initiatives over of the last couple of years. The website of course has undergone a big change. Our database of members and other contacts functions well underneath the website’s front-end. And our monthly programs continue to draw engineers and others to substantive presentations where we can meet people and add to our knowledge. Our organization offers members and non-members lots of chances for professional growth.
So where are we headed now? We have a real chance to grow to 100 members in 2007. Yes, that’s just a round number, but we need that number for at least two reasons. First, it tells prospective members that we’re solid and growing: a group they want to be associated with. Second, it moves CNET toward the critical mass it needs to serve its members well as a networking and job referral organization. The more active members we have, the more job leads we can realistically expect to see circulate. And helping each other to find work is one of our most important missions.
Another opportunity is to take full advantage of the outreach tools we have at our disposal. The website and e-mail lists come to mind. We have rightly focused on other things we do well, such as the directory and regular articles in the Reflector. One thing we can do is follow up with more phone calls and individual e-mail messages. This sort of contact gets people involved. We want to have a wide network of people who know about and remember our group. In particular, we want our current, past, and prospective customers to see our group has a positive resource for them. We already serve as a resource in our everyday work, but we have to let people know about CNET.
That point brings me to the last general direction for the upcoming year. We have always wanted to serve as a marketing consortium for our members. CNET as a group can undertake marketing activities that are expensive and time consuming when we try to accomplish them as individual consultants. The website and the directory are two clear examples. More than that, we can act as a team and give encouragement to each other’s efforts. John Nitzke has mentioned this benefit several times at steering committee meetings. We can set goals and and reach them together more readily than if we work alone. Consultants need to rely on each other for the energy and encouragement that regular employees receive at their workplace.
Making phone calls to prospective clients and prospective members is a good example. Everyone finds it hard at times to pick up the handset. Calling on behalf of CNET, as one of its active members, makes the conversation easier. You have something to talk about and you needn’t think about yourself. Moreover, you have an interested group of CNET mates to report back to.
I expect that’s enough for this message. If you’ve attended a CNET meeting, you’ve probably heard me say that my best jobs, one way or another, have come through CNET. That tells me we’re doing something right, and we should build on what we know works. CNET’s prospects for the upcoming year and beyond are excellent. I hope I can stay involved and have a good effect. Meanwhile, please stay in touch – with me, with each other, and with any individual CNET can help.
Way back in 2000, CNET underwent a transition in its leadership. The old guard had been in place for three years and longer. New people volunteered to keep the network healthy, even through a recession that was especially hard on consultants. We helped each other out and kept going through a difficult time.
Six years later, capable individuals still show their desire to maintain and grow CNET’s presence and strength. Tom Vaughan will lead for another year as chair, as will Seth Aaronson as treasurer. Stuart Jones volunteered to take on the vice-chair’s job. Tom Maglione is our new webmaster, and Joe Czapski is our new secretary. John Nitzke has initiated several networking dinners. Ron Goodstein has done outstanding work on programs and our e-mail database. All the members of the steering committee have shown a willingness to participate and contribute. Thank you!
CNET has pursued a lot of initiatives over of the last couple of years. The website of course has undergone a big change. Our database of members and other contacts functions well underneath the website’s front-end. And our monthly programs continue to draw engineers and others to substantive presentations where we can meet people and add to our knowledge. Our organization offers members and non-members lots of chances for professional growth.
So where are we headed now? We have a real chance to grow to 100 members in 2007. Yes, that’s just a round number, but we need that number for at least two reasons. First, it tells prospective members that we’re solid and growing: a group they want to be associated with. Second, it moves CNET toward the critical mass it needs to serve its members well as a networking and job referral organization. The more active members we have, the more job leads we can realistically expect to see circulate. And helping each other to find work is one of our most important missions.
Another opportunity is to take full advantage of the outreach tools we have at our disposal. The website and e-mail lists come to mind. We have rightly focused on other things we do well, such as the directory and regular articles in the Reflector. One thing we can do is follow up with more phone calls and individual e-mail messages. This sort of contact gets people involved. We want to have a wide network of people who know about and remember our group. In particular, we want our current, past, and prospective customers to see our group has a positive resource for them. We already serve as a resource in our everyday work, but we have to let people know about CNET.
That point brings me to the last general direction for the upcoming year. We have always wanted to serve as a marketing consortium for our members. CNET as a group can undertake marketing activities that are expensive and time consuming when we try to accomplish them as individual consultants. The website and the directory are two clear examples. More than that, we can act as a team and give encouragement to each other’s efforts. John Nitzke has mentioned this benefit several times at steering committee meetings. We can set goals and and reach them together more readily than if we work alone. Consultants need to rely on each other for the energy and encouragement that regular employees receive at their workplace.
Making phone calls to prospective clients and prospective members is a good example. Everyone finds it hard at times to pick up the handset. Calling on behalf of CNET, as one of its active members, makes the conversation easier. You have something to talk about and you needn’t think about yourself. Moreover, you have an interested group of CNET mates to report back to.
I expect that’s enough for this message. If you’ve attended a CNET meeting, you’ve probably heard me say that my best jobs, one way or another, have come through CNET. That tells me we’re doing something right, and we should build on what we know works. CNET’s prospects for the upcoming year and beyond are excellent. I hope I can stay involved and have a good effect. Meanwhile, please stay in touch – with me, with each other, and with any individual CNET can help.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Making Word Templates Work
Word can be a bear to work with. People complain all the time about its glitches, gizmos, and other time-consuming peculiarities. So I had this thought as I worked to develop a template for PDFs to be read online. Why don't I try to do a template that not only maximizes online readability, but also gets around Word's problems? I wanted to work with a template that was so easy to use, Word wouldn't have a chance to screw up the template or the document. The project worked, and I don't dread working with Word anymore. Now it's another tool that you can actually use to be productive.
The beginning of my story is suggested in the first paragraph above: my desire to develop a template so simple to use and maintain that Word couldn’t screw it up. It turns out that a template like that also produces easy to read documents.
The boundary line between print and online publications has become pretty fuzzy. Writers recognize that the same or similar templates can be used for both. PDFs, for example, are intended for both online and print publication, so templates intended for PDF documents cross the boundary at conception. It’s true that a lot of PDF documents are headed primarily for one or the other, but that shouldn’t trouble us.
I keep saying to myself that this is not a sexy topic, but everyone recognizes how important templates are. The other day I found myself comparing the templates we use to an oil refinery. The crude oil that goes into a refinery is thick, sludgy, and unusable by anyone. Out the other end comes a much refined product called gasoline that everyone finds extremely useful. Templates are the same way. So many companies have all this disorganized material around that’s not so useful to anyone. You look at it on the page and your interest in finding valuable information there withers. We use templates to refine crude information that no one can use. With the proper tools built into the template, we can refine the information and make it inviting. People like to search it because they can get answers quickly.
So I don't think it's that productive to dwell overmuch on the online vs. print distinction. I’ve considered whether I should say much about the template I use in RoboHelp when I’m doing a help system, as opposed to the Word template that started these thoughts. But it just doesn’t seem that important to me whether the destination document is paper, PDF, or HTML. Yes, those destinations are different, but a lot of the principles regarding good templates are the same. That is, we should think about what makes a template good in various contexts. The comparisons are helpful, and you, I expect, will have a lot to say about those comparisons as you think about your own work.
The beginning of my story is suggested in the first paragraph above: my desire to develop a template so simple to use and maintain that Word couldn’t screw it up. It turns out that a template like that also produces easy to read documents.
The boundary line between print and online publications has become pretty fuzzy. Writers recognize that the same or similar templates can be used for both. PDFs, for example, are intended for both online and print publication, so templates intended for PDF documents cross the boundary at conception. It’s true that a lot of PDF documents are headed primarily for one or the other, but that shouldn’t trouble us.
I keep saying to myself that this is not a sexy topic, but everyone recognizes how important templates are. The other day I found myself comparing the templates we use to an oil refinery. The crude oil that goes into a refinery is thick, sludgy, and unusable by anyone. Out the other end comes a much refined product called gasoline that everyone finds extremely useful. Templates are the same way. So many companies have all this disorganized material around that’s not so useful to anyone. You look at it on the page and your interest in finding valuable information there withers. We use templates to refine crude information that no one can use. With the proper tools built into the template, we can refine the information and make it inviting. People like to search it because they can get answers quickly.
So I don't think it's that productive to dwell overmuch on the online vs. print distinction. I’ve considered whether I should say much about the template I use in RoboHelp when I’m doing a help system, as opposed to the Word template that started these thoughts. But it just doesn’t seem that important to me whether the destination document is paper, PDF, or HTML. Yes, those destinations are different, but a lot of the principles regarding good templates are the same. That is, we should think about what makes a template good in various contexts. The comparisons are helpful, and you, I expect, will have a lot to say about those comparisons as you think about your own work.
TechWrite's Tips & Analysis - October 2006
Hi Everyone,I chaired a meeting of the Consultants Network steering committee a couple of nights ago. During the conversation before the business portion of the meeting, I started a sentence with, "I feel like a traitor, but..." Then I continued to report that I had purchased a Mac over the summer. Now why should I open the sentence that way? It would make an interesting analysis. In the meantime, I'm still learning all the neat tools I can use on this machine, including a text editor called Taco HTML Edit. I want to simplify the publication process for Tips and Analysis, and Taco HTML can help with that. If you use a Mac, you should try it.On to our meeting announcements for this month and next. The immediate event, on Wednesday, October 18, is Mike Hamilton's presentation on Flare for STC Boston. Help system developers have all been highly interested in Flare since RoboHelp's future became uncertain. Wednesday's presentation at The MathWorks in Natick is a chance to learn what's happening in the world of help authoring tools, and to learn about the latest technology on the market. Check the STC Boston program page for all the details.Here are several other meetings of interest coming up in the next few weeks. Check the links for details, or contact me directly for more information. As always, if you have a meeting to announce, let me know and I can add it to the list in the next issue.Wednesday, October 25, "Innovation and Leadership in Today's Multi-Generational Workforce," Sharon Wulf, Ph.D.Wednesday, October 25, "Figuring Out What to Learn," Cheryl Landes.Wednesday, November 1, "Incorporating Automated Testing in Your Web Accessibility Strategy," Dana Louise Simberkoff.Thursday, November 2, "Making Word Templates Work," Steven Jong and Steven Greffenius. For a short article that preview's this topic, visit TechWrite's weblog.Saturday, November 18, "Flare in a Day," Neil Perlin. Hear Mike Hamilton's presentation tonight, then become expert with Flare at Neil Perlin's hands-on workshop. Mark this one on your calendar.That's enough for today. Please write to stay in touch.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Berwick Heights Software
Berwick Heights Software:
"Berwick Heights Software is far and away the best software firm we have run across in over two decades of developing applications..." - Michael Dellaira, Executive VP, TelAthena Systems
"Berwick Heights Software is far and away the best software firm we have run across in over two decades of developing applications..." - Michael Dellaira, Executive VP, TelAthena Systems
Tom Maglione's Technical Resume
Tom Maglione's Technical Resume
I seek technical responsibility for projects where I can use my knowledge and experience with hardware and software and their trade-offs to design and implement real-time embedded systems for solving interesting and typically unique and difficult engineering problem applications. I seek out and resolve the most difficult engineering problems because of the great satisfaction I receive when solving the most challenging issues.
I seek technical responsibility for projects where I can use my knowledge and experience with hardware and software and their trade-offs to design and implement real-time embedded systems for solving interesting and typically unique and difficult engineering problem applications. I seek out and resolve the most difficult engineering problems because of the great satisfaction I receive when solving the most challenging issues.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Softpedia - RemoveWGA 1.2
Download RemoveWGA 1.2
RemoveWGA enables you to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage notices you receive when Microsoft can't validate your version of Windows.
RemoveWGA enables you to remove the Windows Genuine Advantage notices you receive when Microsoft can't validate your version of Windows.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Saturday, May 13, 2006
STC Conference in Las Vegas
Hi Everyone,
I returned from my first trip to Las Vegas this week. It's interesting to compare expectations with observations on a trip like that. Everyone has heard about the strip, and the phrase sin city is well known. I found the city more tame and more pedestrian than I might have thought. It's true that I didn't go to any exciting shows, but altogether it just seemed like an interesting vacation spot. I saw lots of people - a cross-section of the country - walking up and down the strip, enjoying the sights.
The architecture is interesting. A lot of thought and money has gone into the buildings there. Not all of the architecture is great, but it's not nearly as garish as I thought it would be. Some of the architecture is actually pleasing. Anyone wanting to design a large hotel from scratch should visit Las Vegas first!
That's enough for now,
Steve
P.S. STC stands for Society for Technical Communication.
I returned from my first trip to Las Vegas this week. It's interesting to compare expectations with observations on a trip like that. Everyone has heard about the strip, and the phrase sin city is well known. I found the city more tame and more pedestrian than I might have thought. It's true that I didn't go to any exciting shows, but altogether it just seemed like an interesting vacation spot. I saw lots of people - a cross-section of the country - walking up and down the strip, enjoying the sights.
The architecture is interesting. A lot of thought and money has gone into the buildings there. Not all of the architecture is great, but it's not nearly as garish as I thought it would be. Some of the architecture is actually pleasing. Anyone wanting to design a large hotel from scratch should visit Las Vegas first!
That's enough for now,
Steve
P.S. STC stands for Society for Technical Communication.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
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