TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: New tool wars! WAS: Pinsky poem in the Atlantic "Jar of Pens"
Subject:RE: New tool wars! WAS: Pinsky poem in the Atlantic "Jar of Pens" From:"Dan Hall" <dhall -at- san-carlos -dot- rms -dot- slb -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 15 May 2002 09:01:43 -0500
Ben Kovitz's post reminded me of a technique that
I've been meaning to share for a while now:
To make a flowchart on paper (sometimes necessary
for group work) that can be changed around easily,
use post-it notes for the "boxes" and pencil
marks for the lines. Write your steps on the
post-it notes and when you need to add a step, or
rearrange the order of steps, just pull them up
and move them to a new location. It saves a lot of
erasing and rewriting.
Dan
It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied
with the degree of precision which the nature of the
subject admits and not to seek exactness where only
an approximation is possible. - Aristotle
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-72045 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-72045 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Ben Kovitz
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 10:32 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: New tool wars! WAS: Pinsky poem in the Atlantic "Jar of
Pens"
Sometimes I've got to get away from the keyboard (and mouse).
Especially when making a diagram or designing a screen. Sometimes the
computer seems to constrain thought to follow only a very narrow range
of paths. The glory of pencil and paper is that enormous range of
possible lines you can draw.
Moving things around is much harder with pencil than with Visio, of
course. But it's very quick to just start a whole new diagram with
the pencil. I'll run through three or four ideas for diagrams on
paper, then make a neat version of the best one using Visio or
Illustrator. I like to see the ideas that didn't work out. I don't
like for them to disappear.
Without getting away from the keyboard sometimes, it seems that the
simple way to see the information wouldn't have a chance to emerge.
It would get force-fit to the preconceived structure suggested by the
computer.
There's some important lesson in all this, but I don't know what it
is.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by May 15. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
