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.
What season does December represent for you? Is it your time to celebrate
in a religious ceremony? Or, if your are not of the religious bent, this
is also a time to celebrate the idea of world peace and the goodness in
humanity that is sometimes missed in day-to-day life? Maybe the “holiday
season” doesn’t represent anything other than some much-needed downtime and
a chance to reflect on the year that has almost passed and plan for the
year to come. However, for some November and December is just a
frustrating time when 99% of the world is off on vacation at them moment
when they are really needed.
For us at TechWhirl, December 2011 represents all of the above. Records
suggest this is a big month for religion, we love the idea of world peace,
our team just cleared through a pretty busy November, and it’s time to plan
the next quarter. Oh, and a few things are moving at a glacial pace thanks
to a huge stack of “out of office” replies and the always welcome, let’s
talk about it after the holidays comments. Our wish list for our readers
is a long one as are our plans for 2012.
So now that we started the sharing, it’s your turn. This is only fair,
no? The week of December 12th to the 16th will be “Dear Santa, All I want
for Christmas Week” on our jolly little site. We want to know your list to
Santa and for the effort; we’re prepared to publish it. Note, we’re mostly
talking about Tech Comm \ Professional wishes here. What do you want from
Santa? Is it a new dolly, a brand new shiny Tech Comm Help Suite under the
tree, or just to rank higher than the 10th page in Google for a search
other than your name?
The friendly folks here at TechWhirl haven’t fully embraced the silly
season just yet. Oh no, we’re still pushing forward in developing our
Technical Communication News Division (http://bit.ly/tech_comm_news) thanks
to the tireless effort of Craig “The Duct-Tape Writer Nessman”
Cardimon<http://techwhirl.com/author/craig225/>who along with the home
staff have been searching the ‘Net for all the Tech
Comm News that’s fit to print.
We’re still not done providing information on how to manage projects during
the holidays. Look for Connie Giordano’s new piece “Getting Started on
Managing (and Measuring) Interdepartmental Tech Comm Requests” for some
good recommendations on how to start managing your department’s Tech Comm
requests. As an extra holiday treat, there will even be a couple templates
under this article’s tree.
Next up on our project list? Time to go refill our glasses with eggnog and
find some mistletoe. It can’t be all work and no play now, can it? Have a
great weekend and we hope to see those Santa wish lists soon.
The gang @ TechWhirl,
The jolliest bunch of elves since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny Kaye.
Social Media and the Chance to Follow TechWhirl:
- Our Google Plus Page – what’s happening behind the scenes | http://goo.gl/SO0R4
- Will you be our Friend? Please, you know you want to click | http://goo.gl/tDrW7
- Want all this TechWhirl goodness a few characters @ a time | http://goo.gl/itjDg
- Inside TechWhirl newsletter (all about our work) | http://goo.gl/yRxu1
- Typing TechWhirl.Com too much for you? Try RSS | http://goo.gl/msLzu
What You’re Talking About
*
*A quick *What you talkin’ ‘bout* to our Tech Writers and their discussions
in our email discussion group <http://goo.gl/YUrbb>:
· John Allred is returning to the tech comm world and wants good
advice on “Finding Agencies.” Always a great bunch to get job hunting
advice from, whirlers have since recommended subscribing to job site
aggregator indeed.com, checking with Jack Molisani’s (of LavaCon fame)
Prospring Staffing, getting visible on LinkedIn, and researching the
staffing agencies in the local area.
· Nancy Allison discovered that the “Document Properties Greyed Out in
Acrobat Pro” and quickly found her answer from the ever alert and
resourceful whirlers. Richard Combs alerted her to the fact that enabling
commenting in Acrobat Pro automatically restricts other features, and
provided some practical advice about when to enable commenting in a review
cycle.
· Kalpana Thakar needs to find the names of screenshots in a 500-page
document. A quick post to the list to get help “identifying embedded screen
shot names in Framemaker,” and the answers, while not necessarily ideal,
proved that it’s possible to retrieve the graphic files themselves with
Mif2Go and with Word.
In Case You Missed it: This Week @ TechWhirl
- New: LavaCon Session Summary: Dr. Johnette Hassell on Document
Retention and eDiscovery, by Lois Patterson | http://goo.gl/qY8U1
- Classic: What Strategies Can Technical Writers Use to Cope with
Stress? By Warren Singer| http://goo.gl/gtcjg
- New poll question: Next year, what advanced tech comm skills would you
like to get training? | http://techwhirl.com
> yes, we reworked the quote since we are a family-friendly site
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
