TechWhirl: Technical Communications Recap for March 23, 2012

[INKtopia Admin <admin -at- inktopia -dot- net>]

This week’s update on technical communications and the TechWhirl community
is supported by Platinum sponsor Adobe & RoboHelp 9 <http://goo.gl/mWtcM> |
http://adobe.ly/Ay5bVC



Whew, TechWhirl has just about finished up a pretty hectic week, with great
new content on translation topics, summaries of sessions at WritersUA, and
all kinds of technical communications news.  We’re thrilled that we got to
interview Tom Aldous and talk tech comm and
Adobe<http://techwhirl.com/business/interviews/evangelizing-myth-busting-and-the-future-of-framemaker/>.
And we’re grateful to Dorothee Racette president of the American
Translators Association for her overview of Ten Steps to Successful
Translation Projects<http://techwhirl.com/skills/development/translation/ten-steps-to-make-your-technical-translation-project-a-success/>.
Keith Soltys provided some really practical tips on managing FrameMaker and
ePublisher when doing
translation<http://techwhirl.com/skills/development/translation/technical-writer-tips-tricks-pdf-online-help-documentation-translation/>,
and Ashley Brown, Lauren Hart and Julie Grady have been giving us the
insiders’ view on user assistance as presented at WritersUA.



Before you head out for whatever weekend warrior activities you have
planned, take a minute and go vote in our weekly poll on methods to
demonstrate the value of technical
communications<http://techwhirl.com/business/polls/technical-communications-poll-demonstrating-the-value-of-tech-comm/>.
And please post your comments or contribute to the email
discussion<http://www.techwr-l.com/about-technical-writing-discussion-groups.html>to
add your thoughts on a topic of major importance to all of us in the
technical communications field.



And whatever you do, have a great weekend.


-The TechWhirl gang


In Case You Missed it: This Week  @ TechWhirl

*New features and articles on http://TechWhirl.com <http://techwhirl.com/>:*


   - Technical Communications Poll: Demonstrating the Value of Technical
   Communications | http://bit.ly/GQERla
   - Technical Writer Tips and Tricks: PDF and Online Help Documentation
   Translation, by Keith Soltys| http://bit.ly/GE2IAJ
   - WritersUA Session Summary: Using Adobe Captivate to Enhance Your
   eLearning and Help Files, by Ashley Brown | http://bit.ly/GEcXqT
   - Ten Steps to Make Your Technical Translation Project a Success, by
   Dorothee Racette, guest contributor | http://bit.ly/GJ39fQ
   - Why You Should Have Attended User Assistance 101 at WritersUA, by
   Julie Grady | http://bit.ly/GARoUC
   - Evangelizing, Myth-busting and the Future of FrameMaker, by Roger
   Renteria and Connie Giordano | http://bit.ly/GzmeBT
   - Day-by-Day at WritersUA: Thoughts from a Newbie Technical Writer, by
   Lauren Hart | http://bit.ly/ytfzjf

 *Tech Comm News:*


   - Tech Writer This Week: March 22, 2012 | http://bit.ly/GN8cvL
   - Technical Communities and MadCap Software Sign Government Services
   Partnership| http://bit.ly/GJfkZZ
   - TandemSeven Launches Persona Modeler® Software Toolset |
   http://bit.ly/A5Hl3y
   - Acrolinx Appoints Markus Juhr-DeBenedetti as CEO | http://bit.ly/x6mU8r
   - Astoria Software Opens Enterprise XML Content Management To Mac OS X |
   http://bit.ly/xWv9mm
   - Cambridge Semantics Announces Compliance Information Management
   Solution | http://bit.ly/FOEFwU

 Technical Communications: What You’re Talking About

A quick *shout out* to our Technical Writers and their discussions in our email
discussion group <http://goo.gl/YUrbb>:


   - Megan Bruce wants opinions on “Uninstalling vs Removing” in software
   documentation. As a result, we have a lively discussion on what happens in
   each of the major OSs, the difference between a command and an action, and
   any post-operation cleanup that might need to be done.  And don’t forget
   the eternal battle between Microsoft Manual of Style, Read Me First and the
   Apple Publications Style Guide-cage match anyone?
   - Nancy Allison’s question on “Kindle? Other Hardware? How to Choose?”
   brought out some great real-life experiences from Whirlers on what kind of
   device to use for reading, including backlighting and impact on eyestrain,
   color definition, multi-use, and battery life.  Worth reading also for the
   ideas on what you can do test drive different devices prior to purchase.
   - Charlotte Claussen is looking to upgrade the toolset and wants a“HAT
   to replace Forehelp 5 - working with Passolo and Visual Studio.” Whirlers
   provided some practical feedback and recommendations on a number of tools,
   and raised some interesting questions on workflows that include
   contributions and reviews from developers and other SMEs.



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
   - Updates from TechWhirl delivered to your email in box |
   http://bit.ly/tjshxU
   - Or, try our RSS feed (great on Flipboard) | http://goo.gl/msLzu

SPONSOR-Luv

We want to send a very special “thank you” to our sponsors for their
support.



*Platinum*: Adobe Systems
Incorporated<http://www.runaware.com/clients/adobe/techsuite/>

*Gold: *ComponentOne Software <http://bit.ly/doc-to-help>,* *Madcap
Software<http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/flare/overview.aspx#whatsnew>
**

*Silver*: Society for Technical Communication (STC)
<http://www.stc.org/>, Vancouver
Island University <http://pr.viu.ca/techcomm/>

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