Tech writer or DTP Expert?

I saw these requirements for a technical writer opening on one of those ‘Urgent-wanted tech writers’ mails:

• HTML programming, Javascript
• Microsoft Office suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), Microsoft FrontPage
• Macromedia Dreamweaver
• Macromedia Flash
• Adobe Photoshop, Adobe ImageReady, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Acrobat,
• RoboHelp
• Microsoft Visio

I wonder why they left out C, C++, Java, and VisualBasic? Why, why? When will they learn to tell a writer from a DTP professional? What has Flash got to do with a tech writer’s job? Javascript for heaven’s sake!

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A brand name gone wrong

"Did you know that Heroin was originally a brand name for cough syrup? In 1874, German scientists developed a formula for a painkiller that they thought would be less addictive than morphine. They simply added two acetyls to morphine to synthesize diacetylmorphine.

Heinrich Dreser, the head of Bayer drug development tried it on animals and humans. He, also, tried it on himself, which may have been the problem. He was very pleased with the results and decided it was a good treatment for many ailments especially respiratory ones like bronchitis, asthma and tuberculosis." Read more on Free Enterprise Land

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Interactive Documentation

Novell has a 'Comments' feature on its product documentation pages. User can leave their feedback instantly, instead of sending an E-mail later. (But why does the RSS link fail on your site guys?)

Microsoft too has an instant feedback feature for its documentation, but somehow I don't like it. It appears to be complex, as compared to Novell's.
But I like PHP.net's interactivity the best. Don't ask me why. It is just subjective I guess.

Anyway, out of curiosity I went to Apple's iPod site (I own a Shuffle) and I discovered to my utter dismay the terrible feedback mechanism they have. Gray text on gray background and they expect users to notice that 'Provide Feedback' link. Ambitious. I expected something better from Apple.

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Review of Screen Capture Tools

Check out the Review of Screen Capture Tools. Neat.

[Via Usable Help]

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Microsoft goes the RSS way

The Microsoft Help and Support site is now providing an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) for its Knowledge Base (KB) articles. [Link]

Well, well, well. MS is only syndicating its KB articles, but I am thinking a step ahead: deliver a user manual (also) through RSS. Most organizations are moving (or have moved already) to XML based authoring, and generating RSS feeds from there should be a walk in the park.

Aside: What would happen if online manuals had a 'Comments' feature like in our blogs? Chew on it.

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To Click or Select...

Your styleguide says it is 'select'. The whole world says 'click'. You are confused. So am I. I have tried being informal while writing instructions: "Hit the Submit button to complete regiustration." But they spanked me for being so casual and changed 'hit' to 'select'. You know, no one reads manuals. Now I know why.

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Need inputs: Talk on usability

Hi folks, I have been invited to talk about usability to a bunch of people that are training to be technical communicators. The duration of the session is two hours. I don't want it to be a 'words only' session. Of course, I would be talking to them about the basics, the importance of usability, standards, product design and usability, and user-centered design. What I am thinking about is some kind of an exercise, a practical session, for the participants. I was thinking if I should ask them to run a quick UI review on their mobile phones (and take it from there... UI standards for mobiles, gloss vs. Utility etc.).
If you have any comments suggestions, please leave a comment.

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