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A few things tech writers frequently say: Videos tedious, topics best when...
I gave a presentation at the STC Berkeley chapter last week. It was a lively group, and people had a lot of insightful things to say. Here are a few comments various participants made. I want to...
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Collapsible header sections — more problematic than helpful
I’m a flip-flopper when it comes to collapsible sections. Sometimes I think they’re great, and other times I think they’re problematic. A while ago I converted nearly all of my help’s subheadings into...
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Introduction, frames, iframes, and tech comm tools (search engine optimization)
I’ve written previously about various topics related to search engine optimization. Now I want to start a series of posts focused specifically on SEO in the context of help documentation — that is, SEO...
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Single sourcing and duplicate content (search engine optimization)
One of the challenges technical writers face in search engine optimizing their documentation is deliberating between single sourcing and duplicate content. Google tries to return a variety of unique...
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Researching the right keywords (search engine optimization)
Probably the most important decision in search engine optimizing your content is to target the right keywords. If a user searches for X, but your page is optimized for the keyword Y, your pages won’t...
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WordPress tip: Create a series of posts
Blogging makes short-form publishing (1,000 to 2,000 word articles) easy, but what if you want to go beyond that, writing long-form content with more substance? For example, what if you want to use a...
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DITA’s output does not require separation of tasks from concepts
One of the main challenges to embracing DITA is accepting the idea that tasks and concepts should be separated. However, despite the common assumption that concepts and tasks should live separately...
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Recording of STC Berkeley presentation on why users can’t find answers in help
A few weeks ago I gave a presentation to the STC Berkeley chapter on findability of help content. The recording is available here: Your browser does not support the audio element. Download MP3...
View ArticleSingle-page docs versus “Click Insanity”
Check out this presentation by Brandon Philips at the 2013 Write the Docs conference. In the video, Philips argues for “single-page docs,” which are entire help systems rendered on a single page. He...
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Using metadata to control online navigation through portlets
One of the ideas I’ve been intrigued by is a portlet model for navigation. I actually have it implemented in my help content (though behind a firewall – sorry), and it’s been interesting to see it in...
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