From Ars Technica Judge: Microsoft documentation unfit for US consumption By John Timmer | Published: September 25, 2008 – 07:50PM CT Microsoft may have made a big push to settle many of the antitrust actions facing it around the globe, but those efforts have run up against a major stumbling block: the company’s inability to… Read more »
Cherryleaf Blog
How can we make online Help as natural as breathing?
One of the themes of every Help related conference is that some users are reluctant to use Help. Help, as a word, implies failure and, it is said, Microsoft spent a lot of time trying unsuccessfully to come up with a better word to use. Recently, I was pointed towards a presentation by Professor Dan… Read more »
The rights of the technical reader
At the Roald Dahl museum there is a poster on the wall entitled “The rights of the reader”. It’s a wonderful ten point manifesto drawn up by Daniel Pennac in his book of the same name. Unfortunately, the poster appears to be no longer available for download from the Walker books Web site, but it… Read more »
Wikis instead of Help?
Zoho has decided to use its own wiki to provide online Help instead of Help created in RoboHelp. They have posted on their blog the reasons why they have done this, together with the benefits resulting from this change. This is what the help looks like now. We’re not anti wikis and we’re not pro… Read more »
Technical authors tackle “The curse of knowledge”
If you’ve ever struggled to explain something to someone considerably less expert than yourself, you may have experienced “The curse of knowledge”. It’s a curse that technical authors resolve everyday, although they may not know they’ve been doing it. It’s a phrase that comes from a great book called “Made to Stick” by Chip and… Read more »