And doesn't it all boil down to choices? If there was only one tool, that
vendor would have a monopoly. Business diversity dictates innovation,
doesn't it? If there is no competition, would we even have the options we
have now to be creative in what we do?
...sue
I'd actually rewrite it to
If you get a warning message, select the statement cache size.
That way users don't do something without reading the text.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-Original Message-
From: raj nair raj_gree...@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:26:40
I took my first real vacation in five years this year (I went to Maui with a
friend). Totally needed that vacation, but work was still hectic when I got
back. Then I took off 10 days during the holidays, and I'm actually feeling
a bit more rejuvenated. Work is still going to be crazy busy, but
Otherwise known as the Jewish biscotti. See
http://www.cookies-in-motion.com/Mandelbrot-Cookies.html.
(I grew up on mandelbrot cookies... before I ever learned what a biscotti
was!)
...sue
On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 4:14 PM, Dana Worley d...@campbellsci.com wrote:
On Monday, January 04, 2010,
I'm a little late to the party but... I firmly believe that you get what you
pay for. And that goes for the career, too. If you walk around with a chip
on your shoulder, people will respond that way.
I *will* say that it's been years and years since I've worked in a company
where what I do was
I am @sue_sd.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-Original Message-
From: Paula R. Stern \(WritePoint\) pa...@writepoint.com
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 12:50:18
To: TCP@techcommpros.com
Subject: [TCP] Are you on Twitter?
I'd like to connect professionally with more of you. My
Paula, there are two writepoint twitter IDs... one is writepoint and one is
writepointltd. Looks like the latter has followers but not many tweets while
the former seems more active. Which is the one you want us to follow?
...sue
On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 2:50 AM, Paula R. Stern (WritePoint)
And I tend to write even more directly. I'd say To aggravate the
fintoozler, do this, :)
...sue
On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 10:14 AM, Chris Vickery [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
I am trying to think of an instance where I've used might, and I think
I've avoided it precisely because it trips me
Hate to say this, but I'm exactly the same size as when I started this
career 20 years ago. I weigh a couple pounds more, but that is more likely
attributed to age rather than job. I'm also slightly less active lately
(mostly due to surgery) but that will change in the (hopefully) not too
distant
,is
giving you everything you need from the association.
If everyone felt the way you do, your chapter would be dissolved.
On 3/20/08, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
You can still receive almost all benefits that a chapter provides
without having to belong to the organization. There is a huge
You can still receive almost all benefits that a chapter provides without
having to belong to the organization. There is a huge difference between
joining STC, the org, and attending local chapter events.
BTW, when I was active in my local chapter, we had almost everything you've
mentioned except
You don't use Framemaker WITH Documentum, per se You use Framemaker to
create the documents and then use Documentum to manage 'em within a
workflow.
So It depends on what you are doing with the content that is in Documentum.
If everyone within the workflow has Framemaker, and no one will ever
and how does your management type think content will get IN to ArbortText?
...sue
P.S. Please do not cross post to multiple lists.
On 1/25/08, gabyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
One of our management types here seems to think that ArborText will
replace
technical writers. Comments or thoughts
None of those three are document control systems. They are source or version
control systems and are completely different. Document control systems
include systems such as Documentum and Vasont.
On 1/22/08, Ed Marshall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi Lisa,
Good luck also!
I've used Microsoft
And this has to do with technical communication how? I'm confused.
On 1/8/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I agree. That is why this program has incentive for personal writing and
story development practice outside of the classroom environment. Students
want an answer to Why
Please do not cross-post by including other lists email addresses. If you
must cross-post, please create a new email for each address. (This has been
requested here before.) Thanks.
...sue
On 1/4/08, Cardimon, Craig [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Something I came across in my travels that I
Are you sure you're not subbed on to that other list? At any rate, I'd
contact the list owner of that other list or check to see what steps you
can take to unsub. Good luck! :)
...sue
On 1/4/08, Jones, Donna [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Since Sue brought up the topic of cross-posting, I have a
one of the people from the Lone Writers list be willing to start
a blog and put this information there, and then refer the list members
to the blog?
Thanks,
Lisa G.
On Jan 4, 2008 11:32 AM, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
OK, I'm curious...
What's going on? This is not the first we've
Resending, since it didn't appear this went thru... Odd.
On 1/4/08, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
OK, I'm curious...
What's going on? This is not the first we've seen of folks coming here
from
STC lately (in one form or another). Are you all not renewing your
memberships? Why?
I'm
What Dan said. Plus... shouldn't this survey be sent to your users? We are
not your users. We don't know whether your product is hardware, software, or
a combination of both. So, ultimately, what WE prefer is pretty much
irrelevant, yes?
Do you not have a core group of users you can survey? Or an
I've delivered quick start guides that I designed, created, and had printed
(2/2, 11x17) for two companies in the past five years. But the last user's
guides I had printed were in 2007!!!
...sue
On 11/29/07, Susan Modlin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I develop docs for a SaaS (Software as a
I worked at 2 years ago. And that 20 page document was printed in
several languages.
I have a background in working in print (from my ad agency days), and
occasionally miss spec'ing out the docs, working with the printer, and so
on. But not that much!!! :)
...sue
On 11/29/07, Sue Heim [EMAIL
Actually, you missed my point (and my a bit of an extrovert is actually,
I'm an introvert but I work at being extroverted)...
My personality type has nothing to do with how I work with people in the
office. When I am in the office I make a point to walk around and say hello
to people. I also make
Again, corporate environment plays a huge role in the success of this. I
don't miss face time. I don't miss people at all. I'm on IM, email, phone
calls, conference calls all day long. I don't even NOTICE that I'm not face
to face with someone. When I am in the office, I do make a point of doing
All of the current versions of help authoring tools support Word 2007.
RH won't work with a version of Word that was not released while the RH
version was in maintenance mode. As I stated yesterday, RH use(d) DLLs to
integrate fairly tightly with Word. If a new version of Word was released,
then
IIRC, you can also just specify the section, choosing to print s1, s2, and
so on. Without having to specify the exact page numbers...
...sue
On 11/19/07, Char James-Tanny [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi, Ken :-)
How can I print ONLY pages 1 thru 8 (or anything less) without
getting the
I can't remember who owned RoboHelp 2000 (I think it was eHelp?), but
they'd provided a patch to support whatever the current version of Word was
released while RH 2000 was the latest version. The system requirements
(assuming you received a box) should specify the version of Word that would
work.
The original poster has conveniently ignored those of us who've said that
Adobe's new product announcements are subject to various SEC regulations. My
interpretation was the original poster wanted to whine and then wanted
something free for nothing.
Yes, Adobe knew there was a new product suite
When you purchase a car, you know that a new model year is going to be
available somewhere around the October timeframe. If you purchase a car in
September, that's the chance you take. Sometimes, as in Bill's case, you
don't have a choice (when blonde bimbo totalled my car, I had to buy a car
failure, at that time
(three years ago). Maybe it wouldn't be now, but I just don't have the
desire as I once did. Something about once bitten twice shy! :)
...sue
On 11/12/07, John Hedtke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
At 07:35 AM 11/11/2007, Sue Heim wrote:
Last I heard, everyone is entitled to his
Er, that hasn't changed in quite a few years, has it? Except for the total
number of members (which has significantly decreased)...
...sue
On 11/12/07, Milan Davidovic [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 11/12/07, John Posada [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
My position is that they should promote the
I seem to recall something close to 25,000
On 11/12/07, Suzette Leeming [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
So, is the 14,000 current, and if so, what did the number used to be
(approximately)?
Suzette Leeming
On 11/12/07, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Er, that hasn't changed in quite
Adobe is a publicly traded company. They cannot announce when a product is
going to ship (the exact date) due to various regulations. For example, they
cannot announce in August that a product is not going to ship until
September. In fact, there's usually a moratorium on talking about releases
NOTE: I can't recall about this list, but cross-posting (the same post to
multple addresses) is frowned on in various other places I hang.
Particularly since I'm not a member of those other lists and cannot post
there.
On 11/6/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I just got off the
I've received a couple of spam email messages in the last few days to my
Gmail email. Since the ONLY list I use this address for is THIS list, and
since I don't use it anywhere else, I'm wondering if that archive service is
not the best thing for me. Has anyone else seen spam the past few days?
no such thing as a truly private e-mail list.
-- Dan Goldstein
-Original Message-
From: Sue Heim
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 9:38 AM
To: Lisa Gielczyk (TCP ADMIN)
Cc: email
Subject: Re: [TCP] Postings on TCP are being archived by
another service
Can you please let us
to manually manage my translation
jobs. But that's just me! grin
...sue
On 10/9/07, David Castro [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 10/9/07, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I highly recommend not using a pdf as an online help system. It is not
what they are intended for. If you are using FM you can
As a side note, I would never EVER save a Word document as an HTML file and
then attempt to do anything with it without first cleaning up the code.
There are utilities out there that will strip the garbage tags that MSO
inserts. That may actually be part of your import problem.
Personally, I
What about bandicoots, dingos, koalas, numbats, platypuses (platyputii?),
wallabys, wombats, or (my own personal favorite) tasmanian devils?
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
On 10/4/07, Wade Courtney [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Don't you mean Kangaroos?
On 10/4/07, Rhonda Bracey [EMAIL
I've stayed out of this till now but...
Tom, the requirements you listed are really not requirements for what a tool
can do. They are requirements for how you will write your docs. And unless
I'm mistaken, so far, there isn't any tool out there that will actually
write the content for you.
So
Personally, I don't pay a lot of attention to blogs, even if they are
professional. I also have a lot of disdain for some bloggers, who seem to
post things on various lists (not here!) and then say go look at my blog
in order to get more eyes on that blog. I think it's vanity in that case.
I also
I quite clearly said it wasn't anyone on this list. Adding a tag line about
a blog is also not what I meant.
On 9/13/07, Dick Margulis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Sue Heim wrote:
Personally, I don't pay a lot of attention to blogs, even if they are
professional. I also have a lot of disdain
In the graphics world, creating cut ups means taking a graphic and removing
something (usually the background), so that just the graphical element
itself can be used. For example, if you wanted to take the graphic off of a
picture of a button or icon, you'd cut out the graphic. This is not
*PGP Corporation is currently looking to fill a couple of positions for
Senior Technical Writer. One position is with the Server Products group,
the other is with the Client Products group. Although PGP Corporation is
based in Palo Alto, California, location is flexible.*
* *
The writer for
Just to clarify something...
Yes, I work for PGP. Yes, one of the positions is in my group (I do client
product docs). Yes, we have a LOT of work coming up, and a lot of cool
things happening (especially on the client side). And yes, we're trying to
hire quickly!!!
grin
...sue
You have to remember, some of us are very global these days. For example,
most of my closest friends live out of my state (some people never lived
here, some relocated away). I also remain close with people I worked with in
OC (even tho I live in San Diego). And I work for a Bay Area company,
I think it is used primarily for Web sites. Our organization is using
Cascade for Web content management, but we are still using AIT for docs.
...sue
On 8/15/07, Martinek, Carla [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
We have Day Communique being used for our corporate website. I guess
the marketing
Is this person a friend or acquaintance?
Honestly, I wouldn't charge. It'll take, what? Max one to two hours? Chalk
it up to a good deed or banking future good karma.
Geographical location shouldn't make any difference. And if he insisted that
you be paid, I'd take considerably less than that
On 8/1/07, Martinek, Carla [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Spinning off from Donna's question, this came up while we were walking
down to get breakfast this morning.
1. How long is your resume?
Two pages.
2. In your opinion, is there a maximum length a resume for someone in
our field should be?
it, and the people
appeared pleased with their results. I wouldn't mind doing it on the
side for a little extra grocery money.
Donna
From: Sue Heim [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 9:55 AM
To: Jones, Donna
Cc: tcp@techcommpros.com
Subject
I'm not sure what your question is...
User testing and focus groups are generally not focused on user assistance
(no pun intended). User testing and focus groups generally are used to try
to determine the usability of a product and its features, to find out what
customer requirements are, and to
As I said, Writers UA stemmed from Windows writers. As in help authors. As
in Windows software applications. And it quite clearly says what the
definition means IN THIS CONTEXT. There are plenty of other places where the
emphasis is on technical writing (including hardware guides).
...sue
On
I think there are other factors to consider, too. What is the final output?
Is it just print (or PDF)? What about for online use, such as in online
help?
I think for pure *writing*, Microsoft Word is the most prevalent. For
desktop publishing, you'll find that the Frame Freaks think Framemaker is
Did you update fields before you PDF'd? Either press Ctrl+a to select the
entire doc and then press F9 (to update all fields). Or, in Tools Options,
on the Printing tab, select the option to update field codes during
printing.
...sue
On 7/16/07, Al Geist [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I just
Remember, too, that the results may be skewed towards online help authors.
As WritersUA started out as WinWriters (as in Windows online help people),
and still has a large demographic of online help authors (versus those who
create print oer PDF only).
So I would hesitate to use these survey
I dunno what the rules are here, but generally it's best not to cross post
to dozens of lists. What happens is when someone replies all, then that
someone ends up with lots of rejections. Most lists to which I belong
specifically request members avoid cross-postings (addressing a single email
to
Me, I need to figure out a way to single-source content that is shared
between a main and co-branded product when references to another of our
products is totally interwoven. As in:
Blah blah blah (content for both). Then Yada Yada Yada (content specific to
our product). Then Blah blah blah
I'd do exactly what you're doing... keep using accent, snicker into your
hand, and let 'em go off on their merry way.
How are you using it? What's the context? Are you using it to inform
translation peeps that such and such a letter requires an accent/diacritic?
Or do you actually use that word
Funny, a common thread is... do what your boss wants you to do. Is the boss
always right? What if he/she isn't? What do you do then? Shut up, grin, and
bear it? Fight to win the battle, if not the war? Declare you disagree but
then do what you're told? Stick to your principles and quit?
I'm
Employers do not have zero motivation for continuing education. They most
likely DO have zero motivation for graduate degrees. If you, as a tech
writer, don't have any degrees, then using tuition reimbursement to get an
Associates and then Bach degree is likely in the company's best interest.
Not
What would a graduate degree provide to your employer, in tangible benefits?
Besides personal development, I mean.
I can kinda understand where they are coming from. A graduate degree is way
different than a BA or BS. What type of advantage would having the advanced
degree give you in order to do
I put things like stay current in the field and explore new technologies
and attend conferences to do those things. I include design and usability
objectives. I do not include getting a degree. :)
...sue
On 6/12/07, Brierley, Sean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
For example, becoming more
BTW, I do have a degree in Landscape Archicture. Not a Masters, though! :)
So there Pfftt! BIG grin
...sue
On 6/12/07, Dana Worley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Sue Heim wrote:
It depends on what the learning is. To obtain a graduate degree just
for the sake
Unmute is the appropriate verb, in this case. And I'd not hyphenate it.
...sue
P.S. Here's the list of commands for my conference service:
* 2 Record conference (on/off) (if activated)
* 4 Lock conference
* 5 Unlock conference
* 6 Mute line
* 7 Unmute line
* 8 Conference continuation
* 9
I think we need more context. Because, honestly, I think mute/unmute is
pretty prevalent, and why would you want alternatives?
I just checked the help on my Blackberry and it says to mute do this, to
turn mute off do that. But my conference service is quite clear on
mute/unmute. The sound card on
OK, I got one for you all...
We have this quick start guide. It's really not quick, since it's 20
pages. Previously, it was created in Framemaker and PDF'd. They did odd
things in Framemaker, by using extra paragraph returns to add blank space,
and they did this thing that just horrifies me:
If the tech writer had the correct system requirements and the app didn't
work, I'd try and figure out why. Cause, well, it's a BUG!
...sue
On 6/5/07, Brierley, Sean [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
So,
If you were making a browser-based app for sale. And, said App didn't
work for your tech
consider it a high-severity one. But the project lead I reported it to
and my TW boss seem to be okay with it. Weird.
Cheers,
Sean
From: Sue Heim [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 6:00 PM
To: Brierley, Sean
Cc: tcp@techcommpros.com
your boss wants that and then email the reasons to the list. I am
assuming he's reasonable and so has a reason or two
Cheers and grins,
Sean
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Sue Heim
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 5:47 PM
To: TCP
It's a her not a him.
And it's not just a document. It's a document out of AuthorIT and she
doesn't know what she's doing. So iit'll mean taking a few hours out of a
schedule that is already impossible in order to fix things she broke.
And the only answer I've gotten out of her is the oh so
Oh yeah. And I refuse to rejoin until the person who is Region 8 Director
(or is it sponsor now?) is no longer acting in that position! Because of
him, it was no longer fun to be an active leader, let alone member, in the
organization. And although I could join any other community I wanted (say,
I let my membership in STC lapse two years ago. A part of me keeps thinking
I ought to rejoin, but a part of me doesn't know why the other part thinks
that.
I know the leaders in STC are working to improve things. But... I do think
STC lost it's way. It lost it's value for me a long time ago (I
None of those reasons? Coulda made the time, money's not an issue, not a
problem with travel or family.
As I said in another thread, STC no longer provides me with any value. I get
far more value from specialized conferences, such as WritersUA. If I attend
a conference, I'd much prefer to go to
And that type of session is why I would steer clear of a conference. That
type of session? Two words: Learning Annex. grin
Seriously, if I'm gonna attend a professional conference, I don't want
sessions on personal improvement (persuasiveness, time management,
justifying conference attendance). I
I believe they are UNICODE (when viewing Japanese online help, I have to set
my browser's encoding to UTF-8. But that is to view fonts. AFAIK, you can't
actually type any Japanese characters in a standard EN Windows installation.
Are you using a JP Win OS?
When I look at the Japanese version of
OK, I'm not really sure I think this is funny (since I'm spending a LOT of
time rewriting the output from this person, but...
You know how you usually write, when you tell a user to select a menu or
menu option? Select Menu Menu Option or From the Menu menu, select Menu
Option?
Well, this
Best of luck, Lisa!!! As Carol said, whenever one door has closed (as a
result of a RIF), another door has opened. That said, however, there is a
bit of an adjustment and mourning period. When we finally closed down an
office (after six years of working together during acquisitions and all), it
Hey Dana!
PGP uses online forums. Basically, they are support forums and are monitored
by support and various other (as assigned) PGP staff. These are the people
who respond to users on the forums. Some of the rest of us monitor them,
just to see what's going on in our user's respective worlds.
Actually, that's not correct. In California, the waiting period is one week.
If you get severance or vacation pay, it now longer counts against you. In
California, file for unemployment benefits immediately, because the waiting
period starts right then.
...sue
On 5/1/07, Wade Courtney [EMAIL
Hi Donna,
Grant writing is completely different than technical writing. The skills
you've gained in the past 20 years will definitely help and give you a leg
up. But I'd highly recommend taking a course or other training. There are
definite tricks you'd learn. Grant writing is more of a selling
Note, however, that this formal copyright registration is generally not
geared towards user documentation (rather music, lyrics, novels, and so on).
If you explicitly state copyright ownership in the documents being published
(be they online or print), then the documents are protected. If the
If your organization is now using Websense, there ain't much you can do
other than pleading with them to modify policy. It appears that they ARE
allowing you to view news sites, just within a daily quota, so I doubt if
there's much you can do, tho.
Welcome to the 21st century. More and more
82 matches
Mail list logo
