PITTSBURGH, PA – September 19, 2008 – Today marks a milestone in ComponentOne’s mission to evolve with technology trends and user needs. With the release of ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009, they’ve introduced a built-in XML-based editor, a tool for embedding dynamic Help in applications, and many new authoring features.

Authors today recognize the benefits of XML-based authoring when creating re-usable, portable, and formatted content. XML-based authoring has traditionally come with its setbacks since it requires specialized knowledge. Doc-To-Help 2009 lifts this constraint by providing a built-in editor for XML-based authoring. With this new editor, you can work in an easy-to-use authoring interface while enjoying Microsoft Word-like style formatting. Doc-To-Help automatically creates standards compliant XML and CSS files as you write.

But an announcement for you all:

Announcing Blaze! Blaze is the perfect product for authoring and publishing complex printed materials. With Blaze, you finally have a complete product for developing long printed documents while maximizing content re-use through topic-based authoring:

* Topic-based content development
* Content reuse with conditional text, variables, snippets, outlines, and more
* Flexibility with XML and CSS
* And much more....

Blaze also integrates with other MadCap products, including Flare, MadCap Lingo, Analyzer, X-edit and Capture so you can extend the power of Blaze as your needs grow.

Many colleges and even some high schools have courses in technical writing; some even ask people from the industry to share their experiences. Could you be one of those industry insiders talking up our profession? Sure! Here are a few good reasons why:

1. You may have benefitted from such a presentation when you were in school, and doing the same for others is a great way to say thank you.

2. If you didn't hear such a presentation, you may wish you had.
3. Many professors and teachers excel at theory, but students benefit from hearing about real life technical communication as well. Remember, these students could be your future co-workers!
   

What do you like about being a technical writer?

It's actually over here: techcommdood.blogspot.com

Some people are undecided whether or not they will renew their STC memberships for 2008. Please let us know why you will or will not be renewing.

I am the lone technical writer at JTV. I am presently supporting just over 100 IT engineers, product owners, and project managers. In early 2007, our management decided to move from the waterfall approach for development to an agile/scrum method.

"The Manifesto for Agile Software Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping other do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions - over - processes and tools
Working software - over - comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration - over - contract negotiation
Responding to change - over - following a plan

Who's Keeping Score? The Value of Usability Scorecards and Metrics - Explains how HFI's evolving set of user experience metrics can help you: quantify best practices in design at a site, sub-site or page level; prioritize your usability resources across a range of projects; get valuable feedback quickly, in 'design time'; track and benchmark user experience over time; learn how you score against your competitors; and synthesize your various user data streams into an integrated UX dashboard. Goddard, Phil and Susan Weinschenk [TC Library]

User Experience Inside and Out: The Strategy of Persuasive Design - Presents a strategic roadmap for user experience design. Combining usability with the science of persuasion, learn how you can: impact online decision-making and user motivation; create a dashboard-based framework to measure and track user experience; integrate your customer channels and internal-facing systems; and help executives appreciate and understand the value of user-centered thinking and design. Nadel, Jerome and Jay More [TC Library]

Web 2.0 and You - Examines Charlie Kreitzberg's models for understanding Web 2.0, and explores the vast opportunities for professionals who define and design new software and websites. The slides from the presentation are also available. Kreitzberg, Charlie [TC Library]