Doc-To-Help won a Code Project Members Choice Award. At a ceremony held during TechEd in Los Angeles, Jeff Hatfield, president at The Code Project (USA) recognized ComponentOne Doc-To-Help as the Members Choice winner in the Documentation and Help category.

We are thrilled to bring you Doc-To-Help 2009 v2, the latest installment in the 2009 series of Doc-To-Help releases. Here are some highlights of what is new in Doc-To-Help 2009 and what we have enhanced for version 2.

-Built-in XML Based Editor
-Getting Started Wizard
-XHTML Converter
-Multiple Document Import
-DynamicHelp Control for Embedding Help in .NET Applications
-Free Support and Upgrades

Check it out at www.doctohelp.com

When: Sunday March 29th, 2009 - 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Where: Westin Seattle - Seattle Washington (site of WritersUA)\
Registration is easy. Simply send an email to Brad Keller (bradk@componentone.com).

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