Technical Writing Archives - Page 4 of 7

Microsoft Word Tip: Quickly Selecting Text with a Mouse

Selecting text is one of the most common tasks in Microsoft Word documents. Here are some quick and easy ways to select text in a document. Select a Word Double-click the word to be selected. Select a Line in a Paragraph Move the mouse cursor to the left margin in…

Structured Authoring: A Sample DTD

In the four posts in this series that explains Structured Authoring looked at: Understanding Structured Authoring Structured Authoring: Introducing XML Structured Authoring: Defining the Content Structure Structured Authoring: The Role of the DTD/Schema In this post, we look at a Document Type Definition (DTD), which is the formal definition of…

Structured Authoring: The Role of the DTD/Schema

In an earlier post, Structured Authoring: Introducing XML, we saw the role XML had to play in structured documentation. Now let us take a look at how the implementation works. In the post titled Structured Authoring: Defining the Content Structure, we discussed how to go about analysing the content and breaking…

Structured Authoring: Introducing XML

The previous post, Structured Authoring: Defining the Content Structure, described the first step in adopting structured authoring; analyzing and defining the content structure. However, as of now, the content structure is on paper. The next step is to use technology to encode and enforce the defined content structure. So what kind…

Structured Authoring: Defining the Content Structure

In an earlier post, we had introduced the concept of structured authoring. From that post, we realise that there are two imperatives for structured authoring: defining a content structure enforcing the defined structure In this post, we will look at the first and the most important part of implementing structured authoring…

Understanding Structured Authoring

It’s not the work that’s hard, it’s the discipline. One of the most important characteristics of effective technical writing is consistency; be it in form, function, or style of writing. Structured authoring helps maintain consistency in the structure of content. For example, an organization might define a chapter and sections…

Case Study: System and Technical Documentation for a Global Telecom Company

The Client The client is a global telecommunications giant with operations across 5 continents. The Problem The client had an…

Mumbai: 3-Month Certificate Course in Technical Writing (Weekend Batch; Saturdays Only)

In India, technical writing as a profession has really come to the fore over the past few years. Organizations are realising the value of having dedicated technical writing professionals on board to create and manage their technical documents. A quick look at any of the job portals will tell you the number of jobs…