All posts by Joe Perez
Who reads technical documentation?
One of the most common myths about technical documentation is that nobody reads it. Let’s talk about this myth and four big reasons why you shouldn’t believe it. Most of us can’t honestly say that we learned how to use a television or computer by studying a reference manual. And the Internet — that didn’t…
Do you have to choose between FrameMaker and Word?
Using modern versions of Adobe FrameMaker for the first time is a tiny bit like stepping into the Matrix. You know—swallowing the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and Morpheus shows you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Except instead of showing you a dystopian reality, Morpheus reveals the world of eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based technical…
What is technical writing?
Communication about anything specialized benefits from technical writing, and so does communication involving technology. If you’ve ever used jumper cables, furniture assembly instructions, or test strips for a home hot tub, you’ve encountered technical writing in everyday life. There are three types of technical writing needs. They are: Communicating specialized information such as software documentation…
What goes Into a style and copy edit?
Whenever there are human beings involved, errors are bound to follow. Editing is basically the quality control process for documentation, and so editors are the “QA Engineers for words”. Editors play the role of correcting, condensing, and rearranging content to produce a more correct, consistent, and comprehensive work. General editing and technical editing are somewhat…
Here’s a don’t-miss blog for technical communications pros
I’m a big fan of the blog I’d Rather Be Writing. Written by Tom Johnson from San Jose, the blog is an invaluable resource for technical writers as well as an inspiration for blog writers. Not only does the author explore technical writing trends, he also gives away an entire course worth of information on sought-after…
Helpful links for technical writers
Here’s a page where I will be continuously updating over many years because it will hold links to some of the resources that I’ve found most useful in my daily work. The most important of these resources are probably the style guides that contain guidance for writing and editing of technical documents in the manner…