Style Guides
Description:
- More than just look and feel
- What goes in a typical style guide?
- How to look at your docs to create one.
- Who should own it?
Scribe: Rachael Lussos
Top Takeaways:
- A style guide is a value system
- Revise style guides as necessary and at least every five years
Notes:
- Merge individual office style guides with the institutional style guide (eg. GPO), which serves as a back-up-GPO is based on the Chicago Manual
in education(community college)we have no style guide but we use a handbook and MLA documentation - A style guide is a value system
- Viqui uses Microsoft style guide for nouns; we have seven definitions for “option”
use cheat sheets to help transitions between different style guides - Also develop checklists of the differences
- Consistently use one style guide and then develop a system for switching to another style guide
- Use a subliminal mnemonic when transitioning between style guides, such as changing the desktop background per guide or document first
- Accessibility is part of the style guide;e.g. font size, no merged cells
- Use Goggle analytics to determine how users are using your stuff (eg. viewing videos), and use that to inform your style guide
- In teaching, make sure your students know how to access and learn style guides, rather than teach a specific one
- Markup- applying catergorization is part of your style guide
Keeping Up With Industry Trends
Description:
- Techniques to keep us with current industry trends
- How do you keep your skills up?
- What resources keep you current?
Scribe: Doug Egman
Top Takeaways:
- Read idratherbewriting.com
- Go to conferences/camps!
- Network
- Self-education (eg.lynda.com)
Notes:
- Take advantage of conferences, reading (STC pubs)
- Look for training and professional development opportunities
- TC blogs (eg-graphics)
- Network, especially with consultants who work with multiple clients
- Digression- how to write short documentation, intergrate graphics
- Industry now expects broader expertise in design and programming whereas in the park writing was the focus
- Audiences have changed from lay audiences to technical audiences (documenting
- APIs and SDKR); mine B2B
- Reoccuring theme:tech writers need to be able to learn technical and programming tools and systems (often on the fly/on the job)
- Self-training:lynda.com
- Tech writers must be willing to learn new technologies; adjust and change
- Role of mentoring- helping new tech writers-improve writeing skills
- Core skills and ability to learn
- Website: I’d rather be writing.com- tutorials, writersua.com
Documentation Review Process
Top Takeaways:
- Rochester of STC is using slack for CTPC course.
Notes:
- Having a designated editor is better than peer review
- Tracking hard copies of documents helps
- Read it backwards for copy editings
- Authoring tools have evolved but not the review process
- Better ways to review
- Adobe PDF review can be used for review and changes/comments-can be brought into Robohelp
- Technical review and Editorial Review
- Symmantec-first started with editorial team and then moved to peer review
- How do you both reviews in a short span-when you are working in agile environment
- What happens when the process breaks
- Someone comes and gives the feedback in the last minute
- Breaking down the review process into stages
- Early draft, medile draft, final draft.
- Co-ordinating time lines is important in this scenario
- Setting expectations at each stage is important
- Discuss your schedule in advance with other team members
- Issues in using sharepoint for review process
- Developers don’t think it’s their jobs to review documents
- Not a good idea to allow developers to dictate the documents
- Using slack for review process. You can start specific channel for a document review.
Content Architecture and Design
Description:
- Organize and plan authoring in a distributed model
Scribe: Jenny Stacey
Top Takeaways:
- Content Strategy- content management usla distributed model. How much is too much? mapping.
- Flauk Strategy- best practice- analytics- support- tickets
Notes:
- Organize and Plan
- What does it mean? Challenges? Solutions?
- Content from scratch- productions in progress-things to goggle
discussion: tc users? - Managed cloud cenurion, what write users want, deceedo pims process, reg’s defriend? help to find direction user needs scope. feels rigs featuring regular-
releases seems pissman (audience roles);mapping processing, talking to users to find/processes similarities, digression. End user references are important; want to talk-how much is too much? - Project documentation make if accessible for high usage researchable, what do they need-