I’d Rather Be Writing - Tom Johnson

Archive for 2008

Results for My 10 Technical Writing Stereo Types Survey

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 4 Comments »

Nearly two weeks ago I posted a survey about 10 technical writing stereotypes. 221 people participated in the survey. The results are below. 1. Technical writing is boring. Generally True: 7% Sometimes True, ... Read more..

Answering Reader’s Questions: “My Desire to Write Burns in My Heart Daily”

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 Posted in creativity | 5 Comments »

Hi Tom, My name is Hannah, and I live in San Antonio, Texas. I found your web site when I typed technical writing in google.com. You have a beautiful ... Read more..

10/23 Intermountain STC Meeting: An Informal Discussion of Any Tech Comm Challenges You’re Facing

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | No Comments »

Date: Thursday, 10/23 Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. Location: Salt Lake City Downtown Library Room: Conference Room 2, Second Floor Cost: Free As you probably know, we don't have an STC-Intermountain meeting scheduled for October. ... Read more..

Ingenious Technique for Helping Your Child Learn to Ride a Bike

Friday, October 3rd, 2008 Posted in usability | 7 Comments »

Last night my oldest daughter (who is seven years old) finally learned to ride a bike. After a few painful crashes learning the traditional way (where you just receive a ... Read more..

Free Ticket to DITA Tech/Comm Conference in North Carolina Nov 3-6

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 4 Comments »

Paul Pehrson, a Utah-based technical writer who blogs at Technically Speaking, writes, I've been invited to speak at the DITA Tech/Comm Conference at the beginning of next month. I've got a ... Read more..

Ten Technical Writing Stereotypes

Sunday, September 28th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 12 Comments »

As college students contemplate careers in technical writing, they often hesitate because of negative stereotypes about the profession. As with many stereotypes, these aspects of technical writing can describe some ... Read more..

Using WordPress as a CMS — Wordcamp Utah

Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Posted in WordPress | 2 Comments »

Richard Miller presented on "Using WordPress as a CMS" at Wordcamp Utah today. Richard works for the More Good Foundation, whose mission is to help LDS church members share their beliefs ... Read more..

SEO Tips for Your Blog — Wordcamp Utah

Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 5 Comments »

Ash Buckles presented on "SEO tips for Your Blog" at Wordcamp Utah. Here are my notes from Ash's presentation. Strategy and Purpose Ash says, You need a strategy with search engine optimization ... Read more..

WordPress and Podcasting — Wordcamp Utah

Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Posted in WordPress | 2 Comments »

Thom Allen presented on WordPress and Podcasting at Wordcamp Utah. Below are my notes, which I mostly took from his slides. See Thom's full presentation here. Preparing Your Podcast Capture extensive metadata ... Read more..

WordPress 2.7 and Beyond – Keynote by Matt Mullenweg at Wordcamp Utah 2008

Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Posted in WordPress | 5 Comments »

(live blogged) During some preliminary technical issues … Jane says, "I can feel the nerdiness vibes increase …." And then checks her blog and sees that she just won another bloggy award. Someone ... Read more..

Free Doc Train East Ticket

Thursday, September 25th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | No Comments »

Are you interested in going to Doc Train East in Massachusetts at the end of October? I have a free ticket that Scott Abel allowed me to give to one ... Read more..

Leaning Towards Longer Topics and Shorter TOCs

Monday, September 22nd, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 6 Comments »

Everyone knows it's a good practice to chunk your help material into discrete topics, but how granular should you chunk it? Take a look at this Microsoft Word 2007 help topic ... Read more..

Recommended Podcast: “The Enforcers” from This American Life

Friday, September 19th, 2008 Posted in Recom. Podcasts | 2 Comments »

Act 1 of this American Life's latest episode, The Enforcers, mesmerized me. I highly recommend listening to it. Here's the description: Three guys who go by the names Professor So and ... Read more..

Podcast: Repurposing Content for Multichannel Publishing (Single Sourcing)

Friday, September 19th, 2008 Posted in Tech Writer Voices | No Comments »

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://idratherbewriting.com/podcasts/fraley.mp3] Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As to download) Duration: 60 min. In this podcast, Liz Fraley, founder of Single Sourcing Solutions, talks to the Intermountain STC chapter about "Repurposing Content ... Read more..

Users Read Help Manuals Like an Encyclopedia, Not a Novel

Friday, September 19th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 4 Comments »

On Linkedin, I've been reading an excellent thread of answers to the question, "Do you read user manuals?" Of the 50 people who answered, the resounding response is No, I ... Read more..

Tip: Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Posts to Increase Your Readership

Thursday, September 18th, 2008 Posted in Blogging | 8 Comments »

When you search-engine-optimize your blog posts, you can increase your blog's subscribers in a long-term way. You don't have to stiffen your prose to apply search engine optimization -- you ... Read more..

Limau-Orange Theme with Navigation Bar from Contempt

Thursday, September 18th, 2008 Posted in WordPress | No Comments »

Sapphire writes, I had a small question about your blog's template. I really liked the template as soon as I saw it and went ahead and downloaded it. Could you let ... Read more..

STC-Intermountain Meeting Tonight

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 Posted in STC, WordPress | No Comments »

After a summer hiatus, the Intermountain STC is gathering tonight (Thursday, Sept 18) for another meeting. The topic is on repurposing content for multi-channel publishing. See more details. Read more..

Watch What Happens When You Copy from Word into a Blog Post

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 Posted in Blogging | 6 Comments »

Watch what happens when you copy and paste two sentences from Word into a new blog post. Read more..

Thinking About an STC Proposal to Submit

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 Posted in video | 5 Comments »

Did you see the STC’s call for proposals for the next annual conference in Atlanta? Last year I presented on podcasting. The 55 people who commented on my session rated ... Read more..