I’d Rather Be Writing - Tom Johnson

Author-it Launches a Blog — An Interview About the Who, Why, and How

Sunday, November 9th, 2008 Posted in Blogging | 5 Comments »

Author-it launched a blog today. You can view it at http://author-it.com/blog. [caption id="attachment_2262" align="left" width="500" caption="Author-it joins the blogosphere with a stylish new WordPress blog"][/caption] I had a sneak peek of the ... Read more..

What We Learn from Help Authoring Tool Surveys

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 4 Comments »

Recently the Hat Matrix Blog (aka, the Mad Hatter) published the results of a tools survey that included 590 participants. The respondents were asked what authoring tools they used ... Read more..

Prove My Help Authoring Tools Survey Wrong

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 Posted in Technical Writing | 7 Comments »

The Help Authoring Tools survey in my blog's sidebar has been the source of no little controversy, and I've left it up there for a reason. I've been telling myself ... Read more..

Podcast: Flare 4 — Ten New Features, Interview with Sharon Burton

Monday, September 8th, 2008 Posted in Tech Writer Voices | 13 Comments »

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://idratherbewriting.com/podcasts/sharonburton.mp3] Download MP3 (right-click and select Save Target As to download) Duration: 60 min. Flare 4 was just released today by Madcap Software. In this podcast, I talk with Sharon Burton -- product ... Read more..

Madcap Flare Review: 45 Things I Love About Flare, 31 Things I Hate About It

Thursday, January 31st, 2008 Posted in Flare | 47 Comments »

Madcap Flare is one of the most advanced, functionally robust online help tools for technical writers who want to single source their content. When you use Flare to create an ... Read more..

Embracing the New Vernacular Instead of Pursuing the Holy Grail of Single Sourcing

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 Posted in Technical Writing | 6 Comments »

For a long time, I looked at help authoring tools in terms of their single sourcing ability -- creating the source material in the tool, and then outputting to online ... Read more..