Network with peers. Find jobs. Share information. Start a blog. Upload and watch videos. Join a group. Begin a discussion. Learn about software. Find events. Ask for help. It's all here. Become a member. It’s free!

Birthdays

Birthdays Today

Birthdays Tomorrow

Badge

Loading…

Get Badge

Intentional Design - The World of Content Convergence According To Rahel Bailie

Loading feed

Scott Abel Live!

Loading feed

Notes

Using The Community

To take full advantage of all of the features of The Content Wrangler Community, complete the following tasks.

1. Complete your profile (document who you are, where you work, and what you do)
2. Upload you photo (headshot photos are best; icons are acceptable)
3. Find and join groups of interest (topic and product based groups are both welcome)
4. Add comments to interesting… Continue

Created by Scott Abel Apr 21, 2008 at 7:17am. Last updated by Scott Abel May. 9, 2008.

Videos

Photos

Loading…
 

Get a Free Trial of The NEW Adobe Technical Communication Suite

10 Irresistible Potholes that Writers find on the Road to Globalization

By Mike Dillinger, PhD, Translation Optimization Partners (with contributions from Laurie Gerber)

Optimizing the translation process has two basic components: improving the writers’ source texts and improving the translators’ process. For the moment, we’ll focus on the writer’s job.

Dear Translator: Please remember that most writers never had any training at all about translation and usually know one lonely language. Many of them can only rely on the limited writing advice that they got in school. They’re never aware of how they can make life hellish for translators and for international readers. So, don’t blame them; help them out. Pass this list on to them and discuss it until they understand.

Dear Writer: Become a hero among your company’s translators. Every improvement you make is multiplied by the number of grateful translators you help. This list is for you.

A Humorous Look At Video eBooks

eBook readers are making big news in the publishing industry and in businesses of all types around the globe. Organizations small and large are realizing that in addition to the products and services they offer for sale, they are also publishers. As a result of this realization, we expect to see all sorts of business-critical content released in a format that can be viewed on eBook readers and other devices (smart phones, netbooks, laptops, etc.)

One of the most common eBook formats is PDF, which provides much more functionality than many people realize. Today, PDF supports 3D graphics, audio, video and much more. When you combine this functionality with the popularity of video content (think YouTube), it's easy to see why many organizations will provide how-to instructional video content in a PDF eBook format. After all, some types of content are just more useful when they are presented in video.

But, there's a humorous side to video support in PDF eBooks. Watch this short, humorous Amazon Kindle 3 parody video from the folks at CollegeHumor.com for a chuckle.

Forum

Jill Holdaway

How do you track topic usage? 2 Replies

Outside of our content management system, we're been using an Excell spradsheet to track the client keys of topics used for different areas of product documentation. We also use it to list new or c...

Tagged: tracking, topic

Started by Jill Holdaway in Miscellaneous. Last reply by Scott Abel Nov 1.

Dorothy Hoskins

DITA Open Platform Editor 5 Replies

Has anyone tried the DITA OP Editor? http://www.dita-op.org/ -- I am interested in what you think of it.

Tagged: xml, editor, DITA

Started by Dorothy Hoskins in Technical Writing - Resources for Beginners. Last reply by Dorothy Hoskins 21 hours ago.

David Farbey

User documentation survey

I've just launched my latest user documentation survey which you can find at http://tiny.cc/smgkc I'd like to get feedback from people who use the user documentation that comes with gadgets and so...

Started by David Farbey in Miscellaneous Sep 10.

John T. Williams

Handheld Consoles - Beyond Games?

Has anyone started developing content other than gaming for handheld game consoles? I'm looking at my daughter's Nintendo DS, and really like the dual-screen format. For example: a how-to or inste...

Tagged: small-screen, content, mobile, devices, DS

Started by John T. Williams in Technical Writing - Resources for Beginners Sep 14.

Jenny Watson

Web analytics for tracking hits to online help pages 2 Replies

Hi I'm wondering about using a web analytics tool for tracking hits to online Webhelp topics. We want to track which context sensitive topics and other topics are being used most often so that we ...

Started by Jenny Watson in Miscellaneous. Last reply by Jenny Watson Nov 5.

Lisa A. Dix

Who does what? Writer role illustrator role 1 Reply

In your organization who creates legends (tables) for illustrations? We use Arbortext Editor for writing, Adobe Illustrator for creating graphics with a final output of png.

Tagged: roles

Started by Lisa A. Dix in Miscellaneous. Last reply by Wanda Phillips Sep 9.

Suz Patton

Integrating Google Site Search with WebWorks 5 Help

I would like to use Google Site Search to search our online help. However, I am not sure how to integrate the tool with the WebWorks 5 output. Should I use frameset.htm? If so, does that mean I hav...

Tagged: WebWorks, Google

Started by Suz Patton in Miscellaneous Aug 7.

Elliot Nedas

XTM – the spiritual successor to Idiom

The torch of advanced, Java based translation technology has not died with the sad demise of Idiom, XTM from XML-INTL has now picked up the baton and is now ready to beat all of the competition. Th...

Tagged: technology, Translation

Started by Elliot Nedas in Miscellaneous Jul 24.

Bob Durkee

CMS User Groups? 3 Replies

Is anyone aware of a content management user group in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area? My company is moving toward a CMS trial and we'd like to connect with others who have experience implementing a ...

Started by Bob Durkee in Technology Basics - Resources for Beginners From Mr. Noobie. Last reply by Bob Durkee Oct 19.

Maya Lucchitta

Small Content Management Systems 11 Replies

I've only worked on enterprise-wide content management systems and am now trying to find a good small one to set up for a small non-profit company. Any suggestions of fairly easy to use, but not to...

Tagged: content management systems, cms

Started by Maya Lucchitta in Miscellaneous. Last reply by Rahel Anne Bailie Oct 22.

Blog Posts

Scott Abel

Is Social Media a Fad or the Biggest Thing Since the Industrial Revolution?

Posted by Scott Abel on November 1, 2009 at 3:26pm

Scott Abel

Understanding Web Content Management Systems: Made Simple

Posted by Scott Abel on November 1, 2009 at 2:46pm

Scott Abel

Apple iTablet Multitouch Tablet: Will It Change Computing As We Know It?

It's expected to be the Kindle killer! And, who could think anything less. After all, Apple has sold hundreds of millions of iPods and iPhones and demand is still growing strong as the company rolls out the two popular consumer devices in nations around the globe. Our guess is a flawless design paired with unparalleled usability and advanced functionality will make existing eBook readers and tablet PCs seem like stone tablets. Speculators say we won't have to wait long, as Apple is rumored to be… Continue

Posted by Scott Abel on November 1, 2009 at 2:34pm

Rahel Anne Bailie

Talking about Content Strategy

I'll be presenting a webinar tomorrow on 3 Smart Strategies for More Profitable Content Management: Leveraging Your Corporate Content Assets in a Tight Market. It's a big-picture view of content strategy that you can use to leverage your influence with your organization. You can get more information here:
http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=1251&e=218&elq=d16a89993849436d9fc965b1df74fe53

Posted by Rahel Anne Bailie on October 21, 2009 at 1:16pm

Timothy Thompson

Do Bid Boards Actually Work?

As a freelancer, I've tried out several different bid boards, mostly with minimal to no verifiable increase in helping me land writing projects. They all have their pluses and minuses. Here are a few of the major ones I've tried:

* Elance - Requires monthly payment. Competition is fierce and the ramp-up time from dismally low project bids to making a decent (if moderate) living from Elance projects is impossibly tortuous, at least for me. Sorry, spending the hours needed to set up an effective… Continue

Posted by Timothy Thompson on October 16, 2009 at 3:30pm

Sarah Coleman

Free eBook: Social Network Marketing, 12 Steps for Success

I got this one from a friend last night and read it cover to cover. This should help us all get to the next level in regards to marketing on social networks and social media.



You can download it here:
http://tinyurl.com/ybbbdo9



Posted by Sarah Coleman on October 9, 2009 at 5:40pm

Sarah Coleman

Free Ebook on Social Networking and Leveraging Social Media

I ran across this free ebook yesterday on social networking and was very impressed by what I learned. The sections on Facebook and Twitter were by far the best.

Here is the location where you can download it from:
http://tinyurl.com/ya2xyqo

Posted by Sarah Coleman on October 5, 2009 at 1:53pm — 3 Comments

David Jones

Back from TCUK 2009

Just got back from the new rebranded conference for the ISTC. It gets better year on year and I have been insipired to blog more often.

I presented again, on "How to get a job" which I hope went down OK. I felt it did. The premise of the talk was why do so many technical authors fail to market themselves in their CVs/Resumes. Over the last few years have been shocked at hte shoddy applications I have recieved. So I thought it was about time I tried to educate. It seems my experiences weren't un… Continue

Posted by David Jones on September 27, 2009 at 4:16am — 2 Comments

Sarah Coleman

How to Get Free Email Mail Marketing that Converts Like Crazy

First... Set Up a Free Account With a Company that is White Listed...

There are many email marketing companies that offer free campaigns, but two stand alone as the best.

1) iContact - Included in their free package is a 31 page white paper that will make even the most novice marketer an email pro. They have a fully integrated survey sytem along with email scheduling capabilities. iContact also has the best selection… Continue

Posted by Sarah Coleman on September 24, 2009 at 11:35am

Kevin Forbes

New Oil and Gas Jobs site



Launching a brand new company at such a prestigious event as Offshore Europe would fear even experienced business men, but for Aberdeenshire man, Kevin Forbes, it was the ideal launching platform for his new venture www.oilandgaspeople.co… Continue

Posted by Kevin Forbes on September 19, 2009 at 1:22pm

Events

October 19

Monday

Today

December 17

Thursday

February 25

Thursday

Duo Consulting Web Content Management Blog

Loading feed

JustWriteClick

Loading feed

I'd Rather Be Writing

Loading feed

White River - Technical Writing-Related Articles

Loading feed

James Michelson on Marketing Content

Loading feed

 
 

Support Our Sponsors










Groups

Recommended Reading


The Content Wrangler

Loading feed

News and Notes

Loading feed

The Rockley Blog

Loading feed

About

Scott Abel Scott Abel created this social network on Ning.
 

© 2009   Created by Scott Abel

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy  |  Terms of Service

Sign in to chat!