Tools
How to use ChatGPT to find a technical-writing position
Since its introduction, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that lets people seek answers to a variety of solutions and topics, has been playing an essential role in supporting people with various tasks in their personal and professional lives, from...
Event report: MadCap Software Suite (Tools series)
Agile project management at a glance
Traditional project management Waterfall is the traditional project management style. It goes through distinct, consecutive phases, such as planning, execution, and testing. Construction and engineering projects typically use waterfall project management. One project...
Tools Webinar: Creating Instructional Videos
As the first in a series of Tools webinars, we are presenting Creating Instructional Videos with an emphasis on using TechSmith Camtasia and other video creation tools. Why use instructional videos: Many companies use videos to inform customers about products and...
Tools Webinar: Madcap Software Suite
Rescheduled! Join us for the second in a series of Tool webinars, where we will have experts outline a specific Tech Comm tool, and why it is something that should be in your arsenal. Our second tools webinar is on the Madcap Software Suite (particularly Flare and...
Event report: What is digital accessibility?
On November 13, senior content designer Helen Glavina presented the webinar “What Is Digital Accessibility — and Why Should You Care?” Digital or online accessibility means that people with disabilities can interact equally with website content and tools. Over a...
A Crash Course on Learning: Tips to Pick Up Skills Faster
We all need to learn new skills throughout our lives, but you may not be absorbing information as fast or as effectively as you could be. How do you become a faster learner? Here’s a tip: take notes by hand! Studies have shown that writing things down, rather than...
Tips on File Naming Conventions and List Types
Everything you wanted to know about File Naming Conventions but were afraid to ask! Beth Haggerty discussed some common problems with file naming and provided a few tips to make your file hunting or information management easier. Learn the best practices for applying...
February 3rd Webinar: Creating Instructional Videos
STC Canada West Coast chapter offered an updated version of its hands-on workshop, Creating Instructional Videos, as a webinar. Why use instructional videos: Many companies use videos to inform customers about products and services. Videos can provide information more...
Copyright and Technical Writing
What is copyright? Copyright is the exclusive right of a creator of a piece of work. That work may be literary or written material, images, photographs, music, or artistic works. This work or product is also referred to as intellectual property. The unauthorized use...
Contracts and professional liability for independent contractors
An independent contractor is a person, business, or corporation that provides a product or service that is agreed upon by a written contract, or sometimes a verbal agreement. Unlike employees, independent contractors do not have a regular employer. Some contractors...
Event report: 2019 STC Summit Recap
The STC held its annual international Summit conference in Denver, Colorado on May 4-8. This year, the Summit marked its highest attendance in almost a decade, with more than 700 participants. Joel Basart, an STC member for over 20 years, and currently STC Canada West...
Event report: Infographics and beyond
On March 6, 2019, graphic designer Olga Krelin presented an excellent hour-long webinar titled “Infographics and beyond: visualizing data, processes, and abstract ideas while avoiding confusion.” Olga has many years of experience, including an Industrial Design...
Event report: Creating instructional videos
The STC Canada West Coast chapter held its first event of 2019, a sold-out workshop on creating instructional videos, at a meeting room at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library on January 19. Joel Basart, facilitator of the workshop, tapped into his years...
Online Tech Comm Café recap: Oct. 17, 2018
On Wednesday 17 October, a group of technical writers dialed in to share industry perspectives at a virtual Tech Comm Café. The join.me software worked well, with the invitation link and agenda arriving efficiently an hour before the event. A simple click brought us...
A Flare CSS primer: CSS in action
(This is the second of two articles about Madcap Flare's use of Cascading Style Sheets) In a previous article, A Flare CSS Primer, we looked at how Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) work to selectively apply formatting. In this article, we’ll take this theoretical...
A Flare CSS primer: Essential CSS concepts
(This is the first of two articles about Madcap Flare and CSS) If you’re just getting into Flare, you may be surprised to find many similarities with Word. If you use Flare the way you use Word, you might be very productive, but you’d be missing out on some of Flare’s...
Creating a relationship table in Madcap Flare
Flare has a powerful and flexible tool called relationship tables, which allow you to group related topic pages, and also include one or more concept and reference links. A “concept” link typically displays a page that relates to all the tasks in the table, such as a...
The basics of linking topics in Flare
Flare gives you several basic tools for grouping links to related topics. The most time-consuming method is manual — you create a Related Topics list of hyperlinks at the bottom of each topic page. To do this, type the heading, “Related topics”, then type each topic...
Customize Flare’s tripane icons
It’s a nice touch to customize the icons used in Flare’s tripane online help. Sometimes small design touches make a noticeable contribution to the polish and professionalism of online help. In this post I’ll take you through the steps of finding the icons in an output...
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