XML files are used almost everywhere: site mapping, CRM, Banking to name just a few of the thousands of use of XML. XML has been designed to control the data, separating it from the HTML code which is designed to display the data. The reason XML is used, is that it simplifies data storage and sharing.

Read more

How do you know that the method you’re using to identify user tasks, such as Target Group Analysis, actually leads to the information users need? This article shows why such analysis is dangerous thing, and suggest an alternate solution.

Read more

Because if we don’t, us technical communicators will be out of a job. To stay competitive in our field, we must embrace change and design for the searching user of today. A design approach called dialogism might be what you need.

Well, I might exaggerate, but If we as technical communicators continue designing according to the book paradigm, we face the risk that our employer will cut back on technical documentation budgets in favor of other, more efficient solutions, such as social customer support, or virtual assistance.

Read more

Should technical communicators be designing content so that the right information presents itself to the right person, at the right time, on the right device, and in the right location?

Is it possible? Is this what users want? Read further to discover why I believe that any attempt to design intelligent content in the context of our industry would not only fail, but users would ultimately find such an approach useless. It is important to reflect upon this issue, since what we aim for in the future, informs the decisions we make today. Read more...

Read more

Are you like me, a technical communicator who finds it confusing at times to identify what task to write? Then this article, part 6 in the Designing for the Searching User series, is for you.

Read more