WritersUA - Training and Information for User Assistance Professionals

Breaking News
Developing Company Editing Standards
Kristine Haugseth discusses methods and examples how to develop editing standards for content.
  Ten Best Practices for Preparing a Flare (or RoboHelp) Project for Translation
Lorraine Kupka shares best practices on preparing a Flare project for translation.
Last Chance for Long Beach Conference Early Registration Discounts
Save up to $500 if you register by Tuesday, August 31 for the 2011 Conference for Software User Assistance.
  Call for Proposals
The call is out for conference speakers and Peer Showcase presenters for the 2011 WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance.
UA Skills and Technologies Survey
The User Assistance Skills and Technologies Survey is now open. Please contribute your experiences. The results will be publicly posted on the WritersUA web site.
  Product News
ComponentOne announced Doc-to-Help 2010 v. 3 with SharePoint integration. EC Software's Help & Manual now delivers Visual Studio source code. Extreme Ease Software announced HelpConsole 2010.
UA Conference Europe
The UA Conference Europe, produced by Matthew Ellison Consulting in association with WritersUA, takes place 16-17 September in Stockholm, Sweden.
  Resource Directory Updates
Updates include Interpro Translation Solutions, Inc., Quarter Bound Press, Entity Group Ltd, Kai's Tech Writing Blog, Catalyst Consulting Group, LLC, and Language Intelligence Ltd..

Regularly Updated Resources
Join Our Mailing List or Use Our RSS
WritersUA regularly publishes original articles, product reviews, surveys, and industry news. Join our mailing list to receive these updates. We also have an RSS news feed.

User Assistance Group Formed on LinkedIn
Linkedin LogoJoin the Linkedin group for software user assistance professionals. The group is open to all and designed to foster discussions about UA-related topics.

WritersUA on Twitter
Follow WRITERSUA on Twitter for news items of interest to user assistance professionals.

Blog and Twitter sections Added to Resource Directory
The Resource Directory has links to Blogs and to Twitter streams of interest to our community.

User Assistance Surveys
Our surveys offer much insight into UA skills, technologies, tools, and salary. Check out the most current survey results and participate in the latest surveys. You will also find past results.

Recent Announcements and Articles
Improving Legacy Content: A Common-Sense Approach
Anne Lette discusses methods and examples on how to successfully handle outdated legacy content.

Managing Documentation Projects in a Collaborative World
Larry Kunz provides an overview of new trends in collaborative documentation development.

User Assistance Salary Survey in Progress
The User Assistance Salary Survey is now open. Please contribute your experiences. The results will be publicly posted on the WritersUA web site.

2010 Conference Slides Available
Registration is open to access streaming content from the recent Seattle Conference for User Assistance. View the session slides and and communicate with attendees and speakers.

Article: The Diagnosis-Resolution Structure in Troubleshooting Procedures
Prof. David Farkas of the U. of Washington discusses his research on the development of successful "Troubleshooting" procedures.

Article: Using Stories for a Better User Experience
Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks describe how storytelling can help you collect, analyze and share user research information.

Article: Putting the User in User Assistance
Anne Gentle offers a number of innovative ideas for enabling users to respond and contribute to user assistance.

Article: An Overview of HTML v.5
Heather Brautman provides an overview of the emerging HTML 5 standard. How is it different from the current HTML and what is important for UA professionals to know.

Article: Screen Capture Tools Review
Matthew Ellison has updated his popular review of screen capture tools. The article describes the important attributes of a capture tool and examines and compares the features of seven popular products.

4.ST Announces New Release
4.ST releases the Workflow Management module, an addition to the HelpServer web-based content management system.

Vasont Systems Releases Vasont 12.2
Vasont Systems announces the latest release of their Vasont Content Management System. New features include terminology management, content branching, and additional reporting capabilities.

New listings in WritersUA Resource Directory
Contractors include infotektur - Information Architecture. Tools include DITAworks and Help Server.

Article: Effective, Elegant, and Free: Awesome Fading Tooltips
This article by Dave Gash describes how you can incorporate fading tool tips into your Web pages.

Registration Open for Microsoft Help Preview Seminar
Learn about the current and future status of Microsoft Help, Microsoft's new client help system. This special seminar takes place the evening of November 2 in Bellevue, WA. This is a free event.

Article: Quick Reference Guides
Tom Johnson and Ben Minson provide an overview of their expertise, strategies, and tips on quick reference guides--"short and sweet" documentation.

MadCap Software Releases MadCap Lingo 3.0
MadCap Software announces the latest release of MadCap Lingo, the XML-based, fully integrated translation memory system and authoring tool solution.

News: IXIASOFT DITA CMS v2.6 Now Available
IXIASOFT announces the availability of version 2.6 of its DITA CMS solution. With this new version, organizations can further leverage the topic-oriented architecture of DITA and maintain their competitive advantages.

New Contractor listings in WritersUA Resource Directory
Infobridge Solutions and Tabby Cat Communications.

Article: The Two-Click Mandate
One technical communication team delivered answers to user questions in two clicks with a help file created in DITA XML, using structured writing, different tools and a new information architecture. This article by Karen Lowe describes how they did it.

News: Author-it Releases Author-it 5.3
Author-it announces the availability of its latest release, Author-it 5.3. In this release ASC has extended its capability to to include standards based content models such as DITA or S1000D.

Book: DITA 101-Fundamentals of DITA for Authors and Managers
The Rockley Group is pleased to announce the release of DITA 101, specifically designed for those who want or need to understand DITA, but don't need to deal with code, tags and implementation details right now.

Article: The Open-Source DITA2Wiki Project
Lombardi Software developed a framework of tools and processes that now powers their knowledge system. Lombardi donated this to the community as the open-source "DITA2Wiki Project" on SourceForge.net. In this article, Lisa Dyer describes the new features and examines how well they improve Help authoring.


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The Conference for Software User Assistance








WritersUA offers cutting-edge training and information to Technical Writers, Information Analysts and Architects, Documentation Designers, Help Authors, Publication Managers, Documentation Leads, Senior Writers and Documentation Contractors, and User Education Specialists. The focus is on software user assistance, which encompasses writing, editing, planning, coding, indexing, testing, programming, localization, and standards development.


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