Latest Content is Now On Welinske.com News, reviews, and other user assistance content will now be published on Welinske.com. This WritersUA site will continue to be open, but it won't feature new content.

2013 Conference for Software User Assistance

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WritersUA regularly publishes original articles, product reviews, surveys, and industry news. Join our mailing list to receive these updates.

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

Thoughts on User Assistance blog
Joe Welinske, President of WritersUA, offers a regular stream of ideas and opinions related to UA.

Joe Welinske on Twitter

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.

Case Study: Minimalist Writing at AGFA HealthCare to Improve Writing and Translation Workflows
Bernard Aschwanden and Corry Clybouw discuss how they applied minimalism to their user documentation.

Article: Topic-based Information Development
Tony Self takes a look at topic-based, modular information development.

Article: Effective Use of Social Media for Technical Writers: Getting Beyond the Hype
Rebecca Petras discusses how to get the most out of social media.

Article: Documentation for Software Engineers
Ulrike Parson examines some key factors in writing documentation for software engineers.

Salary Survey Results
The results have been published for the 2012 WritersUA Salary survey.

Blog Update: A Quick Look at Mobile Help in Doc-To-Help 2012
Joe Welinske shares his initial thoughts on Doc-To-Help 2012 in his latest blog entry.

Mobile UA Book Available in Kindle and on Amazon
Developing User Assistance for Mobile Apps now available for sale on Amazon in print and Kindle.

Article: Cultural Dimensions of Software Help Usage
Leah Guren shares her discoveries and recommendations regarding the impact of culture on usability.

Article: Animated Visual Instructions: Can We Do Better?
Carla Galvão Spinillo discusses some drawbacks in the graphic presentation of instructions through animation from the information design perspective.

Article: DITA 1.2
Tony Self reviews the latest features available in DITA 1.2.

Skills and Technologies Survey Results
The results have been published for the 2012 WritersUA Skills and Technologies survey.

UA News
Vasont releases white papers on XML content management strategies, 4.ST celebrates its 25th anniversary, Dana Chisnell launches a new ballot usability project, and ComponentOne releases Doc-To-Help 2012.

Informational Nuggets from 2011
Take a look at some of the useful informational nuggets extracted from the many sessions at the 2011 Long Beach event.

Adobe Releases UA White Paper from Joe Welinske
Adobe releases "Key Trends in Software User Assistance," written by Joe Welinske of WritersUA. This white paper is the first of a two-part series discussing the current and future trends associated with software user assistance.

Article: Scrum and the Single Writer
Kathee Kuvinka summarizes her experience as a lone writer in an Agile environment.

WritersUA Tools Survey Results
Check out the results of our 2012 User Assistance Tools Survey. Over 700 contributors!

Review: Camtasia Studio v. 7
Joe Welinske reviews a video editing tool well-suited to supporting UA professionals - Camtasia Studio from Techsmith.

Article: Ten Tips for Tasks
Leah Guren offers best practices for writing effective procedures and instruction sets.

Article: Scrum and the Single Writer
Kathee Kuvinka summarizes her experience as a lone writer in an Agile environment.

Article: Developing UA for Mobile Apps
Read Joe Welinske's introduction to developing UA for mobile apps in the November issue of STC Intercom, sponsored by Adobe.

Article: Using Low Cost Tools to Increase Your Productivity and Accuracy
Ed Marshall discusses a variety of inexpensive online tools.

Article: Successful Strategies for Continuous Improvement
Marta Rauch presents a case study of Oracle's Initiatives program.

Article: What I Learned from Software Developers
Fei Min Lorente shares some of the successful tools and methods she's adopted from software developers.

Article: That's a Good Question!
Elizabeth Frick discusses the importance of effective questions and how to ask them.

Article: Users Play Cards. We Keep Score. Magic Results!
Carol Barnum and Laura Palmer provide strategies for working with Microsoft's Product Reaction Cards.

Resource Directory Updates
New tool listings include Twister (Backspin Software), Sajan Authoring Coach (Sajan), and updated information from RoboHelp (Adobe). New contractor listings include IRREVO, GlobalVision International, Inc., and Sageline Publishing.

Software Announcements
Updates include HelpConsole 2010 SP5 (Extreme Ease Software), Doc-To-Help (ComponentOne), and SmartDocs 2.0 (ThirtySix Software). New tools include SuiteHelp (Suite Solutions) and HelpIQ (HelpIQ).

Skills Survey Results Posted
Check out the results of our 2011 UA Skills and Technologies Survey.

Divcom Software Releases HelpSmith 3.4
Divcom Software announces the latest release of HelpSmith. The new version allows users to easily integrate their help systems with popular Internet services.

Resource Directory Updates
New tool listings include DITAToo (iG5 Authoring Tools) and three offerings from Epilogue: Advisor, Author, and Publisher. New contractor listings include Spectrum Writing, LLC and TDRS-US.

Product News and Resource Updates
New product versions include ePublisher (WebWorks), HelpServer (4.ST), and Doc-To-Help (ComponentOne). Resource directory updates include cognitas and TRA360.

Article: RoboHelp 9: Exclusive First Look Review
Kevin Siegel takes an in-depth look at the latest release of Adobe RoboHelp.

Tools Survey Results Posted
Check out the results of our 2011 UA Tools survey. Over 700 contributors!

Article: Ribbon Hero — User Assistance Masquerading as a Game
Joe Welinske provides an inside look at a software tutorial from Microsoft.

Article: Single Source Publishing with Flare
Petra Thiemann discusses issues to consider for single source publishing.

Article: Developing Company Editing Standards
Kristine Haugseth discusses methods and examples on how to develop editing standards for content.

Article: Ten Best Practices for Preparing a Flare (or RoboHelp) Project for Translation
Lorraine Kupka shares best practices on preparing a Flare project for translation.

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.

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

Article: 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.

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.