Here are links to past WinWriters noteworthy items. Select a topic to jump quickly to its resource listings: QuickPolls Results and Analysis, Surveys, Articles and Reviews, News, Commentary, or Other Items.

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Blog: Report on Apple Developer Conference 2009
Joe Welinkse reviews the three days he spent at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2009, which took place in San Francisco in early June.

Article: First Look at RoboHelp 8
Matthew Ellison offers a first look at the latest release of RoboHelp 8. The article describes the new features and examines how well they improve Help authoring.

Article: What's New in Captivate 4?
Following the successful and highly-regarded Captivate 3, verion 4 is another strong release from Adobe. In this review, Scott DeLoach describes the new features of Captivate 4.

News: Axure Software Solutions Releases Axure RP 5.5
The new release of Axure RP 5.5 from Axure Software Solutions adds the ability to create custom widget libraries, new interaction capabilities for high fidelity prototyping, and other enhancements.

News: Bluestream Releases XDocs 2.0
Bluestream released Version 2.0 of Bluestream XDocs. The XDocs component content management system is a standards-based, DITA CMS meant to handle the management of content components.

News: MadCap Flare Case Study
This case study describes how Microsoft HSG is using MadCap Flare to streamline the publishing of print and online documentation for the newest version of its Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) 2009, which was launched in April 2009.

News: MadCap Launches Flare 5 and Blaze 2
MadCap Software announced Flare 5 and Blaze 2, featuring DITA support. Flare is a XML multi-channel publishing software for print and online content. Blaze is an XML alternative to FrameMaker for long print docs.

Book: Five Steps to MadCap Flare
Five Steps to MadCap Flare, by Lorraine Kupka and Joy Underhill, gives you the basics and the insider tips for success with your Flare projects.

News: Site9 Releases ProtoShare 3.0
Site9, Inc. annouced the release of ProtoShare 3.0, a web-based collaborative prototyping tool that allows teams to simulate rich Internet functionality in website wireframes and mockups.

Book: New Version of Technical Writing 101
Scriptorium has published just released the third edition of its popular reference, Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Content.

News: Vasont Systems Releases Vasont 12.0
Vasont announced the release of the next major version of their content management system, Vasont 12, that enables users to store multilingual content once for maximum reuse and delivery to multiple channels.

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.

Information Offerings
Announcing TechComm Toolbox - one-stop web-site for technical communication resources; Doc-To-Help Day Registration now open to technical communicators and WritersUA attendees.

Product News
ScreenToaster v. 2 released - a tool for creating and publishing screencasts; Adobe has announced Technical Communication Suite 2 - FrameMaker 9, RoboHelp 8, Captivate 4, and Photoshop CS4; SBS Labs releases Acronyms Master v. 2.1 - a Word-based acronym management system; Author-it releases Author-it v. 5.2 - offering easier migration to structured authoring.

New Flare Book
Scott DeLoach has published MadCap Flare Certified Test Review + Developer's Guide. This book explains how to work with MadCap Flare and helps trainers prepare for the MadCap certification test.

Skills and Technologies Survey Results Available
Check out the results of the WritersUA Skills and Technologies Survey. You'll find rankings of the most valued skills, technologies, and platforms for UA professionals.

Apple Help Tutorial
Matt Neuberg has created a free web-based tutorial about building Help systems for Mac apps with Apple Help. Matt has been a presenter at the Conference for Software UA and is a Contributing Editor for the online Macintosh journal TidBITS.

News: 4.ST Announces HelpServer, Version 4.6
A new release of HelpServer has been announced by 4.ST. This produce combines enterprise content management, document management and Help authoring. HelpServer is equipped with server-side scripting which enables you to deliver dynamic personalized HTML & PDF.

Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks
Luke Wroblewski has published Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks. This engaging book offers valuable insights and detailed, practical examples to help you develop more effective form-based interactions.

Article: Agile Technical Documentation
This article by Jean-Luc Mazet offers lessons learned about implementing Agile development in a publishing environment, including the unique challenges of applying it to single-sourcing.

News: Wiki Features Announced for ePublisher
WebWorks.com announced the Fall 2008 release of its ePublisher platform. WebWorks ePublisher 2008.3 includes a multi-input/multi-output "Publish to Wiki" functionality.

News: Antenna House Releases Rainbow, v. 2.0
Antenna House announces the release of their Rainbow PDF Server-Based Converter, Version 2.0. The software can transform Microsoft Office 2007 files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) to PDF and SVG on the fly.

Free Webinar: Convergence of UA and eLearning
WritersUA has joined with the eLearning Guild to present a free webinar - The Convergence of UA and eLearning. The recording of the webinar consists of three hours of informational sessions discussing cross-disciplinary issues.

DITA Help Initiative Offers Info and Tools
The DITA Help sub-committee, governed by OASIS, is in the process of developing information and recommendations to ease the creation of user assistance with DITA. The latest draft of the Best Practices Guide, plug-in information, and sample files, are available for free download from the DITA Help Public Documents site.

Interviewing SMEs — Make Them Feel Valued
Establishing and maintaining healthy, productive, and mutually rewarding relationships with subject matter experts is imperative to project success. This article by Sherry Shadday and Kyle Draney presents techniques for maintaining such relationships.

Editing Modular Documentation: Some Best Practices
A number of best practices for developing modular documentation are described in this article by Michelle Corbin and Yoel Strimling. The concepts discussed include chunking text, labeling topics, and linking topics to each other.

Mobile and Agile: The Floating Writer's Survival Kit
Agile development is a popular methodology used by software companies. This article by Alyssa Fox and Meredith Kramer describes how to to transition to and continue to use agile development when floating among cross-functional project teams.

Handbook of Usability Testing Released
Scott DeLoach has just published CSS to the Point, an easy-to-use and comprehensive book that provides quick solutions to over 150 common questions about using Cascading Style Sheets.

Printed Books and Online Help Using a Wiki
This article describes a software documentation group's transition from a highly optimized FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher-based publishing process to a Wiki-based replacement. It goes through the steps the group took to arrive at their solutions and lists the sources they used to learn about their options.

WriterUA Conference 2009 - Seattle
The Seventeenth Annual WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance will take place in Seattle, WA, March 29 - April 1, 2009. The conference will feature seventy cutting-edge topics from fifty+ presenters, project demonstrations, and an exhibition.

Vasont Supports Structured Authoring in Word
Vasont Systems announced the completion of the extension integrating their flagship Vasont content management system with In.vision Research's Xpress Author for Microsoft Word.

Adobe Announces Technical Communication Suite 1.3
The new version of Technical Communication Suite includes support for Adobe Flash technology in Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, which enables users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents.

WriterUA Conference - 500+ in Attendance
The Sixteenth Annual WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance has come to a close. Over 500 attendees came together, March 16-19, in Portland, Oregon. The conference featured seventy cutting-edge topics from fifty-six presenters, project demonstrations from fifteen user assistance developers, and an exhibition featuring sixteen organizations.

Doc-To-Help 2008 Released
ComponentOne announced the release of its next generation Doc-To-Help product. ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2008 supplies streamlined new authoring features, with state of the art end-user features, all within the Microsoft Office 2007 style interface.

Adobe Captivate 3 Receives Top Industry Accolades
Adobe Systems announced that Adobe Captivate 3 was named the market leading rapid eLearning, courseware authoring and simulation tool by the eLearning Guild Research 360 Report on Authoring and Development Tools.

News from MadCap
MadCap Software announced several new developments, including the release of MadCap Blaze Beta version, a preview of four new products, and a reminder about the next Flare training event.

Survey: User Assistance Salary Survey Results Available
The results of the 2008 WritersUA Salary Survey are now available. The survey provides a variety of compensation figures — all specific to the user assistance profession. Thank you to the 1,000+ user assistance professionals who contributed their information!

News: MadCap Software Launches MadCap Analyzer
Madcap Software announced the release of MadCap Analyzer in conjunction with MadCap Lingo.

Presentation Slides: WritersUA Conference Archive
A number of presentation slides and supplemental resources from past WritersUA Conferences are still available on the WritersUA web site. You can find excellent content from 2004-2007.

Article: Review of Three User Assistance Tools
Matthew Ellison takes a look at three user assistance tools that have been developed in Europe: Fast-Help International, chm2web Pro, and E.S.T. Help Author Pro

Article: Review of Adobe RoboHelp 7
Rob Houser of the User Assistance Group offers his review of Adobe RoboHelp 7, including analysis of features and considerations for purchase and upgrades.

Article: Microsoft Help Resource List
This article provides a description of the official status of Microsoft Help technologies and points the way to additional resources. Technologies include WinHelp, HTML Help, Help 2, Assistance Platform, Sandcastle, and CE Help.

News from Vasont Systems
EContent Magazine recognizes Vasont Systems for the third year for its leadership in the content management industry.

News from MadCap Software
Madcap Software announced that as of October 31, 2007, year-to-date revenues represent a 67 percent increase over the same period last year.

Event: Peer Showcase Projects Announced
The WritersUA Peer Showcase will feature fifteen innovative projects in this informal exhibition during the WritersUA Conference.

News from FinerEdge Software
FinerEdge Software adds Web-based Report Writing to its Automated Publishing Solution.

Survey: Skills and Technologies Survey Results Posted
The popular Skills and Technologies Survey measures the elements we value most in our daily user assistance work.

Article: WinANT: A Free DITA Publishing Tool
Tony Self describes WinANT - a free tool for processing DITA documents.

News: Apple Releases Help Authoring Guide
Apple has released an all-new document for help authors who want to ensure their product fits-in on Mac OS X.

News from Adobe
Adobe has announced the Technical Communication Suite - a suite that includes RoboHelp 7, FrameMaker 8, Captivate 3, and Adobe Acrobat 3D.

News from MadCap Software
MadCap Software announces a number of new developments including advanced training for Flare, live technical support demos, and more.

News: Author-it Releases Author-it 5.0
Author-it announced Author-it 5.0 which features a new interactive authoring memory feature called Xtend.

News: Author-it Releases Author-it Live
Author-it introduces Author-it Live -- an integrated Web-based authoring, content management and publishing solution.

News from MadCap Software
MadCap Software announces a number of new developments. including Feedback Server, technical support demos and a new addition to the MadCap team.

News: A!K Research Labs Releases Chm2web
A!K Research Labs announced version 2.7 of its chm2web webhelp creation utility, which enables users to create live, interactive Web-based help systems.

News: MadCap Software Feedback Service and Flare Update
MadCap Software has just released its newest version of MadCap Flare - Version 3 and the MadCap Feedback Service.

News: Adobe Releases Upgrades for Captivate and FrameMaker
Adobe announced the release of FrameMaker 8 and Captivate 3.

News: HyperSTE 2.4 - New version released
Tedopres has released version 2.4. of HyperSTE and HyperSTE DMT (Dictionary Maintenance Tool), quality assurance software for technical content. HyperSTE increases the quality of technical documentation and reduces the costs for translations and technical publications by ensuring clear and consistent terminology and style.

Book: Managing Virtual Teams
Virtual collaborative team environments face unique challenges because their communication is not face-to-face. Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools provides practical advice for managers of distributed teams who must design the internal systems and meet deadlines with a diverse team, and for team members who want to develop and maintain professional relationships.

News: WinHelp for Vista Available for Download
Microsoft has released the file necessary for viewing WinHelp files on the Vista operating system.

Article: Using DITA for Help
Tony Self offers up a design analysis for the viability of delivering Help with DITA. This includes an examination of windowing, topic navigation, and content presentation. The article includes a prototype that addresses context mapping using the HTML Help API.

Survey: User Assistance Salary Survey Results Available
The results of the 2007 WritersUA Salary Survey are now available. Thank you to all of the user assistance professionals who contributed their information!

Review: What's New in RoboHelp 6?
A new version of RoboHelp has been just been released. Rob Houser offers a detailed evaluation of the long-awaited release from Adobe.

Review: XMetaL Author 5.0 DITA Version
Andrea Dickson takes you on a tour of the latest version of XMetaL Author DITA Edition, a tool designed specifically to support structured authoring in a DITA architecture.

News: ExtremeEase Software Releases WebHelp Author
ExtremeEase Software Inc. has announced the release of WebHelp Author 2007. This product is a tool for creating web-based help systems, online product manuals, product demos, FAQs, and knowledgebase solutions.

News: MadCap Software Releases Mimic
MadCap Software announces Mimic - a software simulation application. Mimic lets individuals create movies that simulate actions on a computer screen and produce interactive instructional videos.

Review: Review of XMLmind XML Editor 3.5
Tony DaSilva examines the latest version of XMLmind, an affordable structured authoring tool.

News: 4.ST Announces Help Server Assist
HelpServer Assist is a new feature of the HelpServer platform, a solution to organize all help and documentation throughout an enterprise.

News: ComponentOne Releases New Version of Doc-To-Help
This press release from ComponentOne announces the release of Doc-To-Help 2006 v.3, the third installment of the tool's yearly subscription release cycle.

Survey: Skills and Technologies Survey Results Posted
The popular Skills and Technologies Survey measures the elements we value most in our daily user assistance work.

News: AuthorIT Launches Website Manager
AuthorIT Software Corporation announces the release of AuthorIT Website Manager.

Review: Help & Manual Version 4
Matthew Ellison takes a test drive of the latest version of the Help & Manual tool from EC Software.

Article: A Revived Life for RoboHelp
Developments with the RoboHelp product in recent weeks indicates that the product may be around for awhile. This article by Joe Welinske describes the surprising turn of events for this popular Help authoring tool.

Article: Review of Cladonia Exchanger XML Editor
This article by Tony Self is a review of the Exchanger XML Editor. The issues brought up in the article are relevant to a variety of XML editors.

Article: Part II - Migrating HTML to XHTML and XML
In the second installment of a two-part article, Char James-Tanny continues her discussion of strategies for migrating content to XHTML/XML.

Article: Migrating HTML to XHTML and XML
In the first installment of a two-part article, Char James-Tanny presents a detailed methodology for moving HTML files to the structure and flexibility of XHTML/XML.

Article: When to Use Show-Me Helps and Demos
Annette Bradford describes how new multimedia tools enable technical writers to develop a powerful new form of embedded user assistance: show-me help.

Tool Review: LinKit! 4.0
Matthew Ellison provides a review of the latest version of LinKit!—a utility for linking application screens to context-sensitive Help without working with the source code.

Article: Problems in Navigating Online Help
This study by Robert Krull and Angela Eaton examines the search patterns of the users of Help systems.

Article: Outsourcing Documentation Development
This article by Deborah Clifton discusses some of the aspects to be considered when evaluating the required resources and total cost of offshoring documentation development.

Article: The Future of Indexing?
Jan Wright of WrightInformation offers an essay on where the craft of indexing is headed.

Article: The Future of RoboHelp?
Joe Welinske, President of WritersUA, discusses his prediction that the RoboHelp authoring tool will fade from common use over the next two years.

Article: XML Architecture for Customized User Assistance
This article by Sarah O'Keefe describes a content-centered approach for the reuse and versioning of information

Article: William Horton on Software Simulation Design
This article describes how to improve the effectiveness of software simulations through increased interactivity and a layered approach to user control

Article: Creating "Smart Help" with Conditional Content
This article discusses several methods for making Web-based Help systems "smart", by using conditional content to customize the appearance and behavior of your pages to the users' needs.

Article: An XML Architecture for Technical Documentation
This article by a group from IBM describes DITA—an architecture for creating topic-oriented, information-typed content that can be reused and single-sourced in a variety of ways.

Article: Design Checklists for Online Help
This article by Michelle Corbin presents the design attributes of online help systems in a series of design checklists and then discusses the latest research in interface and user assistance design.

Article: Techniques for Single-sourcing with RoboHelp
RoboHelp now offers a rich set of features for delivering multiple customized outputs out of a single project. This article by Matthew Ellison provides some guidelines and tips on using the key single-sourcing features.

Article: Designing and Writing to Reduce Errors
As the documentation and interface content are designed, attention must be paid to potential problems users can have with the situation and how to correct them. This article provides an analysis of the types and causes of errors.

Article: Creating Usable, Effective Error Messages
It can be a challenge to create error messages that give users a clear indication of the problem, offer information to help them fix it, and provide tips on avoiding the same situation in the future. This article details the steps involved in creating helpful error messages and communicating the value to colleagues.

Article: Constructing a One-Stop "Answer Station" Website for Software Users
This article discusses developing an Answer Station - a website that provides software users with a centralized location to access updated documentation and information about new features, as well as links to technical support, consulting, training, and sales.

Article: Online Communities for User Assistance Professionals Online communities have become a very valuable source of assistance for answering questions unique to our industry. This article provides an introduction to online communities and describes how to access a few of the most useful sites.

Article: How We Write: Putting the "Technical" in "Technical Writer"
Three technologies you will likely encounter in your job are programming languages, databases, and Web server technologies. This article provides a brief introduction to each, suggests specific areas to study, and offers a few ideas for doing it inexpensively.

Article: An Introduction to Structured FrameMaker
Alan Houser explains the key differences between structured and unstructured FrameMaker, provides an overview of the authoring and publishing environment, and describes what is involved in a typical migration effort. Even if you are not using FrameMaker, this article provides useful guidance on structured authoring.

QuickPoll Results and Analysis
See the results of all past QuickPolls along with a quick personal analysis of each by Joe Welinske. (1/04)
Certification Rolls
ProBooster Certificate Recipients The ProBooster Certificate Program graduates. (4/05)	LaunchPad Certificate Recipients The LaunchPad Certificate Program graduates. (4/05)
Surveys
2004 WritersUA Salary Survey The fifth annual edition of this popular survey is based on responses from over 850 of your peers in the U.S., Canada, and other parts of the world. We report on the effects of experience, gender, location, organization size, and more. (2/04)	2003 WritersUA Skills and Technologies Survey The results and analyses are now available for our fourth annual survey. Close to 500 user assistance professionals provided us with information about the skills, technologies, platforms, and tools we value most. (10/03)
2003 European User Assistance Profile Survey The results for the first in a series of surveys designed specifically for the European user assistance community are available, providing a summary view of several important aspects of our work. Respondents from 15 countries contributed to the results. (5/03)	2003 WinWriters Salary Survey The fourth annual study from WinWriters on compensation for user assistance professionals is complete. Here are the latest salary figures and trends to help you out as we move into the new year. (1/03)
2002 WinWriters Skills and Technologies Survey What is it that we really do as user assistance professionals? This third annual survey presents the answers in six categories: Technologies, Web-based Help, Skills, Windows Help, Platforms, and Tools. (7/02)	2002 WinWriters Salary Survey The results of our third annual study are now available. We targeted this survey specifically at user assistance professionals. See how you match up against your peers! (12/01)
2001 WinWriters Skills and Technologies Survey What do we value in our daily work as user assistance professionals? Our second annual survey presents our analysis in five different sections: Technologies, Windows Help, Skills, Platforms, and Tools. (6/01)	2001 WinWriters Salary Survey WinWriters received responses from over 1,200 people in 45 states of the U.S., in seven Canadian provinces, and in other parts of the world in the second annual study of compensation dedicated to online documentation. (1/01)
2000 WinWriters Skills and Technologies Survey Over 1,300 people responded to our first annual survey that took the pulse of the Help authoring community in the areas of technologies, skills, tools, and platforms and applications support. (7/00)	2000 WinWriters Salary Survey WinWriters polled 1,100 Help authors in the first annual study of compensation dedicated to online documentation. (12/99)
Articles and Reviews
Divide and Conquer: Providing Web-based User Assistance at the Point of Use Most user questions should be answered at the point of use (or rather, the point of confusion) using embedded assistance. Scott DeLoach explains how we can use field labels, popup windows, UA panels, and dedicated UA areas to assist users. (2/04)	Microsoft "Longhorn" Help Highlights At the 2003 Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft presented details of a radically new Help standard for the next version of Windows, known as Longhorn. Matthew Ellison summarizes the highlights, and discusses the issues in adopting the new technology. (12/03)
Indexing Single-Source Documents Single sourcing changes the way you develop information and index it, forcing you to integrate indexing into your information development process. Kurt Ament discusses constructing modular index entries for use in different indexes as well as building indexing standards. (10/03)	Review of Screen Capture Tools Almost all of us need to include screen captures in our user assistance from time to time. This may be grabbing entire windows or just images of specific drop-down menus, toolbars, or cropped regions that highlight key elements of an application interface. In this article, Matthew Ellison provides a detailed examination of five leading screen capture tools. (9/03)
Review of ReWorx 2003 ReWorx is a wizard-driven tool for converting regular Word documents to easily navigable online manuals. This is one of three products marketed by Australia-based RepubliCorp under the Virtual Media brand, the other two being HDK 3.6 and XDK 2002. Matthew Ellison provides an overview of the product and lays out the strengths and weaknesses. (9/03)	Review of WebWorks Publisher 2003 Quadralay recently expanded its WebWorks Publisher product line with FrameMaker and Word versions of its conversion tool, a server-side conversion tool (AutoMap), and a utility for converting RoboHelp® HTML projects, CHM files, and HTML files to FrameMaker/Word format. David Knopf's comprehensive review describes the key concepts of WebWorks Publisher 2003. (7/03)
Review of Sun's JavaHelp 2.0 Sun Microsystems recently announced the release of the long-awaited JavaHelp 2.0 Beta. This comprehensive review by Sarah Leritz-Higgins includes a comparison of JavaHelp 1.1.3/2.0 functionality and an evaluation of JavaHelp 2.0 Beta covering installation, operating system support, migration issues, and new features. (5/03)	Review of AuthorIT V4 Relatively unknown before the year 2000, AuthorIT has been attracting considerable interest from our user assistance community. With its object-oriented approach and ability to single-source a range of formats, it claims to offer affordable content management. Matthew Ellison reviews the latest version. (4/03)
Microsoft Takes Its Help Technology in a New Direction Chuck Martin provides a recap of the announcement from Microsoft canceling development of Help 2.0. Chuck also summarizes the associated report from Cheri Lockett Zubak given at the WinWriters Conference and provides some of his own analysis. (3/03)	The Trend Toward Flash as a Tool for Web Application Development Joe Welinske describes how the growing movement toward using Macromedia Flash MX for the development of Web-based apps offers new opportunities for user assistance professionals. (2/03)
Using Web Standards to Create HTML Files What are web standards and why are they important? Char James-Tanny offers a comprehensive overview of current web standards and how they affect the work of user assistance professionals. (1/03)	Mixing Online and CHM Content Tony Self examines some practical ways to integrate "live" online content from a Web server with "static" local content stored in a Microsoft HTML Help CHM file to give your users access to the latest Help information. (12/02)
Adding a Table of Contents to Web-based Help Dave Gash offers a design and implementation technique for adding a Table of Contents to your custom web-based Help system. (11/02)	Just Say "Help": Implementing Help in VoiceXML Allen Beebe explores VoiceXML, an emerging W3C standard that brings voice to the Web or the Web to the phone. (9/02)
A Usability Test of Web-based User Assistance Matthew Ellison describes the test and its findings. (7/02)
Review of ComponentOne's Doc-To-Help 6.0 Matthew Ellison reviews the latest version, which effectively combines some of the best features of the old Doc-To-Help and True Help to produce this updated Help authoring tool. (5/02)	An Update on Microsoft Help Matthew Ellison reviews the current Help technology and lays out your options for developing user assistance in support of Windows applications. (5/02)
A New Help Resource From Microsoft The latest version of Windows makes it possible for all software vendors to integrate their Help content alongside the OS Help. Joe Welinske's article provides the details to get you up to speed. (1/02)	Review of RoboHelp Office 2002 Matthew Ellison's four-part review of this very popular Help authoring tool. Covers: Topic Templates, Headers and Footers, MS Word Import, Skins, RoboHelp Starter, Pure HTML Output, Section 508 Compliance, XML Navigation, and Context-sensitive WebHelp. (1/02)
Review of Microsoft Office XP Help Matthew Ellison reviews the User Assistance for Office XP. He highlights the features worth emulating, and picks out a few to be avoided. (10/01)	CHI 2001 Conference Report The 2001 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems offered a number of interesting sessions that could provide food for thought for user assistance professionals. Read Joe Welinske's report on that event. (6/01)
FAQs on the Web Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) have been used for many years in print publications—and now in web sites—to answer questions and solve problems. Craig Noeldner discusses the results of a study on FAQs to answer the questions: How prevalent are FAQs on the Web? How are FAQs implemented? Are there any common techniques used in FAQ design? (11/00)	Embedded User Assistance and IE 5 Behaviors No user interface will ever be completely intuitive to everyone, so there will almost always be a need for some form of user assistance in user interfaces for web applications. Ed Hess shows us different methods to provide the user assistance as embedded Help within an IE5 application. (9/00)
Pane Help in MSN Hotmail Web applications, like most traditional desktop applications, can suffer from Help windows being placed in inconvenient locations—often covering the portion of the interface on which the user is working. Rick Schlamp examines Microsoft's attempt to fix this annoying behavior in its popular Web-based application, Hotmail. (8/00)	Indicating Changed Text in Help Files There are still many circumstances when drawing a user's attention to changed text is important. How do we do that with Help systems? Tony Self shows you how for both WinHelp and HTML Help. (6/00)
Case Study: AnswerWorks and the AutoCAD 2000 Help System Autodesk evaluated customer experience using AnswerWorks with the AutoCAD online documentation and found it emphatically positive. Jeffrey Allen discusses the results in this case study. (4/00)	XML: What Do Help Authors Need to Know? Part 2 In Part 2, Scott Boggan explores XML syntax in much greater detail, demonstrates the power of the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), takes a look at XML's new linking technologies–XLink and XPointer, and surveys XML authoring tools. (2/00)
XML: What Do Help Authors Need to Know? Part 1 Despite all its attendant hype, XML holds great promise for Help authors. In Part 1 of a two-part article, Scott Boggan gives an overview of XML and what it holds for Help authors. (6/99)	Beyond Help In this WINDOWS Magazine article, Joe Welinske gives a comprehensive introduction to WinHelp development. (4/95)
News
ComponentOne Announces Version 6.5 of Doc-To-Help Free to all current license-holders of Doc-To-Help 6.0, the new release includes support for a statistical-based Search module. Also scheduled for launch this month is ComponentOne Response. (3/03)	Author IT Version 4 Released The long-awaited Version 4 of Author IT has just been released and will be demonstrated at the 2003 WinWriters Online Help Conference. (1/03)
Microsoft Manual of Style Available Online The second edition (1998) of the Microsoft Manual of Style is now available in a free electronic edition. Read about this invaluable source of reference for technical writers. (1/03)	Security and Microsoft Help Matthew Ellison investigates a recently announced security vulnerability in Microsoft's HTML Help. (11/02)
Work Write and KeyWorks Release KeyHelp 1.1 KeyHelp 1.1 features improved popup and embedded windows, auto-sizing secondary windows, and content-level information types. (9/02)	JavaHelp Update Matthew Ellison provides a quick recap of the latest news. (7/02)
Amaya Documentation Project Summary A team of volunteer writers, managed by WinWriters, completed an update of the online documentation for version 5.3 of the Amaya editor/browser as summarized here. (1/02)
Commentary
Focus on Accessibility Matthew Ellison shares his views on the accessibility of Web pages and User Assistance—including links to useful resources. (8/01)	An Update on Trends in User Assistance Matthew Ellison of WinWriters provides his perspective on what's hot in the world of software user assistance. (8/01)
A Mixed Bag of Job Prospects for Tech Writers Shedding some light on job prospects in the software industry is a new report recently released by the Information Technology Association of America. Joe Welinske provides a summary of the report. (5/01)	WinWriters.com Rates Highly with STC Members In a recent survey, the Society for Technical Communication asked its members which Web sites they most often visited as part of their job. Among the top 12 Web sites listed was WinWriters.com. (12/00)
Linux Extends Beyond the Server The Linux revolution is gaining steam with major software and hardware vendors now supporting the platform, and a lot of Help activity as well. Joe Welinske reviews the LinuxWorld Conference in San Jose. (8/00)	From Clipboards to Computers The rush of seeing software enter a new field. (1/00)
The Future for Help Authors Our recent salary survey provided insight on how Web skills affect salaries, so what does the future hold for Help authors? (1/00)
Other Items
"WinWriters" Is Becoming "WritersUA" WinWriters is in the process of changing its name to WritersUA to reflect the growth of cross-platform application development and the broad scope of the work we do as software user assistance professionals. (7/03)	ProBooster Certificate Recipients The ProBooster Certificate Program graduates. (6/03)
LaunchPad Certificate Recipients The LaunchPad Certificate Program graduates. (6/03)	An Assortment of Web Resources Here's an assortment of useful reference sites. (7/02)
WinWriters Conference Book Raffle Winners To celebrate our 2002 event we've raffled a number of popular books. Here's a list of the lucky winners and the book that each won. (11/01)	Developing Online Help for Windows Book Winners We've posted the winners of autographed copies of Developing Online Help For Windows (WinHelp 3.x) and Developing Online Help For Windows 95 (WinHelp 4). (5/01)