by Scott Nesbitt

Writing, visuals, and Wonderful Life with the Elements  Clip to Evernote

Wonderful Life with the Elements - cover One of the most difficult writing tasks is to combine visuals with words. And I’m not just talking about writing scripts. I’m talking about writing documentation and tutorials.

The difficulty goes beyond melding diagrams and flowcharts with your text, too. How about using visuals and words to present complex material? While it’s been done for decades, the results have varied from being quite effective to not quite hitting the mark. And if you’re not a very visual technical communicator (it’s OK, I’m not incredibly visually oriented) doing the job well can be challenge. To say the least.

If you’re willing to take the time to learn how to effectively meld words and images, then you’ll want to give the book Wonderful Life with the Elements by Bunpei Yorifuji a look. It’s described as:

an illustrated guide to the periodic table that gives chemistry a friendly face

And the book also, whether the original intention was there or not, provides a solid template for explaining a complex topic by melding text and visuals.

Let’s take a brief look at Wonderful Life with the Elements.

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by DMN Communications

New paths and new horizons  Clip to Evernote

You’ve probably noticed that things have been a bit … well, quiet in this space for a while. Almost a year, in fact. It’s hard to believe that the last post we published in this space went live on May 2, 2012.

No, we haven’t been kidnapped by aliens or succumbed to some nasty fate. We’re alive and definitely kicking.

Since last May, we’ve gone through a lot of changes. Actually, many of the changes started before then. And most of those changes have been good. Some of them great. None of them boring. In fact, the last 12 to 15 months have been a bit of a whirlwind both personally and professionally for both of us.

We’ve been exploring new paths and walking towards new horizons. And our professional focuses have changed.

Aaron has moved into customer engagement and product marketing, areas in which he’s been interested for quite some time. And they’re areas in which he has quite the aptitude. Customer engagement and product marketing allow Aaron to combine his (considerable) people and technical skills, and are areas in which he’s finding new and exciting challenges.

Scott recently sold all his worldly possessions, packed up the family, and moved to New Zealand. By doing that, he’s realized a dream he and his wife have had for over a decade and a half. And while Scott’s still involved in technical communication (as a team lead at a software firm in New Zealand), he’s gradually shifting away from tech comm and is focusing on blogging, writing, and coaching/consulting.

So, what about DMN Communications? We’re keeping the company alive, though dormant. Even though our careers are moving away from technical communication, it’s still a part of our professional lives. DMN Communications is still a vehicle for consulting as a team (even though we’re oceans apart).

You never know what will happen.

Photo credit: johnnyberg

by Scott Nesbitt

Tasting a little Confluence, Tech Comm, Chocolate  Clip to Evernote

Confluence, Tech Comm, Chocolate Wikis have been part of my professional freelance writing and technical communication lives for a number of years now. I’ve used them extensively and even maintain my own wiki; I’ve written with and about them; and I’ve even set up a few documentation wikis. While a couple or three people have generously suggested that I’m an expert in this area, I’m not. Far from it, in fact. I still have a lot to learn.

To do that, I turn to others who know a lot more about wikis than I do. Folks like Stewart Mader, Alan J. Porter, and Sarah Maddox. And it’s Sarah Maddox, or at least her new book, that sparked this blog post.

Being the aging, jaded person I am I don’t get excited about much. When I learned that Sarah was working on a book on using wikis specifically for writing documentation I got excited. As a technical writer for Atlassian (the folks behind the Confluence wiki), Sarah lives documentation and wikis — all of Atlassian’s documentation is delivered with a wiki. I was expecting a comprehensive look at using a wiki for documentation. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Let’s take a closer look at Confluence, Tech Comm, Chocolate.

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by Scott Nesbitt

Using Evernote Web Clipper and Clearly as research tools  Clip to Evernote

Evernote Research. It’s the life blood of any writer. No matter what you’re doing – journalism, blogging, penning fiction, or doing any kind of technical or corporate writing – you need to gather facts and information.

Of course, the nature of research has morphed since I went pro all those many years ago. I remember spending a lot of time in the library or on the phone digging up information. Then, the Internet came to our computers and changed the game.

In the early days, researching on the web involved either copying and pasting information into a text editor or word processor file, or jotting notes on to paper. Thanks to web-based note taking applications like Evernote, that became a whole lot easier.

But copying and pasting information into Evernote isn’t the most efficient way to do things. Why not let your browser and Evernote work together? You can do that with two browser extensions for Evernote called Web Clipper and Clearly.

Let’s take a closer look at them and how they can be a useful addition to the tool kit of any writer, technical or otherwise.

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by Scott Nesbitt

Breaking free of your comfort zone  Clip to Evernote

explore Falling into a nice little rut. Getting complacent. Finding a comfortable groove. Wrapping yourself in a cloak of familiarity.

Call it what you will, but most of us fall into the comfort of a routine now and then. Yes, the oft-talked-about comfort zone.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But I find that inhabiting the comfort zone can get boring. Actually, worse than boring. You’ve probably felt the same way. The work is easy to do and feels more like typing than actual writing. Or, you feel the need to move into areas other than just pure technical writing.

Lately, I’ve been feeling that I’ve ensconced too snugly in my own comfort zone. As part of something I call Phase 3 (more on this in the coming months) and as part of the New Cruelty, I’ve been experimenting with ways of bursting free of my comfort zone.

You can burst out of yours too. And doing that just might refresh you, your technical writing, and your career.

Curious? Then read on.

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