[Dummies 01] • Technical Writing for Dummies by Lindsell-Roberts, Sheryl -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Contents Introduction

Skills, Not Frills Preview of Coming Attractions Icons, Icons Everywhere Author’s Note about Genders Making This Book Your Personal Reference Source

Part I : What It Takes to Write Technical Documentation Chapter 1: Accelerating Your Career the “Write” Way

Technical Writers Spring from All Walks of Life Technical Writing Differs from Business Writing Print or Electronic Media — That Is the Question Assigning Responsibility for Technical Documents Strategy, Not Software What You Need to Succeed Seeing Is Believing

Chapter 2: The Person to Whom You’re Speaking

How to Feed a Martian Getting Jump-Started with the Technical Brief Slicing and Dicing the Technical Brief

Part II : The Write Stuff Chapter 3: Creating a Team and a Plan

Benefiting from the Team Experience Kicking Off with the Technical Brief Choosing the Medium That’s Right for Your Readers Letting the Production Process Begin Amassing the Brain Power Generating an Outline Getting Your Arms around the Document

Chapter 4: Don’t Be a Draft Dodger

Psyching Yourself Up Getting Down to Business Integrating the Editing Process Revise and Consent

Chapter 5: Visualize This!

May I Have Your Attention, Please? Using White Space Give Me a Break Harness the Visual Power of Headlines Put It on the List The Natural Order of Things A Pixel (Picture) Is Worth a Thousand Words Table That Thought Go Figure Why Is a Pink Slip Pink? Meet Prints Charming Scale for Size Location, Location, Location What’s Your Visual Preference?

Chapter 6: Going In for a Tone Up

Give ’Em a Little KISS Using Contractions Accentuating the Positive Loving the Active Voice Using Politically Correct Gender Consistency and Clarity Count Defining Terms Who’s Laughing? When to Be a Jargon Junkie

Chapter 7: Dotting the Eyes and Crossing the Tees

Don’t Turn On Your Computer and Turn Off Your Brain The Proof Is in the Proofreaders’ Marks Use the Editing Checklist

Part III : Types of Technical Documents Chapter 8: The Ultimate User Manual

Get Up and Running Assessing Your Reader The Devil Is in the Details Check Out the Contents of the Box Chunking Up Table That Procedure Between the Covers Testing, Testing, 1-2-3 Getting All Bound Up Join-the-Dots Brain Teaser

Chapter 9: Writing in the Abstract

Types of Abstracts Using Abstracts Effectively

Chapter 10: Writing Spec Sheets

The Natural Order of Things Phase 1: Requirement Specs Phase 2: Functional Specs Phase 3: Design Specs Phase 4: Test Specs Phase 5: End-User Specs

Chapter 11: How Am I Doing? That Is the Question(naire)

Don’t Shoot the Messenger Designing the Form Posing the Questions Learning from the Results

Chapter 12: I Came, I Spoke, I Conquered

Getting to Know Your Audience Getting Ready for Prime Time Conveying Your Message with Confidence and Competence Choosing Appropriate Visual Aids Giving Them Something to Remember You By Checking Out Before Checking In

Chapter 13: Executive Sum-Upmanship

An Executive Summary Is Critical Summarizing for the Executive Seeing Is Believing

Part IV : Computers and More Chapter 14: Doing_Research_Online.com

Surf’s Up Just Browsing Searching for the Holy Grail Understanding Cyberbabble Outlaws in This New Frontier

Chapter 15: Sights and Sounds

Basics of Electronic Page Design Color My World Graceful Graphics Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Am I Your Type? So You Wanna Make a Movie

Chapter 16: Computer-Based Training (CBT)

The Role of the Writer “C” Is for Computer-Based “T” Is for Training Types of Interactivity Presenting the Learning Experience Solving Business Problems Platform Independence Designing a CBT Process Creating a Storyboard Planning the Right Kind of CBT Getting the Goods Out the Door Meeting Expectations Testing for Quality Assurance

Chapter 17: Web-Based Training: CBT on Steroids

Setting Your Sights (Or Sites) Planning the Users’ Experience Display the Evidence Multimedia Madness and Frame-ups Writing the Story and Linking It Standard Types of Presentations Standard Types of Interaction Tools of the Trade Building a Modest WBT Calling External Programs from Your Web Page Documenting and Archiving Sources Quality Assurance Testing Publishing to the Web

Chapter 18: Creating Online Help

Getting Intimate with Online Help Getting Started Striking a Balance Naming Conventions The Litmus Test Moving a Print Document Online Keep On Trucking

Part V : The Part of Tens Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Make Your Technical Documents Shout “Read Me!”

“See” Your Target So You Know Where to Aim Create Structure with Bones Add Meat to the Bones Make the Bones Visually Appealing Hone the Tone Proofread ’Til Your Eyes Pop Out Give the Document the Litmus Test For E-Docs Only

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Publishing in a Technical Journal

Don’t Procrastinate; Just Do It! Hooking Up with the Right Publication Lurking Behind the Masthead Understanding the Lingo Writing a Query Letter Simultaneous Submissions Confidentiality Don’t Take “No” for an Answer

Chapter 21: Ten Things to Know about Filing a Patent

Types of Patents What’s an Invention? He Who Hesitates Is Lost Doing Your Homework Submitting Your Idea Leaving Legal Stuff to the Pros On the Foreign Front

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Writing a Grant Proposal

Title (Cover) Page Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Statement of Need Project Description Budget Conclusion Appendixes

Appendix A: Punctuation Made Easy

Commas Colons and Semicolons Dashes and Parentheses Brackets Other Punctuation

Appendix B: Grammar’s Not Grueling

Test Your Grammatical Skills Adjectives Adverbs Conjunctions Double Negatives Nouns Prepositions Pronouns Verbs Answers to Quickie Quiz

Appendix C: Abbreviations and Metric Equivalents

Writing Abbreviations Metric and U.S. Equivalents

Appendix D: Technical Jabberwocky

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