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Gurudutt Kamath
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Messages keep pouring in asking for books
and information on technical writing. I have come to the conclusion
that there are two types of people in this world—the Internet
literate and the Internet ignorant!
Here is a whole column devoted to useful
sites and information on technical writing. You can see past issues
of this column by doing a search on “Documentor” or “Guru
Kamath”. You will find the 50-odd columns that I have written.
This will provide you information on basics of technical writing.
By the way, you don’t write e-mail
messages (after all they are so cheap) to columnists asking for
information. You need to do your own homework on the Net. You should
write some good feedback on the column to the columnists. You are
welcome to write what you would like to see in this column in future.
Again, remember, columnists are not there to provide you jobs!
Free text book on technical writing
Checkout online technical-communication
courses.
Website: http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/
acctoc.html
DocuMentor Group
Ask your questions to this group. Look
for jobs in this group. Recruiters can send their recruitment posts
to this group. Write to documentor@yahoogroups.com. Today, the group
is moderated. Discuss technical writing issues in this group.
Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/documentor
TECHWR-L
The Official TECHWR-L website. This site
is the home of the TECHWR-L mailing list. Features many useful links,
archives, magazine, calendar, educational resources and jobs. Techwr-L
is like a university. Become a member to learn about what is hot
in technical writing. Search the archives to solve your problems,
including whether to put one space or two spaces after a period.
The number of members is around 4,000 so the volume of messages
is very high. Believe me, the best technical writers are here. Mind
you, you will see quite a few posts by me too in the archives.
Website: http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/STC
India
STC India is doing a lot of wonderful seminars
and conferences. The site is also pretty useful. Go through the
Indus archives. Indus has several useful articles.
Website: http://www.stc-india.org
Technical Communication Online
Search the Technical Communication Online
archive. Send a comment, letter to the editor, problem report, change
of address, or subscription request. This journal is for experienced
writers. I was a guest editor for one of the issues on International
Communication.
Website: http://www.techcomm-online.org/Tools
RoboHelp
Earlier technical writers had a problem
learning RoboHelp. Today, you can download a free trial version
of the software and learn the package. Recently, I downloaded RoboHelp
Version X4—roughly 80 MB. Submitted a sample based on it and
got a US job. It is a French translation job to RoboHelp! Imagine
getting a combination of French and RoboHelp. Use the Knowledgebase
and the Help Community forums to solve all your Help and RoboHelp
problems.
Website: http://www.ehelp.com
FrameMaker, PDF, InDesign
For FrameMaker, PDF, and InDesign information.
Website: http://www.adobe.com
Microsoft Manual of Style
The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications is now available online. Checkout http://www.winwriters.com/msmanualofstyle.htm
Elements of style
Begin your writing education from here.
Do not miss reading this book. It is worth its weight in gold. Of
course, the online version is worth a million times more.
Website: http://www.bartleby.com/141/
Classes and courses
SA International and K9 technologies in
Chennai are conducting courses and seminars on technical writing.
Miscellaneous
I am on vacation in Mangalore. Due to a
busy project I was unable to send this episode on time. So I am
writing this in a cyber cafe in Mangalore. I will not be able to
provide you all the links. But here are some more links you can
find for yourself. Microsoft has wonderful sites for Word and Microsoft
Office and of course Windows. There are groups and mailing lists
for every technical writing aspect. Search for them and look for
the information desired. Resources are available in plenty. Just
search and find them.
Gurudutt Kamath is a technical writer based
in Mumbai. E-mail: documentor@vsnl.com
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