When you work as a contract technical writer, you can maximize your productivity by choosing the tools that work best for you. These tools can vary widely depending on who your clients are and the type of work you're doing. And they change as technologies improve. Today I thought I'd share five applications I currently use every day.
1. Outlook 2010
Remember the days when you had a single email address? Maybe you're lucky enough that you still do, but most of us now have five or more email add...
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Tools
Confluence wiki – first impressions
As a technical writer, I love learning new tools. In this case, I'm implementing a pilot project using a Confluence wiki.
Until now, all our technical documents have been Word and CHM help files. And we've delivered these to our customers as links on a static web page.
This method made it easy for lots of folks to contribute to the documentation, but it also had a number of downsides. These were the things I wanted to address if we changed to a different system:
Global searching across...
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Must-have tools for new technical writers
The one question I'm always asked by people who want to become technical writers is "What tools do I need to know?"
Usually I say "It depends..." but I've come to realize that one tool alone is the most useful for new technical writers to learn.
Microsoft Word.
I can hear the howls of protest, but just wait a minute while I explain my reasoning.
Everyone thinks they can use Word, but are they using it like a technical writer? No. You can learn to use features in Word that will help y...
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