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2007 WritersUA Skills and Technologies Survey
6 08 2007Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Business/Work, Technical writing
It’s all about the writing
6 08 2007I don’t know Amber Simmons, but I sure like the way she writes. A few days ago she published an article of hers—”Reviving Anorexic Web Writing“—on A List Apart.
She has some powerful things to say, although I think that ultimately it all comes down to “knowing your audience”. While she takes issue with the basic elements of good technical writing—chunked writing, bullet points, scan-able headings, and the like—I definitely believe they have a place. But they’re not applicable to every website out there.
She also has some valid points about writing text for use in ALT tags. And I particularly liked her anatomical analogy: “The content is the heart of the website. I can’t build you a body until you give me a heart.” I’ll have to use that sometime soon.
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Categories : Business/Work, Technical writing
Oh, the places you’ll see!
6 08 2007For the past year or so now, I’ve been writing about life and living in my local area. Of course, quite a few of you live outside Western Australia, and even outside Australia and so probably have no clue where I’m talking about! So I thought I’d give you some perspective on where I live.
Here’s a Google map that is centred on Bridgetown, Western Australia: http://tinyurl.com/2l3d6p. Zoom in/out to get a sense of place. Perth is where we used to live; the company I do most of my technical writing work for these days has its head office in Brisbane, Queensland on the other side of Australia!
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Categories : Australia, Travel
Dig a hole through the earth
6 08 2007I just went on to Google Maps and noticed a new feature – you can dig a hole through the earth to see where you come out!
Interestingly, we’d heard about a guy in town building his house in a special orientation as he believed that our town (Bridgetown, Western Australia) was directly opposite the Bermuda Triangle. So I checked – and it is. [cue Twilight Zone music now…]
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Categories : Life stuff