RE: Rates (was The Lone Writer)

[Cheryl Magadieu <leftymagoo -at- attbi -dot- com>]

In tech writing, as in many fields, it helps to know more than the bare 
minimum that you're expected to know and to take a few risks here and 
there. I, too, have benefited from having experience with HTML and Web 
design. Up until recently, I was working as an independent contractor at a 
small startup that had no graphic designers or Web designers on board. They 
decided to create a Web-based interface for their product, and they asked a 
programmer take a crack at it. The first draft was not received well, and 
the programmer felt frustrated by his lack of HTML and Web design 
expertise. I offered to redo the screens and come up with some alternate 
approaches. I focused on keeping things simple and straightforward, using 
some basic design guidelines, and tapping good ol' documentation and layout 
techniques to make info easier to find. The company was very happy with the 
results, and authorized me to hire a freelance illustrator to design some 
icons and buttons for the pages to add the finishing touch. The whole UI 
design project was an interesting challenge that dovetailed nicely with my 
writing responsibilities. It was extra work, but the company gave me the 
time I needed, and I enjoyed it. They recently asked me to join them as a 
part-time employee, partly because they knew I could pitch in on additional 
projects as needed.

I would encourage anyone who's interested in HTML and Web design to take on 
as many related projects--even volunteer ones--as possible. Trial and error 
is one of the best ways to learn. I taught myself HTML when I was editing 
for a local publisher that produced online newsletters. I used a text 
editor at the time, but later switched to HomeSite and Dreamweaver, which 
made it easier to do more complicated layouts. (I still lean toward 
creating and modifying the code manually instead of using WYSIWIG 
features.) Local STC chapters often have many opportunities for people who 
want to learn and/or hone their HTML and design skills. Over the past 
couple of years, I've worked on my local chapter's newsletter and 
competitions Web pages, which gave me lots of opportunities and motivation 
to try new things and keep abreast of what other Web sites are doing with 
similar material.

Cheryl

At 02:25 PM 1/28/2003 +0000, Darren Barefoot wrote: