TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Still here. But apparently no one needs a techwriter anymore... or so they
think.
I recently finished redoing an IFU for a senior care center HW/SW package.
The entity's manager thought they could knock it out in MS Word during
meetings (where their attention span was clearly divided). They knew not
the first thing about formatting, styles, word wrap, et al.ânever mind that
the final version of such a complex work should never be created using
Word's house of cards methodology.
Oh, and did I mention the multiple, overlaid chartreuse rectangles used as
callouts on numerous screenshots? (They looked like part of the UI design
and did not command readers' attention.) These I painstakingly reworked,
adding corresponding numbers in some cases to match the textual steps.
What irks me is that several years back I created the original IFU set for
the HW/SW predecessor from scratch. The company had sent me all of the
HW/SW so I could see how it all *really *operated, take my own screenshots,
et al. This was all done under the auspices of the same POW manager who
over the past several years decided they were endowed with superpowers.
And then there is the newly minted Hemmings content manager who, in a piece
about headlight glare, wrote:
Complaints from drivers' who are being blinded...
(I let that person know, but did I get a thank you?)
Arrrgghh....
Chris Morton https://linktr.ee/IsntThatWrite
â Substantive Editing â Technical Writing â Proofreading
â B2B/B2C â Marketing Expertise â Mentoring
On Sat, Feb 18, 2023 at 10:00 AM Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net>
wrote:
> With -- as far as I can tell -- no message traffic here for some time, I
> thought I'd start a little grammar skirmish just to see if anyone is paying
> attention.
> 1. Does anybody here (other than me) raise an eyebrow (or even cringe)
> when the Liberty Mutual Insurance adverts proclaim "You only pay for what
> you need"? Well, I ask, what else could you do other than "pay" for what
> you need? Not pay? Well, then, you wouldn't have any insurance, eh? My
> point is that it was surely the Marketing Group that came up with this
> incorrectly stated sentence which SHOULD state, "You pay for ONLY what you
> need."
> 2. I believe this group should have its own teeshirt for members. My
> choice can be viewed at
>https://images.kingtees.shop/teephotos/2019/08/Grammar-police-to-serve-and-correct-shirt.jpg
> Finally, yeah, I know, there are "bigger fish to fry" and other minute
> grammar stuff to bitch about, but this list seems dead lately.
> -- Ken in AtlantaWhere it's 37 degrees F and sunny at 10 am on this date
> (whoever said it's always hot down here hasn't lived here)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
> content development | https://techwhirl.com
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | https://techwhirl.com
