bravo to Chrysler's

head of technical publications:

Chrysler announced that digital owners’ manuals will replace their paper predecessors starting in 2010. The automaker is the first to switch from dead trees to DVDs, and estimates the move will save 930 tons of paper annually.

read on: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/chrysler-eliminates-the-paper-owners-manual/

GUI based application help

I started responding to this article about not include screen shots in GUI documentation. Then I went off topic so I'll just post my thoughts.

The problem of managing screen shots in GUI application documentation has dogged me starting 15 years ago - fresh out of college and a new tech writer.

Creating and maintaining documentation that includes screen shots is a nightmare. I'm surprised that GUI API suites haven't created a tool to make images and image regions structured. Pairing that with an authoring application that understood such structure and could apply style rules to the interaction of the master document's layout could help.

Actually, when you think about it, it's crazy that we document on-screen procedures in a separate paper-document or window. I'm sure those of you who write docs for GUI based applications on a daily basis think about this all the time.

An alternative is for help to be delivered as an overlay/layer over the GUI. that would be sweet.

Anyway what I'm saying is we don't have the tools for the most helpful Help/documentation. It's a minus for the user and tech writer. And that's sad considering that GUI based applications have been in widespread use for 20 or so years.

Maybe someone can point me to a well-woven/efficient application+help example. I'm just not aware of any.

my failure as a blogger

I've been around the block on the Internet. I got my first Internet email account the 2nd or 3rd week of college in '91. To me, the WWW is just one part of the Internet. But obviously things change and mature and I haven't kept up. Which is to say I used to be thoroughly engaged in the culture and society of the Internet, but as we're in post-Web2.0 times, I have lonely facebook, myspace and livejournal pages. My 4 or 5 blogger accounts are mostly stagnant, and my personal website is used as a photo album to share with my family who lives out of state.

I love the technology, but for several years the web has been about people and interpersonal communication more than anything, and I haven't really kept up in this realm. 

So the other night Arianna Huffington was on john stewart, pushing her book on blogging. Within 6 minutes time she shed light on why it's so tough for me to gain any traction blogging. 

First she says "blog your passions." Ok that's not too tough. I love to write about I have thoughts and opinions I'd like to share about tech writing, and tech, and media, and music (and their intersections). But then she said how blogging is about getting your thoughts down and firing them off quickly...

Do you know how many draft blog posts I have saved???? I think the TW in me wants to take the time to write down concise thoughts, not leave ideas hanging, and try to direct the reader toward a conclusion (don't you just hate it when you post about X, and the thread goes to some minor point you made in passing that could have just as well been left alone???)

My wife turned to me and said "you even write out your phone calls before you make them!!" (which i do sometimes because I want a precise query).

Perhaps this is where my shortcomings of being a real writer is apparent: Given a controlled topic to write on, I'm good and fast. But given the task of writing open-ended, engaging prose that people want to read and respond to, I fall short.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Arianna Huffington

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video