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WritersUA regularly publishes original articles, product reviews, surveys, and industry news. All of it is free. We send our monthly email updates to everyone on our contact list with information about our latest offerings. You are welcome to join our mailing list to receive these updates. We also have an RSS news feed for your convenience.
User Assistance Group Formed on LinkedIn
 A group has been formed for software user assistance professionals on the Linkedin networking site. The group is open to all and designed to foster discussions about UA-related topics.
WritersUA Blog
The WritersUA blog on WordPress offers commentary on a variety of user assistance-related topics.
WritersUA on Twitter
Follow WRITERSUA on Twitter for news items of interest to user assistance professionals. Follow Joe Welinske, President, of WritersUA, at JWELINSKE.
Blog Section Added to Resource Directory
The WritersUA User Assistance Resource Directory has added links to Blogs of interest to our community.
Twitter Section Added to Resource Directory
The WritersUA User Assistance Resource Directory has added links to Twitters of interest to our community.
Resource Directory Updates
Listings for Solid Converter PDF to Word from Solid Documents and PerfectIt from Intelligent Editing Ltd. have been added to the Tools section of the Resource Directory.
Skills and Technologies Results Posted
The results of the 2009 Skills and Technologies Survey are now available. This popular survey provides our community with a snapshot of the skills and technologies we most value.
Blog: Installing the Chrome OS
Joe Welinske describes his efforts to get a first-hand look at the new Google Chrome operating system. This blog post details how to get it running on a netbook and what you'll find when it's done.
Vasont Systems Releases Vasont 12.2
Vasont Systems announces the latest release of their Vasont Content Management System. New features include terminology management, content branching, and additional reporting capabilities.
New listings in WritersUA Resource Directory
Contractors include infotektur - Information Architecture. Tools include DITAworks and Help Server.
Article: Effective, Elegant, and Free: Awesome Fading Tooltips
This article by Dave Gash describes how you can incorporate fading tool tips into your Web pages.
Registration Open for Microsoft Help Preview Seminar
Learn about the current and future status of Microsoft Help, Microsoft's new client help system. This special seminar takes place the evening of November 2 in Bellevue, WA. This is a free event.
Article: Quick Reference Guides
Tom Johnson and Ben Minson provide an overview of their expertise, strategies, and tips on quick reference guides--"short and sweet" documentation.
MadCap Software Releases MadCap Lingo 3.0
MadCap Software announces the latest release of MadCap Lingo, the XML-based, fully integrated translation memory system and authoring tool solution.
News: IXIASOFT DITA CMS v2.6 Now Available
IXIASOFT announces the availability of version 2.6 of its DITA CMS solution. With this new version, organizations can further leverage the topic-oriented architecture of DITA and maintain their competitive advantages.
New Contractor listings in WritersUA Resource Directory
Infobridge Solutions and Tabby Cat Communications.
Article: The Two-Click Mandate
One technical communication team delivered answers to user questions in two clicks with a help file created in DITA XML, using structured writing, different tools and a new information architecture. This article by Karen Lowe describes how they did it.
News: Author-it Releases Author-it 5.3
Author-it announces the availability of its latest release, Author-it 5.3. In this release ASC has extended its capability to to include standards based content models such as DITA or S1000D.
Book: DITA 101-Fundamentals of DITA for Authors and Managers
The Rockley Group is pleased to announce the release of DITA 101, specifically designed for those who want or need to understand DITA, but don't need to deal with code, tags and implementation details right now.
Article: The Open-Source DITA2Wiki Project
Lombardi Software developed a framework of tools and processes that now powers their knowledge system. Lombardi donated this to the community as the open-source "DITA2Wiki Project" on SourceForge.net. In this article, Lisa Dyer describes the new features and examines how well they improve Help authoring.
Blog: Report on Apple Developer Conference 2009
Joe Welinkse reviews the three days he spent at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2009, which took place in San Francisco in early June.
News: Axure Software Solutions Releases Axure RP 5.5
The new release of Axure RP 5.5 from Axure Software Solutions adds the ability to create custom widget libraries, new interaction capabilities for high fidelity prototyping, and other enhancements.
News: Bluestream Releases XDocs 2.0
Bluestream released Version 2.0 of Bluestream XDocs. The XDocs component content management system is a standards-based, DITA CMS meant to handle the management of content components.
News: MadCap Flare Case Study
This case study describes how Microsoft HSG is using MadCap Flare to streamline the publishing of print and online documentation for the newest version of its Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) 2009, which was launched in April 2009.
News: MadCap Launches Flare 5 and Blaze 2
MadCap Software announced Flare 5 and Blaze 2, featuring DITA support. Flare is a XML multi-channel publishing software for print and online content. Blaze is an XML alternative to FrameMaker for long print docs.
Book: Five Steps to MadCap Flare
Five Steps to MadCap Flare, by Lorraine Kupka and Joy Underhill, gives you the basics and the insider tips for success with your Flare projects.
News: Site9 Releases ProtoShare 3.0
Site9, Inc. annouced the release of ProtoShare 3.0, a web-based collaborative prototyping tool that allows teams to simulate rich Internet functionality in website wireframes and mockups.
Book: New Version of Technical Writing 101
Scriptorium has published just released the third edition of its popular reference, Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Content.
News: Vasont Systems Releases Vasont 12.0
Vasont announced the release of the next major version of their content management system, Vasont 12, that enables users to store multilingual content once for maximum reuse and delivery to multiple channels.
Article: First Look at RoboHelp 8
Matthew Ellison offers a first look at the latest release of RoboHelp 8. The article describes the new features and examines how well they improve Help authoring.
Article: What's New in Captivate 4?
Following the successful and highly-regarded Captivate 3, verion 4 is another strong release from Adobe. In this review, Scott DeLoach describes the new features of Captivate 4.
Thank You to our Seattle Conference Attendees!
The Seventeenth Annual WritersUA Conference for Software User Assistance has concluded. The event took place March 29-April 1 and featured 70 sessions, 50 speakers, 17 exhibitors, 15 Peer Showcase projects, and 7 product demonstrations.
Tools Survey Results Available
The results are available for the 2009 WritersUA User Assistance Tools Survey. The survey is designed to provide our community with a guide to the relative popularity and satisfaction of a number of tools.
Salary Survey Results Available
Check out the results of the WritersUA Salary Survey. The Survey provides a look at the factors that contribute to higher salaries in the software user assistance community.
Interview with Mary Jo Foley
Joe Welinske, President of WritersUA, interviewed journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley about her coverage of Microsoft and the IT industry. Mary Jo was a keynote speaker at the 2009 Conference for Software User Assistance.
Interview with Scott McCloud
Joe Welinske, President of WritersUA, interviewed author and illustrator Scott McCloud about his work with the Google Chrome Comic and visual communication. Scott was the opening speaker for the 2009 Conference for Software User Assistance.
Vendor News
Doc-To-Help Day Registration is Open, MadCap Mimic 3 and Capture 4, MadCap Lingo 2, WebWorks Announces New Renewable License Program, CherryLeaf Benchmarking Survey.
Article - No Fuss Accessibility
This article, by Anthony DaSilva, describes how you can quickly and easily create documents with enhanced accessibility options for vision-impaired users using Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat.
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WritersUA offers cutting-edge training and information to Technical Writers, Information Analysts and Architects, Documentation Designers, Help Authors, Publication Managers, Documentation Leads, Senior Writers and Documentation Contractors, and User Education Specialists. The focus is on software user assistance, which encompasses writing, editing, planning, coding, indexing, testing, programming, localization, and standards development. |
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