2018

Southern Communicator

March 2018 ( View as PDF)

• From the editor’s desk Ana Young gives us an outline of what to expect in this issue of Southern Communicator.
• Foreword: I’ve been (design) thinking. Meredith Evans muses on taking a designer approach to technical communication.
• Why do I need a technical writer? Geoff Hart gives three good reasons to employ a technical communicator. He also gives a bench mark to measure ourselves by.
• Sentence structure for writers: understanding weight and clarity. In an extract from his book, Making Sense, acclaimed linguist David Crystal shows how sentence length (and weight) affects writing quality.
• CSS Variables: No, really! Dave Gash, in his inimitable style, shows us how useful CSS variables are, why we should use them and gives us some useful examples.
• Enough to be dangerous: the joy of bad Python. Adam Wood argues that learning to code is the pathway to a more rewarding technical communication career.
• Presto Sketching by Ben Crothers. Book review by Dave Gardiner.
• Which languages are developers planning to learn next?
• Palettes are MadCap Capture's secret weapon. Claire Broadley gives us the lowdown on how she and her team synchronize the appearance of graphics in the various guides they work on.
• Everything you need to know about user guides and manuals. For those new to user guides, Robin Singh gives an outline of the necessary features of user guides and why, today, he thinks that they are more important than ever.
• The 7 habits of highly effective technical communications leaders. Barry Saiff outlines what he thinks are the qualities required to be an effective technical communications leader.