A comma is a wonderful thing when used properly. It helps us organize the content, absorb it easily, and retain it longer. Look at the way commas are used in the previous sentence, for example. Commas are great to separate the members of a list.
But sometimes commas are used incorrectly. That's when they end up confusing the readers rather than helping them.
Here are 7 rules of about using a comma correctly:
1) Don't use a comma between a SUBJECT and its related VERB.
Incorrect: The configuration settings of this access unit, may create a problem during an emergency. Correct: The configuration settings of this access unit may create a problem during an emergency.
2) Don't use a comma before the first item in a list.
Incorrect: My most favorite subjects are, math, biology and physics. Correct: My most favorite subjects are math, biology and physics.
3) Don't use a comma after the last item in a list.
Incorrect: You have to shut down the valves, the pipes, and the inlet regulator, before you leave the building. Correct: You have to shut down the valves, the pipes, and the inlet regulator before you leave the building.
4) Don't use a comma after an "and," "but," "except," or other similar conjunctive words.
Incorrect: The economy has tanked but, we'll survive. Correct: The economy has tanked but we'll survive.
Incorrect: We need to replace both the transistors and, the capacitors. Correct: We need to replace both the transistors and the capacitors.
5) Don't use a comma after a VERB and its related OBJECT. If an action is doing something to an object, do not place a comma between the ACTION and its OBJECT.
Incorrect: Unit testing has revealed, that we need to redesign the motherboard. Correct: Unit testing has revealed that we need to redesign the motherboard.
6) Don't use a comma before a prepositional phrase.
Incorrect: This use guide really benefited, from your constructive feedback. Correct: This use guide really benefited from your constructive feedback.
7) Don't use a comma between the clauses of a compound sentence.
Incorrect: The project manager approved the documentation plan, and authorized the technical writers to start the first draft. Correct: The project manager approved the documentation plan and authorized the technical writers to start the first draft.
ASSIGNMENT:
What do you think about the following sentences? Are the commas used correctly? How would you correct them?
a) "While generating the Tracker Report, inappropriate filters were used." b) "The employees will be rewarded on the basis of their, seniority, performance, and, attendance." c) "Find and replace all such terms before spell-checking editing and, rewriting your document."
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?" You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit us now.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Technical Writing - How to Use Semicolons Correctly in Your Technical Documents?
A technical writer should use semicolons in a sentence to separate either closely related complete sentences or independent clauses that can actually be transformed into independent sentences.
Semicolons are great to separate the elements in a list that include both names and titles or attributes as well.
Here are some examples:
"Occasionally, a declaration is so long that it requires a size-A text box; text editing is of course another solution to the problem."
"The visitors cannot enter the site after sunset; the guards won't allow that."
"Waiting for the auction was a Picasso, valued at $23 million; a Pollock, appraised for $13 million; and a magnificent Van Gogh, previously sold to a Japanese banker for $90 million."
"Our team will deliver the first draft on January 10th as promised; notification of the review team for a quick turn-around time is appreciated."
"The sign said "Don't Stop Under Any Circumstances"; so we didn't." [NOTE that the semicolon follows the second quotation mark. A comma, on the other hand, would be INSIDE the second quotation mark.]
"The Index is not constructed carefully; therefore you need to write it again."
ASSIGNMENT:
What do you think about the following sentences? Are the semicolons used correctly or are they missing? How would you correct them?
a) "On the way to California we stopped at Boston, Massachusetts, Cleveland, Ohio, Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Kansas."
b) "Violation of traffic laws is an abomination it causes many deaths every year."
c) "The regression test revealed the weakness of the software that's why we hired a new coordination manager."
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Semicolons are great to separate the elements in a list that include both names and titles or attributes as well.
Here are some examples:
"Occasionally, a declaration is so long that it requires a size-A text box; text editing is of course another solution to the problem."
"The visitors cannot enter the site after sunset; the guards won't allow that."
"Waiting for the auction was a Picasso, valued at $23 million; a Pollock, appraised for $13 million; and a magnificent Van Gogh, previously sold to a Japanese banker for $90 million."
"Our team will deliver the first draft on January 10th as promised; notification of the review team for a quick turn-around time is appreciated."
"The sign said "Don't Stop Under Any Circumstances"; so we didn't." [NOTE that the semicolon follows the second quotation mark. A comma, on the other hand, would be INSIDE the second quotation mark.]
"The Index is not constructed carefully; therefore you need to write it again."
ASSIGNMENT:
What do you think about the following sentences? Are the semicolons used correctly or are they missing? How would you correct them?
a) "On the way to California we stopped at Boston, Massachusetts, Cleveland, Ohio, Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Kansas."
b) "Violation of traffic laws is an abomination it causes many deaths every year."
c) "The regression test revealed the weakness of the software that's why we hired a new coordination manager."
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Technical Writing Programs - Sacramento State Technical Writing Certificate Program
You do not necessarily need a certificate to find a job as a technical writer. However such a certificate of course never hurts; it only helps, especially if you're new to the business.
There are dozens of colleges across the United States that offer such a certificate. Sacramento State College of Continuing Education in California is one of them.
Did you know that "technical writing and communication is one of the ten fastest growing fields both in the Sacramento area and the nation," and that the "salary estimates for the Sacramento region range from entry-level positions at $40,000-$45,000 to $75,000+ for publication managers"?
The students enrolled in the Sacramento certificate program are required to take seven online courses, plus a Final Project:
1. Introduction to the Technical Writing Certificate Program 2. Principles of Usability 3. Project Communication 4. Project Planning and Research 5. Technical Concepts and Tools 6. Technical Writing and Editing 7. Writing for the Web 8. Final Project
The course are prepared with the participation of the Sacramento chapter of the Society of Technical Communication (STC). The STC-member students get 10% discount.
An up-close look at some of the courses tells me that this program indeed teaches skills that are immediately applicable in real-world technical communication situations.
For example, let's take the course "Technical Concepts and Tools" and look at it's course description:
"Learn about network protocol, database interface, programming languages and program logic constraints. Gain experience with desktop publishing applications and evaluating graphical user interface tools."
This is a two-for-one kind of class. You not only learn the basic terminology of a hi-tech software and networking environment but also learn about DTP applications and related tools. There's lots of practical hands-on value built in right there.
If you live close to Sacramento this is one qualified program you might want to inquire for more information.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
There are dozens of colleges across the United States that offer such a certificate. Sacramento State College of Continuing Education in California is one of them.
Did you know that "technical writing and communication is one of the ten fastest growing fields both in the Sacramento area and the nation," and that the "salary estimates for the Sacramento region range from entry-level positions at $40,000-$45,000 to $75,000+ for publication managers"?
The students enrolled in the Sacramento certificate program are required to take seven online courses, plus a Final Project:
1. Introduction to the Technical Writing Certificate Program 2. Principles of Usability 3. Project Communication 4. Project Planning and Research 5. Technical Concepts and Tools 6. Technical Writing and Editing 7. Writing for the Web 8. Final Project
The course are prepared with the participation of the Sacramento chapter of the Society of Technical Communication (STC). The STC-member students get 10% discount.
An up-close look at some of the courses tells me that this program indeed teaches skills that are immediately applicable in real-world technical communication situations.
For example, let's take the course "Technical Concepts and Tools" and look at it's course description:
"Learn about network protocol, database interface, programming languages and program logic constraints. Gain experience with desktop publishing applications and evaluating graphical user interface tools."
This is a two-for-one kind of class. You not only learn the basic terminology of a hi-tech software and networking environment but also learn about DTP applications and related tools. There's lots of practical hands-on value built in right there.
If you live close to Sacramento this is one qualified program you might want to inquire for more information.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Technical Writing - How to Use the PDF Format Correctly For Print and Online Publications?
PDF (which stands for "Portable Document Format") is one of the most widely used document formats in technical writing.
PDF rose out of a real need to read documents created by proprietary software on all kinds of different operating systems and browsers. An advertisement illustration created by Illustrator could not be viewed by the receiver if she also did not have a copy of the Illustrator installed on her machine.
All that difficulties ended with the invention of the miraculous PDF format. When a document or image is converted into PDF it becomes rock solid since its look does not change when transmitted from one machine to another. It also becomes 100% accessible since any machine that has the free Adobe Acrobat PDF Viewer can view it the way it was intended to be viewed by its author.
The difficulty, however, emerges when a PDF document, which is basically a "book" made up of "pages," is uploaded to a web site. A computer monitor usually has a landscape orientation whereas a "page" has a portrait orientation. This means usually the whole PDF page cannot fit into a single screen and the user is forced to scroll the page down to read all of it.
What's worse, if the page layout has more than one columns, then the user first scrolls down to read the rest of the first column; then scrolls up to the top of the second column; and scrolls down one more time to read the rest of the second column; and this up-and-down scrolling motion continues throughout the document. Imagine the extra effort required to read a single page on the monitor if a PDF document has THREE columns per page!
Thus it makes eminent sense to design your PDF documents with the final display mode in mind.
If the document is meant to be printed and read afterwards, the classical "page" metaphor and design serves well. But if the document is meant to be read online on a monitor, then you need to reduce the number of words on the single-column page so that it will fit into a single 15" screen. That would eliminate the vexing need to scroll up and down the page to read the content.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
PDF rose out of a real need to read documents created by proprietary software on all kinds of different operating systems and browsers. An advertisement illustration created by Illustrator could not be viewed by the receiver if she also did not have a copy of the Illustrator installed on her machine.
All that difficulties ended with the invention of the miraculous PDF format. When a document or image is converted into PDF it becomes rock solid since its look does not change when transmitted from one machine to another. It also becomes 100% accessible since any machine that has the free Adobe Acrobat PDF Viewer can view it the way it was intended to be viewed by its author.
The difficulty, however, emerges when a PDF document, which is basically a "book" made up of "pages," is uploaded to a web site. A computer monitor usually has a landscape orientation whereas a "page" has a portrait orientation. This means usually the whole PDF page cannot fit into a single screen and the user is forced to scroll the page down to read all of it.
What's worse, if the page layout has more than one columns, then the user first scrolls down to read the rest of the first column; then scrolls up to the top of the second column; and scrolls down one more time to read the rest of the second column; and this up-and-down scrolling motion continues throughout the document. Imagine the extra effort required to read a single page on the monitor if a PDF document has THREE columns per page!
Thus it makes eminent sense to design your PDF documents with the final display mode in mind.
If the document is meant to be printed and read afterwards, the classical "page" metaphor and design serves well. But if the document is meant to be read online on a monitor, then you need to reduce the number of words on the single-column page so that it will fit into a single 15" screen. That would eliminate the vexing need to scroll up and down the page to read the content.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Technical Writing - The Overlap Between Print and Online Documentation Formats
Technical writing has used the "book" metaphor for a very long time. Basically, we technical writers create "books" made up of individual "pages," whether they are ever printed or not.
But that metaphor has come under a lot of fire with the rise of the Internet and prevalence of online information. Both technically and semantically it started to make less sense to talk about a "book." The new concept that serves the need of the age of globalization is the "topic" and not the "book."
Technically, as more and more documents are distributed electronically and posted as PDF files all over the Internet, the limitations of the "book" format became obvious.
The book metaphor is built on "pages" which do not fit comfortably into the computer screens. PDF pages usually have vertical (Portrait) orientation, whereas the computer screens usually have a horizontal (Landscape) orientation. This causes the bottom half of most PDF pages becoming invisible when viewed online. Users started to scroll up and down to read the pages, especially for multi-column layouts. That's why a technical writer should be aware of this "bleed," this overlap between the two media and design his or her documents in a way that would be easy to read both when printed and when viewed on a computer screen.
And from a semantic point of view the old "book" metaphor is brought under pressure as well since the modern user does not have the time to "read a book." He or she just wants to access the information when needed, and right away.
Most of the time the user is looking for information on a specific "topic." That's why there is a strong preference to click and directly go to a specific topic rather than download a hundred page PDF "book" and then search for that specific topic inside the book. That's why topic-based writing is fast becoming a fundamental principle of "single-sourcing," which we have covered in another article. The technical writers of the future will no doubt be at home with such short topic-based writing and single-screen information layouts.
Simply put, the technical communicator of the future will create and design information with the awareness that the separation between the "print" and "online" formats is a thing of the past since the users of the global age switch back and forth between those formats frequently, without thinking twice.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
But that metaphor has come under a lot of fire with the rise of the Internet and prevalence of online information. Both technically and semantically it started to make less sense to talk about a "book." The new concept that serves the need of the age of globalization is the "topic" and not the "book."
Technically, as more and more documents are distributed electronically and posted as PDF files all over the Internet, the limitations of the "book" format became obvious.
The book metaphor is built on "pages" which do not fit comfortably into the computer screens. PDF pages usually have vertical (Portrait) orientation, whereas the computer screens usually have a horizontal (Landscape) orientation. This causes the bottom half of most PDF pages becoming invisible when viewed online. Users started to scroll up and down to read the pages, especially for multi-column layouts. That's why a technical writer should be aware of this "bleed," this overlap between the two media and design his or her documents in a way that would be easy to read both when printed and when viewed on a computer screen.
And from a semantic point of view the old "book" metaphor is brought under pressure as well since the modern user does not have the time to "read a book." He or she just wants to access the information when needed, and right away.
Most of the time the user is looking for information on a specific "topic." That's why there is a strong preference to click and directly go to a specific topic rather than download a hundred page PDF "book" and then search for that specific topic inside the book. That's why topic-based writing is fast becoming a fundamental principle of "single-sourcing," which we have covered in another article. The technical writers of the future will no doubt be at home with such short topic-based writing and single-screen information layouts.
Simply put, the technical communicator of the future will create and design information with the awareness that the separation between the "print" and "online" formats is a thing of the past since the users of the global age switch back and forth between those formats frequently, without thinking twice.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
How High School and College Students Should Prepare For a Career in Technical Writing?
Are you a high school student planning to become a technical writer? Then first of all pay attention to your science classes. Work as hard as you can on your math, physics, chemistry, computer, biology/life science classes since you need to have good foundation in those subjects.
Secondly, learn your English and composition well. Writing in a clear language and the ability to express complex topics in a simple manner is a must for a technical writer. Creative writing may seem like something that has nothing to do with technical writing. But take a class or two in creative writing since it will help you organize your thoughts and teach you how to express them in an effective manner.
Once you graduate from high school, the obvious choice should be to attend a college with a four year technical writing curriculum and B.A. program. The Oklahoma State University immediately comes to mind which has an M.A. and Ph.D. program in technical writing as well. But there are others as well. Just search for them on the Internet with the keywords "Bachelors in technical writing."
But if a 4-year program is not possible, you may trying enrolling for a 2- or 4-year science degree and enroll in a "Technical Writing Certificate Program" on the side. Some students enroll in English department and go for a B.A. in English with specialization in Technical Writing, which is also an excellent career choice. Whether you enroll in a physical science, English, journalism, mass communications, or social science department, make sure you get enough electives in math, science and computer engineering to learn the basic bed-rock scientific principles, concepts, and terminology. They'll come in very handy in the later years when you start writing technical documents.
Once you graduate from college with a Bachelor's or two-year Associate degree, you can always enhance your skills through graduate-level certificate programs, online correspondence courses and individual tutoring. For a technical writer learning never stops.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Secondly, learn your English and composition well. Writing in a clear language and the ability to express complex topics in a simple manner is a must for a technical writer. Creative writing may seem like something that has nothing to do with technical writing. But take a class or two in creative writing since it will help you organize your thoughts and teach you how to express them in an effective manner.
Once you graduate from high school, the obvious choice should be to attend a college with a four year technical writing curriculum and B.A. program. The Oklahoma State University immediately comes to mind which has an M.A. and Ph.D. program in technical writing as well. But there are others as well. Just search for them on the Internet with the keywords "Bachelors in technical writing."
But if a 4-year program is not possible, you may trying enrolling for a 2- or 4-year science degree and enroll in a "Technical Writing Certificate Program" on the side. Some students enroll in English department and go for a B.A. in English with specialization in Technical Writing, which is also an excellent career choice. Whether you enroll in a physical science, English, journalism, mass communications, or social science department, make sure you get enough electives in math, science and computer engineering to learn the basic bed-rock scientific principles, concepts, and terminology. They'll come in very handy in the later years when you start writing technical documents.
Once you graduate from college with a Bachelor's or two-year Associate degree, you can always enhance your skills through graduate-level certificate programs, online correspondence courses and individual tutoring. For a technical writer learning never stops.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Technical Writing - A Checklist For a Software Document Writing Project
Here is a general check list that you might find useful to make sure your software documentation project does not miss anything:
-Do you have access to the software project's Scope Document? -Do you have access to the functional and marketing specs of the software project? -Have you written a Documentation Plan for this project? -Is your Documentation Plan approved by the client or the authorized project manager? -Do you know who will review the document? -
Do you have an approved Template for this project? -Do you know where you'll get your image and/or multi-media files from? -Do you have an official Style Guideline that you'll follow? -Will there be any single-sourced collaterals (like a help file, or a different-sized version of the same document) compiled from the same source file? -Will you need any hardware to complete the project? -Will you need to travel to other locations to gather information for the project? -
Will you need to interview any Subject Matter Experts to complete the project? -Will you need to participate in or arrange any teleconferences or webinars to gather information or report about the project? -What version management platform will you use for document version control? (MS SourceSafe? Agile?) -How will you backup your files? -Will you write the document alone or will there be other technical writers on the project? -Will there be any in-house peer review required before you submit the document to official management review? -Will the end product be localized and translated to other languages? -Do you need to follow any special guidelines for localization? -Will you have any access to a tracker system to incorporate the results of bug reports? -Will you need to compile any training materials/sets from the source files?
If you take the necessary measures and precautions ahead of time depending on the answers to these questions you'll have a more successful documentation performance.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
-Do you have access to the software project's Scope Document? -Do you have access to the functional and marketing specs of the software project? -Have you written a Documentation Plan for this project? -Is your Documentation Plan approved by the client or the authorized project manager? -Do you know who will review the document? -
Do you have an approved Template for this project? -Do you know where you'll get your image and/or multi-media files from? -Do you have an official Style Guideline that you'll follow? -Will there be any single-sourced collaterals (like a help file, or a different-sized version of the same document) compiled from the same source file? -Will you need any hardware to complete the project? -Will you need to travel to other locations to gather information for the project? -
Will you need to interview any Subject Matter Experts to complete the project? -Will you need to participate in or arrange any teleconferences or webinars to gather information or report about the project? -What version management platform will you use for document version control? (MS SourceSafe? Agile?) -How will you backup your files? -Will you write the document alone or will there be other technical writers on the project? -Will there be any in-house peer review required before you submit the document to official management review? -Will the end product be localized and translated to other languages? -Do you need to follow any special guidelines for localization? -Will you have any access to a tracker system to incorporate the results of bug reports? -Will you need to compile any training materials/sets from the source files?
If you take the necessary measures and precautions ahead of time depending on the answers to these questions you'll have a more successful documentation performance.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
Technical Writing - How Wikis Will Transform Technical Writers Into Information Coordinators?
Here is a typical situation that is repeated on a daily basis in many hi-tech companies around the world:
You are a technical writer who authored all kinds of user documentation for this product or service. Let's call it "ABC" for short.
The ABC is such a product that it is installed and configured in a number of different ways by the end users. Let's say your company sells security gadgets, just to give an example. The end users constantly find out new features, and perhaps even bugs, let's say, while regularly demanding new features be made available in the next model.
So this is a situation in which there is a regular flow of information from the customer base. But it is first filtered through the marketing and sales department. Then some of the information is passed along to the project management back at the company headquarters. Then, again some of that information is passed along to the product management. And at the very end, you as technical writer learn about what works and what doesn't about the product, and what needs to be updated in your documentation.
There is an inevitable time delay and content loss in this step-by-step process as the information is passed from one level up to another, depending on priorities, time and resources.
This classic hierarchical model of information flow might be necessary in some industries. If, for example, you're manufacturing baby food, you might want to make sure that as many decision-making levels as possible are involved in the information flow and in a sequential manner before you make any changes to your documentation.
But in some other industries time is of the essence. The faster you get customer feedback, and faster you get it cleared through the management, the quicker you can update your documents and thus serve the customer base better.
In such cases a wiki could be what the doctor ordered for. In such a hypothetical situation the customers can directly enter their suggestions, comments, issues etc. into a wiki site. The information can be channeled instantly to all those authorized to receive it. If you are on that list, you can immediately start working on the updates and generate your new drafts much faster.
That's why I believe in the near future, as wikis become more prevalent, the technical writers of today will emerge as the indispensable information coordinators of tomorrow. Get ready for your future. Learn as much as possible about wikis.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
You are a technical writer who authored all kinds of user documentation for this product or service. Let's call it "ABC" for short.
The ABC is such a product that it is installed and configured in a number of different ways by the end users. Let's say your company sells security gadgets, just to give an example. The end users constantly find out new features, and perhaps even bugs, let's say, while regularly demanding new features be made available in the next model.
So this is a situation in which there is a regular flow of information from the customer base. But it is first filtered through the marketing and sales department. Then some of the information is passed along to the project management back at the company headquarters. Then, again some of that information is passed along to the product management. And at the very end, you as technical writer learn about what works and what doesn't about the product, and what needs to be updated in your documentation.
There is an inevitable time delay and content loss in this step-by-step process as the information is passed from one level up to another, depending on priorities, time and resources.
This classic hierarchical model of information flow might be necessary in some industries. If, for example, you're manufacturing baby food, you might want to make sure that as many decision-making levels as possible are involved in the information flow and in a sequential manner before you make any changes to your documentation.
But in some other industries time is of the essence. The faster you get customer feedback, and faster you get it cleared through the management, the quicker you can update your documents and thus serve the customer base better.
In such cases a wiki could be what the doctor ordered for. In such a hypothetical situation the customers can directly enter their suggestions, comments, issues etc. into a wiki site. The information can be channeled instantly to all those authorized to receive it. If you are on that list, you can immediately start working on the updates and generate your new drafts much faster.
That's why I believe in the near future, as wikis become more prevalent, the technical writers of today will emerge as the indispensable information coordinators of tomorrow. Get ready for your future. Learn as much as possible about wikis.
If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ugur_Akinci
2 Features That Technical Writing Shares With Copywriting and 2 Others That it Does Not
Ugur Akinci
Technical writing is different from copywriting but then there are things shared by both as well.
For example:
1) Both types of writing need to be SPECIFIC. Here are examples to both:
Bad (not specific) copywriting: "Buy this Book and Make Money!"
Good (specific) copywriting: "Buy this Book and Make $3,785 within the next 14 days!"
Bad (not specific) technical writing: "Turn up the voltage regulator knob."
Good (specific) technical writing: "Turn the voltage regulator knob clockwise for two notches."
2) Both types of writing need to be USEFUL.
Bad (not useful) copywriting: "Real estate investment is a good choice."
Good (useful) copywriting: "With ProInvest software you can track all your real estate investments and get alert emails when your annual ROI falls below ten percent."
Bad (not useful) technical writing: "Assemble your Communication Kit before using it."
Good (useful) technical writing: "Assemble your Communication Kit by warming up your solder iron at least 5 minutes in advance and using all the parts in Module K BEFORE unpacking Module R. Skip Module RR altogether if you've bought the Global Navigator Model."
However, here are the 2 differences between the two:1) Copywriting needs to argue a UNIQUE benefit that cannot be found anywhere else. Technical writing, as long as it is correct, does not need to have any claims to uniqueness.
Bad (not unique) copywriting: "Let's show you how you can advertise by using Google AdSense."
Good (unique) copywriting: "This is the only course available which shows how you can use Google AdSense by auto-customizing the ads according to the profile of incoming traffic." [This claim is just a fictitious example provided for illustration purposes.]
Good (not unique) technical writing: "Enter your User ID and Password into the Login field."
Good (unique) technical writing: "Enter your User ID and Password into the Login field on the upper left corner of Cardio-Synthesizer's Master Configuration screen."
2) Copywriting needs to have a sense of URGENCY in order to SELL products. Technical writing should never try to sell anything and should never push the user towards any consumer behavior.
Bad (not urgent) copywriting: "Buy MegaChef Tomato Chopper."
Good (urgent) copywriting: "Buy MegaChef Tomato Chopper TODAY and not only we'll take 30% off the selling price but we'll also include a 3-piece Knife Set for you as a bonus. Limited quantities available ONLY TODAY!"
Bad (urgent) technical writing: "Check the System Status IMMEDIATELY and Connect Wire A to Wire B right away NOW!"
Good (not urgent) technical writing: "Check the System Status and make sure it is in GREEN state BEFORE you connect Wire A to Wire B since the Central Processor may burn if the System Status is not in GREEN."
If you are interested to read more about technical writing as a career and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Technical writing is different from copywriting but then there are things shared by both as well.
For example:
1) Both types of writing need to be SPECIFIC. Here are examples to both:
Bad (not specific) copywriting: "Buy this Book and Make Money!"
Good (specific) copywriting: "Buy this Book and Make $3,785 within the next 14 days!"
Bad (not specific) technical writing: "Turn up the voltage regulator knob."
Good (specific) technical writing: "Turn the voltage regulator knob clockwise for two notches."
2) Both types of writing need to be USEFUL.
Bad (not useful) copywriting: "Real estate investment is a good choice."
Good (useful) copywriting: "With ProInvest software you can track all your real estate investments and get alert emails when your annual ROI falls below ten percent."
Bad (not useful) technical writing: "Assemble your Communication Kit before using it."
Good (useful) technical writing: "Assemble your Communication Kit by warming up your solder iron at least 5 minutes in advance and using all the parts in Module K BEFORE unpacking Module R. Skip Module RR altogether if you've bought the Global Navigator Model."
However, here are the 2 differences between the two:1) Copywriting needs to argue a UNIQUE benefit that cannot be found anywhere else. Technical writing, as long as it is correct, does not need to have any claims to uniqueness.
Bad (not unique) copywriting: "Let's show you how you can advertise by using Google AdSense."
Good (unique) copywriting: "This is the only course available which shows how you can use Google AdSense by auto-customizing the ads according to the profile of incoming traffic." [This claim is just a fictitious example provided for illustration purposes.]
Good (not unique) technical writing: "Enter your User ID and Password into the Login field."
Good (unique) technical writing: "Enter your User ID and Password into the Login field on the upper left corner of Cardio-Synthesizer's Master Configuration screen."
2) Copywriting needs to have a sense of URGENCY in order to SELL products. Technical writing should never try to sell anything and should never push the user towards any consumer behavior.
Bad (not urgent) copywriting: "Buy MegaChef Tomato Chopper."
Good (urgent) copywriting: "Buy MegaChef Tomato Chopper TODAY and not only we'll take 30% off the selling price but we'll also include a 3-piece Knife Set for you as a bonus. Limited quantities available ONLY TODAY!"
Bad (urgent) technical writing: "Check the System Status IMMEDIATELY and Connect Wire A to Wire B right away NOW!"
Good (not urgent) technical writing: "Check the System Status and make sure it is in GREEN state BEFORE you connect Wire A to Wire B since the Central Processor may burn if the System Status is not in GREEN."
If you are interested to read more about technical writing as a career and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"
Friday, January 2, 2009
Writing Tips- How to Create Powerful Headlines For Your Online Business Opportunity Article
By Juhani Tontti
So the job of the headline is to be a short ad of the article, to draw the readers attraction and to be search engine friendly, i.e. keyword optimized. This means that the writer must plan it before writing.
My opinion is that the headline for your legitimate online business article should be teasing, i.e. it should tell something, a little bit, from the content and to make your imagination to work. Additionally it should be according to your online business opportunity strategy building the brand.
When you plan your article about online home based business opportunity, you should actually plan all elements of the process at the same time, title, teaser, body, Bio Box and the job of the landing page. So the idea is not that the reader just reads the article but very obviously that he will click the link in the Bio Box.
The article and the landing page form a process, where every element has a specific job. In a way your online business opportunity article draws enthusiastic visitors to your landing page in a good state of mind, waiting for more useful things for them. In this process the article headline is the starting point, like a hook, which has a very special job to do.
If you think the headline of your online business opportunity standing alone in the long list of some article directory, you can easily imagine how demanding job it has. It has to separate itself, to be able to stand out from the crowd, or otherwise it does not work.
There are some small things, which work and are important for your online home business title. Numbers work well, especially odd numbers like 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11.
They give an impression that the article has a very researched content. I think this comes from the fact that people like to count and that they also like that the content is structured.
There are also some words and terms, which are proven successes in the title. Words like amazing, system, method, tested, excellent, for instance, work well. On the other hand, certain terms and words push the readers away, they are somehow threatening.
As you know, the online business opportunity marketing is driven by the keywords. Keywords are the terms with which people search information from the search engines and along which the search engines put the information into a certain order on their result pages.
So these keywords should be the writers’ friends too, because they will help both the readers and the search engines. Now the writer must pick one keyword, rather long tail one, for his article and for the title too.
This keyword, or search term, should be very describing, i.e. to tell the topic of the article. We can say that the more you use long tail search terms, which match your article topics, the better results you will get.
Your main keyword should be in the title, teaser, body and the Bio Box in a hyperlink. This Bio Box is very important, I would say second most important place in your article, because it works as an short text ad, which has to draw the reader to the landing page.
As said earlier, what the headline has started must go on the landing page, where you have to call the reader into action. But the headline must not promise anything the landing page cannot fulfill; otherwise you will get depressed visitors.
As a summary, if you think your headline like it would be a TV ad, a short 15 second TV spot and it has to promise something useful to the watcher, you understand the requirements of the title. However to create these titles is fun and very rewarding. And they will build your brand better than anything else.
Writing Tips-Improve Your Online Article Editing Skills For 2009
By Lance Winslow
One area I have to admit and hate to say that I have a weakness in when it comes to the written word is proof reading and editing. I often hear other writers say that, they should spend more time writing, but if they did they wouldn't be able to write as much. True enough and I myself use to say this all the time, it was the way I viewed things, thinking that 80% was good enough, let's start the next article; wrong answer.
Careful editing will make you a better writer as you train yourself not to make mistakes during the process and production of your articles. If you rush your editing you'll be sorry and you will miss mistakes too. In fact, any decent writer will tell you that it is best to look over what you've written twice and then allow someone else to read it also, it's amazing how easy it is to read over your own work and miss blatant errors.
I'd say about 80-90% of the online article authors rely on spell check as their proof reader, but believe me, that's not good enough, not if you are shooting for 99% quality and less than 1% mistake free. If you plan on making it in the online article business be sure to think Six Sigma when writing and editing.
Why isn't Spell Check any good you ask? Well, I did not say it isn't any good, it is plenty good, but it's not good enough, it's just one tool. You can easily use the wrong word in sentence, but the right spelling of the wrong word, spell check will not catch it and even the grammar check misses many things.
So, my weakness is editing, proof reading and perhaps to some degree spelling, which I am constantly improving, but I also know just because I am strong in volume and quantity, does not mean I cannot become more efficient. Remember inefficiency is evil, whether it is in government, business, water usage, energy or in my writing, business or personal life or yours for that matter. One should never stop improving.
Luckily, there are big rewards for the writer who constantly improves, the better you get the more you are needed and the better following you will have. Please consider this, it's pretty serious stuff.
Writing Print Articles VS Writing Online Articles - What Has More Readership?
By Lance Winslow
Many writers realize that when they write an article for the newspaper that more folks real read it right away, especially in larger markets. Of course, the shelf life is about one-day, as opposed to an online article being 24/7 for perhaps years. Still, newspapers get read a lot and even if the reader skips over your article, newspapers have large subscription numbers.
But, let's analyze this for a moment; print VS. online. For instance, I know the circulation of my articles in the Trade Journals ranges from 20,000 to 180,000 and not everyone is going to read every article, but I'd say 85% of the folks scan thru the magazines and read a good portion of the articles, it's my job to make a good article, so they come back and read the next one, and I hope to heaven that the person who writes the title, picks a good one, they do not always follow my suggestions in my submissions. Now with regards to readership.
At one of the top online article submission sites I have 7 million article views and 15,000 articles, and that is only 466 average article views per article. I'd say out of those 65% actually read the article, the rest click out, do not finish it, but hopefully some click to my website.
But, we cannot stop the stats there, because I also have 250,000 article pick-ups and that means I might have 200-400 articles views at each of those too, so, we have to figure in that as well. Plus the link-backs, I have lots of those as well (est. 500,000 plus).
So, if we take your 2,000 article views here and multiply that times 20 re-prints of that article and say 200 articles views on each on 100 articles, all of a sudden the number is no longer 2,000 it is 400,000 you see. We must not forget about that either. If you are a writer with a very good writing style, and can write articles with numbered lists and good information as well, then you can do both online and print and do well at both.
I have witnessed where article authors are bothered by quality issues and time constraints VS other types of writing gigs, I cannot blame them. I think this online article venue is a good bit about attaining targeted traffic. Then it's up to you the writer to turn the traffic or viewer into a customer of some type? Please think on this.
Article Writing Tips - Make Them Feel Something Or You're Doomed
By Steven Wagenheim
Probably one of the worst mistakes any article writer can make is to write in a way where the reader feels absolutely nothing after they are done reading. This is like the kiss of death to any writer. There are many ways to make your reader feel something. This article is going to cover a few of those ways.
One way to make your reader feel something is to take a very strong stance on something. Let's face it, opinionated people usually bring out the emotions in others, especially if those opinions are very strong. Writing about topics that are very controversial, such as abortion, drugs and anything related to sex, usually bring out the emotions in people...especially if you take a stance that isn't very popular. This is almost a sure fire way to light a fire under your readers.
Another way to make your reader feel something is through the compelling and heart warming story. People love to be moved and touched. There are many people out there who love a good cry. The key is knowing who your audience is. For example, if you're writing articles for the Nascar racing crowd, I seriously doubt that these people are in the mood for a good cry. On the other hand, if you're writing articles for cancer survivors, this is a great way to get their attention. You just have to know who your audience is.
Finally, there is humor. Who doesn't like to laugh? Now again, you have to know who your audience is. The cancer survivors might not find much humor in telling jokes related to cancer patients. They might find it in poor taste. On the other hand, the Nascar crowd might be more receptive to humor. And if you're writing for writers, humor could be extremely effective in making them feel something.
Whatever you do, don't be bland. If you write like a wallflower, people might notice you, but they're not going to give you a second glance and it's the last article they're ever going to read that you've written. That translates into a stillborn writing career.
Now if THAT thought doesn't make you feel something...nothing will.
Now go out there and make them feel something...anything.
Writing Tips- 7 Common Mistakes in Article Writing
By Charles Gregory
The most important thing to remember about article marketing is building trust between you and your potential customers. Your primary concern is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche so every word, sentence and paragraph of your articles should subtly communicate this to your readers through quality writing.
Unfortunately, too many authors think it's all right to bang out article after article hoping that quantity will override quality. The opposite is true. If you cannot avoid the following 7 mistakes in your article writing, you will sabotage your own efforts at article marketing.
Article Writing Mistake #1: Poor title
This is your headline and it needs to catch your reader's attention as well as potential publishers. Try to work in keywords but don't overdo it. Of all places, don't misspell or have a grammatical error here as it only makes you look as if you don't care. If that's true, why should readers care to read any more of the article. Make sure the title accurately reflects what the article is about.
Article Writing Mistake #2: Badly written summary
Most article directories allow for a summary of your article but this is not the place to stuff your keywords or repeat a keyword phrase ten times. You would be surprised how many authors think this will help when all it does is get their article immediately rejected. Create a summary that expands upon the title and draws in the reader with a little more information and a possible tease that makes them think, "Yes, I need to read more about this." One to three sentences is all it takes. I tend to write my entire article first before coming back to the summary to make sure it's the best it can be.
Article Writing Mistake #3: Failure to edit
The following was the opening of an article submitted to my site:
"Instantly, let's start at the very starting out, what's the first thing you have to do before starting a..."
The author obviously wants to stress the importance of what is to come but failing to correct this rhetorical abuse through editing defeats the purpose entirely. Remember: First drafts never make good reading. Editing is what makes good writing.
Article Writing Mistake #4: If you hire a ghost writer, check their work
I see way too many articles where a ghost writer is hired and English is not their native language. There's nothing wrong with hiring someone to write articles for you but if you don't review and approve the results, then I have no sympathy for you. Turning over the entire process of writing and submitting articles on your behalf is a sure way to make your company look stupid.
Article Writing Mistake #5: Use the preview button
Article directories don't have any time to format your articles for you. If you can't take the time to properly format your article into paragraphs with spacing, don't count on getting your articles published very much. After pasting your article into the submission form, use the preview button to see if its properly formatted. If not, go back and make the corrections.
Article Writing Mistake #6: Writing in the passive voice
What separates great writing from the rest is writing in the active voice.
Passive: The boy was bitten by the dog.
Active: The dog bit the boy.
Eliminate words such as was, were, been, have, has, and had. Replace them with an active verb or direct voice. Your articles will stand out head and shoulders above the rest if you edit with this in mind.
Article Writing Mistake #7: Failure to deliver
Perhaps the most common, this mistake is surely the deadliest of all. Each part of a submitted article is designed to pull the reader further along a path of information that eventually leads to your website. The title grabs, the summary teases and the article body delivers. But if it doesn't, what makes you think the reader will click for more information? They won't if you fail to deliver on what was promised.
If you ignore the advice given in this article, I can guarantee mediocre results from your article marketing efforts. Will you take this article to heart and eliminate these mistakes from your article submissions? If so, you can be sure that your article marketing will achieve maximum results.
Article Writing Tips - What Successful Article Marketers Know AND Do!
Fabian Tan
Mark A. AbrahamsLevel: PlatinumMark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online....
Most newbies to the world of the article marketing make the cardinal mistake of thinking that anyone who has a website can write articles on their own without the need for any help. While admittedly you do not have to be a literary genius to write articles, reading up on a few article writing tips could make the difference between writing an article that's sizzling hot and an article that's lukewarm to icy cold.
One of the most important article writing tips that you should know is that article writing is not just about telling others what you know. It's about conveying what you know in a manner that's so interesting and entertaining that it has the reader rooted to the spot. It's about piquing the interest of the readers so that they cannot resist the temptation to visit your website to get some more of you. To do this, your articles need to be brimming with character, humor and energy. Lackluster articles that are written in a monotone are a sure recipe for failure even if they provide a wealth of information.
Whether you choose to write your articles keeping in mind article writing tips or whether you decide to write articles with your own rules in mind, it is important to recognize the success or failure of your efforts. If your articles are not driving traffic to your site, you are obviously missing something important and it may be time to hire some outside help. For a fraction of the amount you stand you make, you can get a talented writer to put your ideas across in a way that will fulfill the objective of the article. If you browse the internet you are sure to come across several freelancing sites where you can hire a freelance writer to ghost write fantastic articles for your website.
Clarity and Conciseness - The Keys to Article Writing
Mark A. Abrahams
Writing for the Internet is different from writing a story. The people who are going to be reading your article are going to want an article that is concise and tells them what they want to know. When you are writing for the Internet, there are a few rules of thumb that you should remember in order to keep your articles in giving the readers what they want to read.
One of the things that you should do when you are writing articles for the Internet is to avoid using words that are considered to be 'wimpy'. These words have a wishy-washy sound to them and are ones that make a reader wonder if you really know what you are talking about.
Some of the more common words and phrases that are going to turn people off are the following:
-Kind of or Sort of -Basically -Virtually -Practically
Another mistake that writers make is they include the phrase 'It is my opinion that'. You are the one that is writing the article, so they know that it's your opinion.
When you are writing an article, you want to make sure that your point is clear and that you believe what you are writing. When you show that you know what you are talking about and that you believe in it, your readers are going to be more likely to believe in it and trust you. Making your readers believe what you are saying is the first step in affective article marketing.
Writing Articles For Traffic Tips- But What to Write
By Mark A. Abrahams
Writing articles as informative pieces, as a form of marketing is ineffective way to bring visitors to a web site. When done correctly web owners can see drastic changes in the amount of visitors, sales and general revenue.
While article writing can be done by just about anyone who can type, there are a few things to keep in mind before putting pen to paper. Read on for more information about selecting keywords, usage and how to get the articles to work for a company.
One of the first important steps in the article writing process is to ensure that the writer has the appropriate keywords. Since the keywords are what visitors or potential visitors are keying into the search engine, they must be accurate. There are a number of keywords and key phrases that will lead visitors to a particular products or sites, and the use of them in the article is imperative.
Professionals also tell those writing articles for traffic, to change the key word, its tense and spelling for those that may have entered it into the search engine incorrectly.
How many times the key word is used in the article is also very important. A good example and rule of thumb is between five and twelve keywords for a 400 to 500 word article.
There are many variations and opportunity's for those that use article writing as a marketing method. Creativity, good writing and submitting the articles to databases will also help others find the advertised site.
The use of ad words or advertisements on search engines is also an effective way to build a profitable web site.
Technical Writing Programs- Sacramento State Technical Writing Certificate Program
By Ugur Akinci
You do not necessarily need a certificate to find a job as a technical writer. However such a certificate of course never hurts; it only helps, especially if you're new to the business.
There are dozens of colleges across the United States that offer such a certificate. Sacramento State College of Continuing Education in California is one of them.
Did you know that "technical writing and communication is one of the ten fastest growing fields both in the Sacramento area and the nation," and that the "salary estimates for the Sacramento region range from entry-level positions at $40,000-$45,000 to $75,000+ for publication managers"?
The students enrolled in the Sacramento certificate program are required to take seven online courses, plus a Final Project:
1. Introduction to the Technical Writing Certificate Program 2. Principles of Usability 3. Project Communication 4. Project Planning and Research 5. Technical Concepts and Tools 6. Technical Writing and Editing 7. Writing for the Web 8. Final Project
The course are prepared with the participation of the Sacramento chapter of the Society of Technical Communication (STC). The STC-member students get 10% discount.
An up-close look at some of the courses tells me that this program indeed teaches skills that are immediately applicable in real-world technical communication situations.
For example, let's take the course "Technical Concepts and Tools" and look at it's course description:
"Learn about network protocol, database interface, programming languages and program logic constraints. Gain experience with desktop publishing applications and evaluating graphical user interface tools."
This is a two-for-one kind of class. You not only learn the basic terminology of a hi-tech software and networking environment but also learn about DTP applications and related tools. There's lots of practical hands-on value built in right there.
If you live close to Sacramento this is one qualified program you might want to inquire for more information.
Technical Writing Tips- Separation of "Content" From "Format" With XML in Technical Communication
By Ugur Akinci
Until very recently content of information was always a part of the format in which it was delivered. For over 500 years, for example, a book's content and the way a book looked were one and the same phenomenon. You could not think about a novel without remembering its cover, the fonts used on the page, whether it had pictures and photographs, etc.
That's why, some of the books I used to own as a young man sometimes still creates a wave of nostalgia when I see them on the shelf of a used-book store because the book, its content, its size and binding and dimensions, its front and back covers, the way it looked, and even (yes!) the way it smelled, are all somehow tied together in my mind to the life I had years ago. That's never going to happen with an XML file since its content can be poured into a dozen different formats, each equally valid and appropriate for its own purpose.
Popular word processing programs continued the illusion that content and format were one and the same by hiding the immense formatting that went on behind the scenes. One widely-used office text editor, for example, is so format-heavy that even if you save a totally blank file it still has a file size of over 20K.
Why does that happen? Why a totally blank text file would not measure zero kilobytes in size? Because even a blank document of that famous text editor comes with a lot of "default template" information about what the default page size and orientation should be, which and what size default fonts should be used for default body text and headings, etc.
Distributing content firmly attached to a single format became not only too expensive for mass production and distribution but it ceased being necessary as well. Today with XML (Extended Markup Language) we can separate content from format totally and reassemble it on platforms as different as web sites, mobile phones, PDF documents, e-book readers, catalogs, TTY devices, etc.
Managers love that separation because once a content is written and tagged on a topic-by-topic basis, then it can be reassembled at any permutation by applying different style sheets for different audiences. That drops the cost of production since it eliminates the cost of rewriting while makes the same content available in shapes and forms that could not be made available before.
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