Our Adobe RoboHelp Server legacy
Something strange has started happening recently. People are interested in how our users use our help. What’s more, we’ve been able to answer most of their queries! What’s going on?
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Truly talented Technical Communicators
A recent tweet from Rachel Potts (@Citipotts) advertised her undoubted talent at word carving. The intricacy of the tree branches is something to behold. Rachel is rightfully proud of the results. This got me to thinking of the talents of my fellow professionals away from their day job. Rhonda Bracey (@cybertext) is well known for her quilt making. RJ Jacquez (@rjacquez) turns wood for a “hobby” and also makes some money from it.
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Dialog fails grammar test
Earlier today I had to install a Windows application. It all installed perfectly without any issues, but this dialog displayed whilst the application configured my PC annoyed me. OK I know this makes me VERY sad, but saying I had to wait for “1 minutes” just isn’t good enough. It is tardy, lazy and unprofessional.
According to Mark Southee (@marksou) this is because “minutes” is a string. As such the dialog can not differentiate between a string value that is 1 or more than 1. It is this reason he always uses a percentage calculator to indicate progress.
I know that the algorithm used in any progress bar is open to interpretation but I have to agree with him. What do you think?
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A useful RoboHelp option? Yes but…
There is no feeling quite like it. A new version of your favorite application has been released. When you open it for the first time, a shiver of excitement is sent through your body. You’ve a hunger to see what is inside the cover and an anticipation to discover whether all that marketing hype is warranted. The trouble is if you are like me, before long you’ve messed around with the settings so much that it bares little resemblance to its pre-RoboColumned state. Thank goodness for that “Restore Factory Settings” option. Right?
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The lessons of Encyclopedia Britannica for technical communication
The announcement this week that Encyclopedia Britannica are ceasing production of a printed version is a sad day. Those of us who remember as children pulling a volume off the bookshelf to spend many hours flicking through their pages look back on this brand with much empathy. However even online they still are highly educational to an inquisitive mind. As a company they’ve had to move with the times. The move to CD-Rom and then online output was inevitable. It also offers a cold, hard lesson for the technical communication industry.
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