RE: Advice on starting out; dealing with employers

[Jimmy Breck-McKye <jb527 -at- hotmail -dot- co -dot- uk>]

In any case, it's a bad idea to double space when writing *content* - better to apply (or remove) at the formatting stage, for certainty and consistency.
Another caveat: if you *must* double space, be aware that some authoring tools disallow it by default. I'm thinking Framemaker and Syntext, here.

> Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:35:33 -0600
> From: lists -at- soph-text -dot- com
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Advice on starting out; dealing with employers
> 
> Chris Morton wrote:
> > [. . .]
> > One tip I'm going to offer right away is to eliminate using two spaces after
> > punctuation in all further communications. Regardless of how you were taught
> > in high school or college, this convention became an anachronism as manual-
> > and non-IBM Selectric typewriters became relegated to The Antiques Road
> > Show.
> >   
> Man, I can't believe that this keeps rearing its ugly head.  I am not 
> going to try to start this same tired old fuss-session up again (well, I 
> guess I am, but only quickly), but other than the result being "pretty" 
> and that it's "just not cricket", do you think there might be another 
> reason why you might want two spaces after a period instead of one?
> 
> I would think that it would depend on your audience and not on your own 
> delicate sense of style.  There are groups of people with learning and 
> reading disabilities (such as dyslexics) that find it difficult to read 
> through or scan a document that looks as if it is rammed altogether.  
> Since many of these people are taught to read patterns, they will look 
> for a larger space between sentences to give them visual cues.
> 
> Also, since the documents we create are suppose to be information tools 
> first and lovingly crafted examples of personal expression second, I 
> would think that we would be willing to over look the desperate need to 
> spend time debating one or two spaces and decide what is best for our 
> end-readers.  If, in your best estimates, you are in a domain that 
> "would probably not have too many people who struggle to read", then one 
> space would be just fine.
> 
> It can also be argued that a work of fiction, which IS art (for the most 
> part), should have one space, because two spaces breaks up the aesthetic 
> of the page, but I don't think that we intentionally write fiction.
> 
> Just sayin'
> 
> -- 
> Carter Campbell
> Technical Communications
> lists -at- soph-text -dot- com
> Calgary Alberta
> 
> > On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Joan Wamiti <jwamiti -at- breakeveninc -dot- com>wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> Hey All,
> >>
> >> I'm new here, both to the list and to technical writing.  I've been lurking
> >> for a few weeks, browsing the archives and reading the daily digests with
> >> interest.
> >>
> >> Some background:  I've just been hired by a tiny software/consulting firm
> >> as
> >> a Business Analyst.  However, since I have a little experience with
> >> writing,
> >> they'd also like me to be responsible for their documentation needs -
> >> mainly
> >> a help guide/wiki for the software that our clients use.  There's also talk
> >> of a blog...
> >>
> >> My undergrad was a combination of Math and Economics, and my writing
> >> experience comes from writing personal projects and working as a
> >> copy-editor
> >> for the on-campus newspaper.  Technical/scientific writing is something
> >> that
> >> I've been interested in for a long time, and I've done some investigation
> >> into courses/online resources.
> >>
> >> Questions:
> >> 1.  What are some good basic resources for someone just starting out?  I
> >> was
> >> thinking about a dictionary and a technical style guide (I'm used to using
> >> a
> >> journalism one), but I feel like I need more information specific to
> >> writing
> >> user guides.  I'm ok on the language front, but I'm at a loss when it comes
> >> to file formats, document layout etc.  Right now I'm writing everything up
> >> in Word 2010, then emailing it to my boss, who inserts screenshots and
> >> converts it to pdf.  In reading some of these threads, it's pretty clear
> >> that I have a lot to learn, but I don't want to overwhelm myself with
> >> unnecessary information.
> >>
> >> 2.  What should I keep in mind when dealing with my employer?  My bosses
> >> have technical backgrounds and only have the haziest idea of what their
> >> requirements are - they want a wiki, client-specific help guides, and a
> >> blog.  They have no idea of what a style guide is or why anyone would need
> >> one.  I feel like I come off sounding fussy and pedantic about getting
> >> documentation right, but I want to do a really good job with it, even if
> >> I'm
> >> just a beginner.  I've clarified who my primary audience is (the end-user)
> >> and the blog isn't a priority right now.
> >>
> >> 3.  Credit/attribution - how do I address this with my employer?  I've
> >> already written up some user documentation for clients.  I'd like to be
> >> able
> >> to use some of what I've done for a portfolio, but I'm dealing with a lot
> >> of
> >> proprietary information, some of which I can't just scrub/block out
> >> (describing processes etc.).  I've only started working for this company
> >> and
> >> I'm hesitant to bring this up right away, but I don't want this to become a
> >> problem later on.  I know I could save all my work for a portfolio and use
> >> it anyway, but I'd rather have permission.
> >>
> >> 4.  How do I deal with previous documentation?  There's already some
> >> existing documentation that I'm expected to review (and most probably
> >> revise).  Some of it is inconsistent, jargon-filled and unclear, and
> >> there's
> >> a lot of Power Point presentation style to it (lots of unneeded bullet
> >> points and sentence fragments).  I don't lie when the previous writer asks
> >> me about it - I do my best to be tactful with questions/comments since the
> >> person who wrote it is my boss, but he doesn't seem to think that the
> >> inconsistencies/lack of clarity matter.  What's a good way of showing him
> >> the importance of documentation?
> >>
> >> These are the main issues I've been thinking about.  I'd appreciate it if
> >> you could let me know if I'm on the right track, or if there's anything
> >> else
> >> I should think about.
> >>
> >> Oh, and this is supposed to comprise a fraction of my normal duties.
> >>
> >> Joan
> >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >>
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