The US Department of Labor has updated the Occupational Labor Handbook (find it at
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm) with new information about the profession. (Bloggers get an explicit mention, which I find interesting.) The Job Outlook information seemed a little conservative, and the Earnings section was a bit lower than I'd have expected, but still within bounds.

by Donn Le Vie, Jr.

Here's the scenario: You're finishing up your latest HTML Help project...no more late nights or weekends...back to a "normal" 50-hour work week. That's when the development team lead strolls into your office and says she just got your manager's okay for you to help the development team "put together the functional requirements specification template for the next major project."

by Deborah S. Ray

Question: I've developed my resume and will also likely be filling out job applications. Should I still take the time to develop a letter of application? And, if so, what should it include?

A letter of application can be an important tool in helping you land an interview--and ultimately, the job you seek. Although resumes and job applications highlight key skills, experience, and education, a letter of application serves other specific purposes:

by Bruce Byfield

Now, I can admit it: I avoided StarOffice, the program that OpenOffice.org is based on, for over seven years. I first heard of StarOffice when the OS/2 version was released in 1995, and I dismissed it as a Microsoft Word clone. My opinion didn't change when I started using Linux and found StarOffice on that platform, nor after Sun Microsystems bought StarOffice in 1999 and made a free download available. Even when Sun announced an open source version of StarOffice in the summer of 2000 and called it OpenOffice.org, I was cynical about the hype--especially when it had no printing function for the first eight months.

Still, when OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) reached version 1.0 in May 2002, I did my journalistic duty and had a look. It wasn't what I expected.

The results of the 2007 WritersUA Salary Survey are now available at the Writers UA site. It's certainly interesting data for anyone in the technical communication field. With over 800 respondents, there's enough data there to be able to draw some conclusions about salaries and how people stack up. See the full scoop at:
http://www.winwriters.com/surveys/salary07/index.html

by Herman Holtz

Some people in the flying business are fond of reminding people that there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. That sounds as though it ought to be true enough in flying, where boldness often winds up in morning headlines, but in the writing biz, many of us can probably do with a bit more boldness. There is an enormous amount of competition for the attention of your intended reader. A bit of boldness in attracting and holding our intended readers' attention can only help, but far too many writers tend to play it safe--or what they think is playing it safe--by writing plain vanilla prose and being as general and vague as possible.

by Michele Marques

As a technical writer, you may be exploring single-sourcing--producing multiple document outputs from a single information source--as a possible option for easing document development and production. Although solutions such as databases, SGML, and XML are available that can enable you to reuse information to produce multiple outputs, single-sourcing doesn't have to involve such complex solutions, expenses, and learning curves. Instead, if your single-sourcing needs are relatively simple, you can effectively single-source using a tool that technical writers commonly have available: FrameMaker.

by Mats Broberg
This article is a description of an XML system for the production of customer documentation. Some time ago, Mats Broberg posted a question to the TECHWR-L email list about XML documentation. In his quest, he found this solution. When he began implementing the system in late 2002, he promised to report back with a detailed description/evaluation in due time, and here it is. Read the article (in PDF format, 560Kb). Used with permission from Technical Communication, the journal of the Society for Technical Communication, Arlington, VA U.S.A.

For your amusement....

The draft returns
On its cover, two words
"Needs work"
The horror, the horror

Young Jedi tech writer
His mind corrupted with unstructured Frame
and the madness of Word
You must unlearn
all you have learned

"Let's take it offline"
the manager sings
We are offline. We are online.
What are we - the Borg?

The marketer says:
"architect our software"
"leverage our knowledge"
"empower our synergy"
Marketers...
Such funny creatures

Auto-numbering in Word
Ah, the sheer joy
It's as easy as
1, 7, 43

XML is simple

The brief review of OpenOffice from Tech News World at is remarkably positive...and makes Open Office sound like it's getting some traction in the community as a whole. Are any technical writers or tech writing departments heading that way?

We know Bruce Byfield is because of his review, but is anyone else?