Hyperviews Online

IBM Task Modeler is a tool for rapidly creating and analyzing models of human activity as a hierarchy of tasks and related elements.

An information architect can use Task Modeler to design DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) maps. A usability practitioner can produce either classic HTA (Hierarchical Task Analysis) diagrams or RAG (Roles and Goals) diagrams.

For detailed information about this tool (posted February 9, 2006) visit http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/taskmodeler

Reports prepared by each committee for the May 2006 STC Board meeting are posted for STC members only at http://www.stc.org/stcmembers/commReports01.asp

This year STC has expanded use of the web for communication in many ways. Navigation on the STC website, http://www.stc.org has been improved and the content expanded. An RSS feed is available for news. Minutes of the Board meetings are posted at http://www.stc.org/about/boardMinutes01.asp

We have the STC Forum, http://stcforum.org. Members can also submit questions at Ask STC: http://www.stc.org/FAQ/ask.stc.aspx

Visit the STC website to see other ways communication has expanded and improved this year, and check the report of the Technology Committee to see future plans: http://www.stc.org/stcmembers/commReports01.asp

This is Region 7 Director John Hedtke’s column, reprinted from the April 2006 newsletter of the UK Chapter of STC.

I wasn’t on the Board when the Transformation effort started up, but I have read all the materials and early documents. I found most of them to be dense, confusing, not overly clear, and full of jargon. Frankly, I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for whatever we were doing simply because it wasn’t being explained very well. However, in the last year, I’ve been able to find out a lot more about the Transformation. In this month’s column, I’m going to give you a quick look at what’s been happening with Transformation and why it’s so cool. (more…)

The April, 2006 issue of the newsletter of the STC UK Chapter has been posted at:
http://www.stcuk.org/newsletters/April2006/index.htm

“Tools, Tips, and Websites,” starting with Content Management Strategies, focus on several aspects of online communication. Desktop search, MS Word’s RD field code, and capturing an image from Windows Media Player are included, along with content management and Online Help.

Message from the Online SIG Manager, April 25, 2006 

From 1994 to 2002, the Online SIG published a newsletter, Hyperviews Online. In 2005 the Online SIG resumed publishing news and information on a static website: http://stcsig.org/oi, where you will also find all the issues of Hyperviews Online through 2002.

This site brings Hyperviews Online back as a continuously updated publication, and replaces the static site. We are using the WordPress open source content management software for Hyperviews Online.

To start, we will use the default theme and its default characteristics, except for changes we can make in the administration panel without extensive editing of the PHP code. That allows us to post meaningful information quickly, and we can figure out the customizations we want to make as we go along.

You are invited to leave a comment. To prevent spam, the administrator often approves all comments so please post just once. If you are an Online SIG member you are invited to register and become a contributor. If you’d like to be a contributor, please write to the SIG manager, ann@annlwiley.com.

Because this post is receving a lot of spam, we’ll close it to comments. There is some information about workflow in the comments, that we need to append here.

A member with the “Contributor role” is a Contributor and can submit comments, write posts (that is, write and edit), and manage posts and comments. This includes viewing posts and comments from a list.

Members with the “Author role” can submit comments, write posts (that is, write and edit), and manage posts and comments. This includes viewing posts and comments from a list. An Author can publish posts, while a contributor can post drafts only. An author can also upload files.

Members with the “Editor role” can submit comments, write and edit posts and pages, and manage posts, pages, categories, and comments. This includes viewing posts and pages from a list, and editing and deleting both. An Editor can view all categories and comments in a list, create, edit, and delete categories, and moderate, edit and delete comments. An Editor can also add and manage links.

A member with the “Administrator role” can do everything that an Editor can do, and change many characteristics of the site as well. This includes changing the presentation, working with plugins, adding and modifying the permissions of users, setting options, and importing comments. (This post was updated and the comments removed May 11, 2006.)

There are many Wikis on the web. A few examples of particular interest to technical communicators are listed here, along with tools identified as potentially useful for technical documentation. (more…)

A few key titles and sites on the subject of web design are listed for quick reference. If you have updates for this list, please leave a comment. (more…)

Web accessibility is important to STC. We have a special interest group that addresses all aspects of accessibility. The Online SIG is developing a list of resources on the topic. Items identified to date are listed here. (more…)

The STC Annual Conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 7 to 10, 2006. There are opportunities at the conference to meet fellow members of the Online SIG face-to-face.

A guide to online-communication related sessions is posted on the old Online SIG website (pdf).

You will find complete information about the conference on the STC website.

Maps are created online with a variety of software tools. Applications currently in use include those listed here. (more…)

Online SIG members are involved in developing and maintaining intranets. We continually assemble links to resources in that area and list them here. (more…)

An RSS reader renders an XML file posted on the web by a content owner. By posting this XML file, the content owner syndicates the content via RSS, Really Simple Syndication.

This article presents simple steps to download and set up an RSS reader. Katherine Hinchey, a Senior Member in the Online SIG, provided much of the information here. (more…)

A few links are posted here for quick reference. (more…)

The Online SIG encourages members to subscribe to the RSS feed for this site, and for the STC Forum and news from STC. We post articles on the topic (click the RSS category) and continually list resources on the topic here. (more…)

The Online SIG knows of two comprehensive sites on online Help. Do you know of others? Please leave a comment.

MSHelpWiki. Initially created by the Microsoft Help MVPs and maintained by the Help authoring community. (January 2006)

Helpstuff by Char James-Tanny. (April 2006)

The Online SIG also has a list of references on Online Help.