As you can imagine, when I heard the news of the demise of Google Reader, I was not a happy camper! This, after I was already annoyed that they’re killing iGoogle, which has been my start page forever.

Anyway, what can you do? I’ve been trying out other readers, and they’re okay, but not fabulous. Part of the problem is that in Google Reader I starred a bunch of posts so I can easily find them again, and when I import my RSS feeds into other readers, I lose those starred posts.

But then I tried Feedly.

With Feedly, I can log in with my Google Reader credentials, so it can grab all my RSS feeds AND it adds my starred posts to the Saved For Later group. And when Google Reader finally goes away, all the data will be pulled onto a Feedly server.

The icing on the cake, is that just as I was starting to get comfortable with Feedly, I (and other Google Reader outcasts) received a lovely welcome message from Edwin, CEO of Feedly, including a link to show us how to optimize Feedly to make it look similar to Google Reader. Now that is service!

Now if only I could find a replacement for iGoogle. I’ve tried UStart, Netvibes, igHome… Any suggestions? Leave a comment below!

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Learning to live with the demise of Google Reader – thank you Feedly! originally appeared on Jenny Watson on April 7, 2013.

I’ve written a user guide about our process, but I’ve also been providing support for a group in our division, including many people who’ve never used RDP before. Some people work in the office and need to use a single RDP session while others work remotely and need to use two RDP sessions before they can log into the Helpdesk software. One RDP session is simple, but two RDP sessions are double the trouble.

If you’re new to RDP, or you’re thinking about working remotely, here are a few tips and tricks to get you started.

Note: These tips are for using RDP in a Windows environment.

Logging into a remote computer

1. In the Windows Start menu, type remote in the search box, and select Remote Desktop Connection.
2. In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, on the General tab, enter the name of the computer you want to connect to and your username.
   (Talk to your IT person if you don’t know these.)
3. Click Connect.

Setting the default display options

1. In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, click the Display tab.
2. Drag the slider all the way to the right to see the remote computer in full screen.
   
3. On the General tab, click Save.

 Sharing local drives and devices

1. In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, click the Local Resources tab.
2. In the Local devices and resources section, click More.
3. Select the drives and devices you want to make available on the remote computer.
4. Click OK.
5. On the General tab, click Save.

Making a shortcut to a specific remote computer

1. In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, enter the details of your connection (computer, user name, display options, shared drives and devices).
2. Click Save As.
3. In the File name field, enter a name for the shortcut.
4. Choose a location for the shortcut (such as the Desktop).
5. Click Save.

Using the tabs

When you use RDP at full screen, a tab appears at the top of the screen. If you can’t see the tab, hover your cursor near the top of the screen and the tab should slide down. You can pin tabs in place if you don’t like them sliding up out of sight.

If you’re using more than one RDP session, the tabs are stacked, one on top of the other. You can drag the tabs sideways to see the computer name on the tab below or if the minimize and maximize buttons are hidden.

Switching Between RDP sessions

If you’re running more than one RDP session, you might want to switch between the windows.

• To minimize a window, click the Minimize () icon.
• To restore a minimized window, click the RDP button in the taskbar.
• To shrink a window, click the Restore down () icon.
• To restore a shrunk window, click the Maximize () icon.

Got any burning questions about using RDP? Ask away and I will try to answer.

RDP tips and tricks originally appeared on Jenny Watson on October 31, 2012.

Since I was writing the API documentation in Madcap Flare, I needed a tool that I could use in that environment. Initially I tried the Syntax Highlighter, but I couldn’t get it to work for me. So I did another search, and discovered Prettify, a syntax highlighter by Google, and that worked like a charm.

To use Prettify with Madcap Flare:

1. Download the Prettify tar file and unzip it (I used Winzip).
2. Copy the files from the distrib/google-code-prettify folder.

3. In your Flare project, paste the files into the Resources folder (I created a Prettify subfolder under Resources).

4. In Flare, open the topic containing the code snippet in the Internal Text Editor.
5. In the <head> element, add links to the javascript file and the css stylesheet (A)
6. In the <body> tag, add the onload instruction (B).
7. Add <pre> tags around your code snippet, specifying the prettyprint class (C).

Here’s what the Javascript code snippet looks like in Webhelp and HTML Help output:

NOTE: This doesn’t work for PDF output.

Update September 12, 2012: Check out the MadBlog for instructions on how to use Prettify across all the topics in your project.

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Coloring code in Flare with Prettify originally appeared on Jenny Watson on February 15, 2012.

When I stumbled across Trello, I knew right away it was the tool for me. It’s much more visual than most To Do list applications, and it makes sharing and collaborating on tasks easy.

When you visit the Trello website and sign up for a free account, the first thing you’ll see is the Welcome Board, with some simple tips to help you get started. Take a quick look and you’ll see what I mean by simple. It’s intuitive and doesn’t require learning a complicated productivity system.

Boards are much like the corkboard you have on your wall, but they’re online. You can pin cards to the board in columns, called lists, and then the fun really begins. You can add colored labels to your cards so that you can sort or filter them, give cards a due date, attach other files and checklists to them, and, if you’ve shared the board, you can assign them to other board members. It’s also easy to search for a card by keyword, filter cards by labels, or choose to display cards for one or more board members.

You can create as many Trello boards as you like, but I decided to create a single board for all my work projects, so that I could see at a glance all the projects I’ve committed to. I use the colored labels for clients, which lets me view just the tasks I need to do for a single client if that’s what I need to see.

Trello comes with three lists built in – To Do, Doing, and Done – but you can customize these by adding or removing lists, or renaming them. This gives you the freedom to use whichever productivity system you like. For now, I’m happy with the existing lists, although I add a date to the title of my Done list, and archive the list each week so that things don’t get too cluttered. Archiving hides the list, but it’s still there if I want to reopen it later.

As each new project arrives, I add a card to the bottom of the To Do list. Each morning, I look at my tasks and reorder them based on their priority. Reordering is as simple as dragging and dropping cards up and down the list. Once I’ve decided on the priority, I choose which card I’m going to work on next. I drag that card to my Doing list, and that’s the task I concentrate on. When I’ve completed a card, I drag it into the Done list and give myself a pat on the back. By the end of the week my Done list contains all the things I’ve accomplished.

What else do I like about Trello? It works on my iPad, which is handy in the weekend when we’re working on projects around the house, and there’s an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch, so you can take your Trello boards with you.

Using Trello, I can:

• Prioritize my tasks.
• See the big picture of everything that needs to be done.
• Choose to work on a single task at a time, which frees me from worrying about all the other things on my To Do list.
• See a growing list of tasks I’ve completed, which is surprisingly satisfying.

What about you? Have you tried Trello? Or do you prefer another tool for keeping organized?

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Getting organized with Trello originally appeared on Jenny Watson on January 25, 2012.

I’ve found two ways to make a PDF:

1. Make a PDF of a single Confluence page

1. In Confluence, find the page that you want to turn into a PDF.
2. Click Tools, then select Export to PDF.
3. Save the PDF somewhere you’ll be able to find it.

2. Make a PDF of a Confluence space or selected pages

1. In Confluence, find the space you want to save as a PDF.
2. Click Browse, then select Advanced.
3. Click PDF Export.
4. Click Select All to save the whole site as a PDF, or select the pages you want to save as a PDF. Note: There is also a link on this page for the PDF Stylesheet if you want to change the appearance of the PDF.
5. Click Export.
6. When the export is complete, click the link for Download here.
7. Save the PDF somewhere you’ll be able to find it.

That’s it. Pretty straightforward!

Resources:
Exporting Confluence Pages and Spaces to PDF
Customising the Appearance of PDF Exports

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Photo via Flickr user Abaconda

Making PDFs in Confluence originally appeared on Jenny Watson on December 12, 2011.

When you’ve labored over a piece of writing, done your best to provide accurate information, kept your end-user in mind, and thought about the document design, it can be difficult to hear that you’ve made mistakes or the customer wants something different.

One of my first assignments as a technical writer was to create a setup poster for a printer. Having a particular love of symmetry, I created a beautiful poster, with two columns of equal widths. When I’d finished it, I took it to my manager. She took one look at it and said, “Yes that’s good, but perhaps you could use three columns instead of two.” Hmmmm, I thought. But I prefer two columns! So I made the other changes she suggested and presented it again. “How about using three columns?” she suggested. And a third time. Finally I did a version with three columns, and she was right. It looked much more balanced and was easier to read. Lesson learned!

Maybe you’re not as stubborn as I used to be, but if you are, here are some simple suggestions for making the most of review comments and critiques.

1. Approach feedback with a good attitude

Remember that reviewers are trying to help you write the best documentation possible. You and your reviewers likely both want the writing to be accurate and clear, so don’t take comments as criticism, and especially don’t take them personally. This can be difficult when reviewers have a penchant for using ALL CAPS. But ultimately, however harsh their comments sound, they really do just want to help.

2. Read all the feedback before you start making changes

When you receive feedback, you might want to dive into your text and make changes right away. Try not to do that. Reviewers can sometimes change their minds as they go, so if you read all the feedback from start to finish, you might find that they mention something early on and then decide it does not need changing by the end of the document.

3. Separate feedback into two types – technical accuracy and personal preference

Sort the feedback so that you can tackle the technical accuracy comments first. If there are disagreements about technical details between reviewers, you’ll want to sort these out before you start making changes to your document.

4. Start with technical accuracy feedback

With technical documents, accuracy is generally more important than writing style, so I recommend addressing technical issues first. If you have written that the software should be installed and then the printer connected to the computer, but actually it should be the other way round, it’s more important to fix the order of the steps than it is to change a wording preference. If the steps are in the wrong order, end-users will have trouble setting up their printer, leading to more support calls, and costing the manufacturer more money.

5. Make the best use of personal preference feedback

Feedback that is more about writing style can also be a real opportunity for you to grow as a writer. Look through the feedback and decide which comments resonate with you. If you immediately agree, then you’ll want to make those changes. But what about the things you don’t agree with? These are things to consider. You can talk to the reviewer and get additional details. This might be enough for you to change your mind and agree to make the change. Or you can discuss why you don’t think the change is a good idea, clarifying your own thinking, and letting the reviewer know that you respect their opinion, but have a good reason not to do as they suggest. Also, you can talk to other technical writers on your team, or discuss it with your manager.

6. Thank your reviewers

Really! Send an email to all the reviewers thanking them for their feedback, or thank them in person next time you bump into them in the hall. Everyone likes to be appreciated for their work, and reviewers are no different.

Your turn. Any tips on dealing with critiques and feedback?

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Photo via Flickr user mcaretaker

Making the most of reviews and critiques originally appeared on Jenny Watson on July 14, 2011.

Our marketing team have been using Typepad, so they want a platform that is just as easy to use. But we also need a tool that can integrate with our Umbraco/Confluence site and one that can use our existing security.

Someone else on the team is looking at Umbraco, but I thought I’d share what I learned about blogging in Confluence.

1. Blog posts can be published from any space

Blog posts can be created from any space in your Confluence site with the right permissions. You can allow individual users, or groups of users, permission to create posts, and you can give some users permission to comment, and others permission to just view posts.

In our case, to start with, we want a single user to post updates for all the divisions in our company. The easiest way to do this it seems, is to set up a separate space for the blog.

2. Adding a blog post

Adding a blog post is just as simple as you’d expect. Simply browse to the appropriate space, click Add, and then Blog Post. Give the post a title, type in your entry, and click Save, just like you would for a Confluence page.

3. Displaying blogposts

To display blog posts, use the Blog Posts macro. You can restrict the posts displayed by label, author, time frame, and space, and you can sort the order that the posts appear. You can also choose whether to show just the title, or the title and an excerpt.

4. Moderating comments

There is no built-in way to moderate comments in Confluence 3.5, but you can install a beta plug-in (Confluence Comment Moderation). I installed the plugin, and once I’d found the Comment Moderation settings in the Space Admin panel, it worked for me.

One thing I’m still searching for, is a method for automatically pushing Confluence blog posts to Twitter and Facebook. Has anyone found a way to do this?

Resources:

Working with blog posts

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Photo via Flickr user Heike Quosdorf

Blogging with Confluence originally appeared on Jenny Watson on June 23, 2011.

Everyone tells you how good your writing is, and you have an English degree or a journalism background. But how do you land that first job?

It seems like more and more often, people are turning to technical writing after they have worked in another career. Which means getting a technical writing job is not as straightforward as it is when you come out of school with a degree in technical writing, land an internship, and progress from there. Or is it?

In my case, I had a degree in Psychology, and had worked in educational research, community mental health, and as a case manager working with people with injuries. Not a likely background for a technical writer, you’d think. And I was living in a foreign country, which meant I’d have to apply for a work visa to be able to work as a technical writer.

But I was not going to let that deter me. Everything I’d read about technical writing made me think it would be a good fit for me.

My first step was to sign up for a certificate in Technical Writing. Since I wasn’t coming from a technical background, I thought a qualification would give me some credibility. One of the requirements of the certificate program was that we join the Society for Technical Communication (STC). I did that, and went along to the local chapter meetings. I’d never networked before, so I didn’t say much, just listened. And lo and behold, I overheard someone mention that they were looking for an intern. I jumped into the conversation, and the rest is history.

But what lessons did I learn from this experience, that will help you break in, without having to go back to school full time?

1. Commit yourself to technical writing and be willing to learn.

If you can’t go to school full time, find a course or two online. This shows that you’re determined. If you’re willing to pay for classes and learn technical writing on your own time, you obviously have initiative, and that is a highly desirable trait in a technical writer.

2. Network, network, network.

Join the STC and attend local chapter meetings, or meet technical writers online. A couple of vibrant new communities that have sprung up recently are Technical Writing World and the Association of Technical Communicators. This is a great way to find out what other technical writers are talking about, and to join the conversation. Or join LinkedIn and link to everyone you’ve worked with before.

3. Look for volunteer opportunities.

Some people might scoff at working for free, but I can tell you from experience that you can learn a lot in a short period of time and it can be fun – you know you’re there to learn, so you’re more prepared to take risks and try things you wouldn’t usually do in a paid position. There are volunteer opportunities all over the place, but recently I’ve seen a couple I would jump on if I was just starting out. Tom Johnson (one of the most well-known technical writer bloggers) is looking for volunteers for some writing projects. Another volunteer opportunity, is to work on the documentation team for Libre Office, a free suite of office tools.

4. Work on your resume.

I’ve said it before. Your resume is your primary technical writing sample. The writing should be clear and simple, easy to scan, and formatted in Word using styles, as if it were a technical document. If you don’t have any technical writing experience, go back through your previous jobs and highlight any tasks that could be considered technical writing. For example, when I worked as a case manager, I wrote reports that pulled together information from several specialist reports. Other things you might have done in previous jobs that could be applicable include writing blog posts, writing content for websites, creating flowcharts, writing procedures, teaching, or preparing curriculum.

Often breaking in is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time, so it’s up to you to make sure you’re out there and available when an opportunity arises. Sometimes companies will take on a new technical writer if they’re looking for a person who is a good fit with the team, rather than someone with all the skills. Tell everyone you know that you want to be a technical writer and keep your ear to the ground.

Good luck!

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Photo via Flickr user mdid

Breaking into the field of technical writing originally appeared on Jenny Watson on June 9, 2011.

Looking through the Atlassian documentation, I discovered a plugin called the JIRA Linker, which lets you create a custom field and a Search button, so that you can search for a Confluence page and link to it.

[Confluence 3.5, JIRA 4.3]

1. Download and install the JIRA Linker plugin

1. In JIRA, from the Dashboard, click Administration.
2. Select JIRA Administration.
3. Click Plugins.
4. Click Install, and then search for “JIRA Linker”. (For some reason the Search didn’t work for me, but once I showed all available plugins, I could scroll through the list and find the JIRA Linker plugin.)
5. Install the plugin, and then restart the JIRA service.

2. Configure the JIRA Linker plugin

1. Follow the plugin configuration instructions to:
   – Add the Search image (search_16.png) file to JIRA’s images/icons directory.
   – Configure your custom Confluence server address.
2. Restart the JIRA service.

3. Configure Confluence to enable Remote API Access

1. In Confluence, from the Dashboard, click Browse, Confluence Admin.
2. Click General Configuration.
3. Click Edit.
4. Select the Remote API check box.
5. Click Save.

4. Add a custom field in JIRA

1. In JIRA, from the Dashboard, click Administration.
2. Select JIRA Administration.
3. Click Custom Fields.
4. Click Add Custom Field.
5. Select the URL Link Field radio button, then click Next.
6. Enter a name for the field.
7. Select the appropriate issue types. (I selected Any issue type, for testing purposes.)
8. Select an applicable context – Global, or a particular project. (I used the default.)
9. Click Finish.
10. Select which screens you want the field to appear on. (I selected all three options for testing.)

5.  Link to a Confluence page from a JIRA issue

1. Open a JIRA issue for editing.
2. Navigate to the new custom field you added.
3. Click the Search icon to the right of the field.
4. In the Search dialog box, enter a search term to find the Confluence page you want to link to.
5. When the Search results are displayed (this might take a few seconds or more), select the page you want to link to.
6. Click Update.

Presto! It works!

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Photo via Flickr user BFS Man

Linking from a JIRA issue to a Confluence page originally appeared on Jenny Watson on June 1, 2011.

My grandfather was a newspaper editor, so I learned at a young age, that spelling mistakes and grammatical errors were unacceptable. I guess that’s why I have a highly-tuned radar for typos. But I admit I miss things too. Here are a few tricks to help you avoid the embarrassment of poor proofreading:

1. Read the document backwards.

Start with the last paragraph first. Because you’re reading it out of order, you’re more likely to spot the typos and spelling mistakes.

2. Read the document aloud to yourself.

If you haven’t tried this before, you might be surprised. Even muttering it to yourself under your breath works (ignore the looks you get from anyone nearby!)

3. Double-check the headings.

It’s notoriously difficult to catch the mistakes in headings. I look at headings up to five times to be extra sure there are no glaring misspellings.

4. Pay special attention to words that sound the same with different spellings.

Can you imagine my embarrassment at using the wrong spelling for palette?

• palette – a color palette used in a software application
• palate – the roof of your mouth
• pallet – a low platform used in warehouses for storing goods
• pellet – a small round ball, such as pet food

5. Learn where and where not to put apostrophes.

It’s one of those things we often miss, especially in headings. Apostrophes are used to show possession and to replace letters missing in contractions. If you’re confused, read this simple resource from the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

6. When you think you’re done, read the whole piece through one more time.

Preview your writing and reread the entire thing in the final format. For blog posts, that’s easy – simply preview the post in a browser. For other documents, try generating a PDF (or Help file) and read the document as it will look to your audience.

7. Keep a checklist.

If all else fails, keep a list of the things that are particular issues for you. If you always mix up there/their, put that on your checklist.

Your turn: Do you have any tricks for proofreading your own writing? Leave a comment below.

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Photo via Flickr user thinboyfatter

Proofreading tips for lone writers originally appeared on Jenny Watson on May 18, 2011.