Quick Jump Menu

Blogs

• Tech Writer Blogs

Books

• List of books on technical writing

Dictionaries

• American Heritage Dictionary.
• OneLook Dictionaries. Links to dictionaries, including several technical dictionaries. Some ofn the specialty dictionaries include medical, business, computer, and science.
• yourDictionary.com. Provides a comprehensive portal for language and language-related sites with more than 1,800 dictionaries and 250 languages.
• Roget’s Thesaurus.

Discussion Boards

• Macromedia.robohelp.general_discussion. Newsgroup for Robohelp users.
• Microsoft.public.word.numbering. Newsgroup for issues related to numbering in Microsoft Word.

Education and Training

• Master of Science in Technical Communication Management. Mercer University offers this Web-based graduate program directed toward working professionals.
• STC Academic Program Database. Search for an academic program related to technical communication in any state.
• Undergraduate program in English - Technical Writing. University of Southern Florida:
• University of Tampa, Dept. of English and Writing. Particularly, see Writing 285 Information Design (.pdf). Introduces the principles of information design, which transforms complex or specialized data into usable documents. This course prepares creative design leads to plan the design and content of technical documents, which will be produced by cross-functional team leaders with different areas of expertise.
• Texts and Technology, PhD program. BA, MA Technical Writing and Communications program.University of Central Florida.
• Online MA in Professional and Technical Writing. Utah State University.
• Online MA Techncial Communications; PhD Technical Communication and Rhetoric. Texas Tech University.
• More online education opportunities in technical communication

Employment

• Suncoast area Employer Directory (.pdf). Lists 15 pages of employers who hire technical writers
• STC Technical Communications Center
• TECHWR-L listserv employment listings. See also the TECHWR-L Daily Summary Mailing,
• Dice.com. Major technology-focused job board.
• CareerBuilder. Job board. Can configure personal alerts.
• Salary Survey Results, 2003 Rocky Mountain Region
• Comprehensive STC Chapter jobs pages
• “Landing the Tech Writer Job You Want.” An informative article by the Florida First Coast chapter president.

Florida STC Chapters

• Orlando chapter
• First Coast Chapter - Northeast Florida
• Palm Beaches Chapter
• SpaceTech Chapter (e-mail only)
• Northern Gulf Coast Chapter - no chapter website
• STC chapter search
• ACM SIGDOC. The Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group for documentation, SIGDOC, is an STC sister organization for technical communication.

Grammar

• Guide to Grammar and Writing, by Charles Darling (Capital Comm. College)
• Grammar Slammer

Listservs

• TECHWR-L. The premier listserv for technical writers. Approximately 5,000 subscribers. Expect 20+ messages per day.
• COPYEDITING-L. The premier listserv for copyeditors. Expect about 50+ message a day. Unless you subscribe to the digest, it’s like drinking out of a fire hose.
• HATT. Help Authoring Tools & Techniques. A helpful listserv for particularly for technical issues with online help.
• Microsoft Word PC Forum. Send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.liv.ac.uk. Leave the subject blank and include, int he body of the message, SUBSCRIBE WORD-PC firstname secondname.

Newsletters

• http://www.stcwdc.org/PDF/newsletter_nov06.pdf
• http://www.stcatlanta.org/newsletters/commlink-nov-06.pdf
• http://www.ocstc.org/pdf/ts112006.pdf
• http://www.stc-phoenix.com/news.html
• http://www.stc-dfw.org/newsletter/current/index.htm
• http://www.stc-carolina.org/tiki-index.php?page=Newsletter

Publications

• TECHWR-L Magazine: Articles
• Writers UA: Training and Information for User Assistance Professionals
• Intercom Online (STC magazine)
• Technical Communications (STC Journal); requires STC user name and password
• Writers Write: Technical Writing
• Technical Communicators’ Forum
• Suncoast STC Newsletter
• Journal of Business and Technical Communication
• Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
• Communication World (CW Online)
• Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
• Technical Communication Quarterly. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.
• EServer. Technical Communicators Library.
• Klariti.com. Technical Writing
• Suite 101. Real People Helping Real People.
• Tech-Writer.Net.
• Internet Resources for Technical Communicators.
• So, You Want To Be a Technical Writer?

Software Tools

• MadCap Software: Flare. The site for the online help authoring tool that is supposed to replace Robohelp.
• Robohelp Support Center
• Adobe Acrobat support
• Free PDF conversion tools:
  • Primo PDF
  • PDF Creator

Style Guides

• Microsoft Manual of Style, 3rd edition (Amazon)
• Apple Publications Style Guide 2003 (.pdf)
• Sun Technical Publications Manual (Amazon)
• Plain Language.gov. A site dedicated to the plain language movement.
• Web Style Guide. Style guide for Web content.
• Chicago Manual of Style FAQ
• Bedford St. Martin Citation Styles

STC

• STC Home
• STC Forum
• Intercom
• Tech Comm Journal
• Hyperviews Online SIG

Tips and Tricks

• Microsoft Word: Using Styles (PDF), by Pam Tremé

Translation

• Travlang. A resource for translation help; covers travel information and language resources.
• Babel Fish Translation. Translate almost any phrase from one language to another.

Web sites

• E-Server TC Library: A Cooperative Library for Tech Communicators
• Internet Resources for Technical Writers.
• White Paper Source: The source for writing and marketing white papers
• Information Mapping
• Cherryleaf. Based in UK.
• University of Wisconsin CNS Online Help Documentation (Tutorials on Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Adobe, Word, etc.)
• Technical Writing Textbook Online. A web-based adaption from Power Tools for
• TechPubs

XML Resources

• Online XML Tutorial from w3schools.
• An XML Tutorial for Everyone. Online tutorial.
• Online demonstration of SiberSafe. An XML Content Management System designed specifically for managing technical publication content.
• White papers, book chapters, and articles from Bright Path Solutions (request form)
• How XML Helps the Visually Impaired. Article from The Content Wrangler website.
• Is XML the Answer to Everything? Article from Free Software Magazine.
• Structured Content Management with XML. Article from eBizQ.
• Overcoming objections to XML-based Authoring Tools. Article from XML.org.
• Case Study: Ontario Systems Creates Dynamic Content with XML
• XML Weekend Crash Course by Kay Ethier. Book
• The Rockley Group. Content Management and Reuse Strategies.
• XML.org.