WritersUA in Long Beach last week was fun. We met a lot of people in the booth and at the show in general. I got to see our product demo-ed by a fellow who has been showing our products for years and that was a huge learning experience for me. He’s very good.

Author-it Morning was a blast. We had more people than we thought attending and everyone was excited and interested. For half the morning, we threw out our stated agenda and did what the audience wanted to see. One attendee said the morning made the entire show worth her while. Good stuff.

Peer showcases

One of the things I really like about WritersUA is the Peer Showcase event. It’s usually the last day in the food and drink area, making it available to everyone. Selected people get to show something interesting they’re doing and answer questions about it. I sat in a demo by a lovely woman who is creating, on average, 1 user guide a day using Author-it. The way she has everything set up so that she swaps out what needs to swap out and then clicks Publish had me amazed.

She uses Release States for product lines. So, for example, content that is common to all manuals are set to one release state with a color. Content that is specific to each product line is set to other release states and colored differently. That lets her see at a glance what belongs to what. I would never have thought of that and it’s a perfect solution to the problems in her workflow.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

While I watched her talk about how she did what she did, I realized that Author-it lets the 2 writers do the work of 4 writers. Talk about doing more with less! The ROI for this group of writers was measured in days, I think. And, she said, the rock solid publishing profiles meant that she always got what she expected in the output, saving hours a week in production review.

People swarmed around her table, amazed by the workload and the solution.

Local sightings

I’ll be at the Silicon Valley STC chapter March 24 for a preview of Author-it and other fun stuff, if you’re in the area. I’d love to see you there!

I’m working on a series of white papers for a project we’re doing. Since we internally use Author-it for our documents, I’m spending a lot of time in Author-it, creating my white papers.

These are a few of my favorite things

One of the things I really appreciate is the content reuse features. Because I’m sometimes writing about the same thing for different audiences, it’s really nice to so easily drag-and-drop existing content into either my book, if I want an entire existing topic, or create a small piece of content if I need something smaller. Drag it in place and I’m done.

I’m also appreciating variants. Sometimes we have an existing topic that’s not quite what I need. I create a variant of that topic and then change it for my particular book. Perhaps I make the voice more friendly or change the language to a different audience. When I build my output, I specify which variant I want to use and I’m done.

If you want to see this stuff and more

Don’t forget next week Paul Trotter and I will be at the Intelligent Content Conference in Palm Springs. You can meet with us, see ways to solve your content issues and generally just chat.

Paul knows everything there is to know about our products, plus he’s super smart in our field. I’m certainly going to pick his brain for the few days! You should join me.

By Sharon Burton

Well, it’s the end of the month and I’m not going to get these results written by the end of the month. I’m shooting for end of Feb now.

The white paper will go into further detail and analysis than I’ve done here.

But the last bit of data I thought I’d share is about industries. In no way was this a scientific survey so please don’t think this shows the larger industry of people.

Software is by far the leader in this parade. I honestly expected more education than we got, but that’s my own bias, I think.

In other news

If you have been wondering how Author-it tools might help in a Technical Publications group, I have a webinar for you.

Feb 2 2011: 8 AM Pacific
Author-it for Technical Publications
This live demo covers using Author-it in multi-person technical publication groups. See the tips and tricks to help your projects stay on track.

If you’re interested in this webinar, even if you can’t attend live, click here to register. If you miss the webinar, a link to the recording will be sent to you the next day.

While I’ll be showing Author-it, I’ll be focusing on workflow and larger groups and how it works in that environment.

Hope to see you there!

You know we’re attending several shows in the next few months. But did you know you have other ways to learn about Author-it?

Webinars

Not only are we attending several trade shows in the near future, we have online webinars available for you to attend.

Author-it Morning at WritersUA

If you are interested in seeing some useful tips, talk to Author-it people, and have some coffee and you’re either in So Cal or at WritersUA in March, you want to jump on the Author-it Morning event March 12 2011, 9am to Noon.

If you’re interested in attending this event, send me an email at sharon.burton@author-it.com with Author-it Morning in the subject line. We’re charging $49 US for the event but I can get that waived. Since I’m organizing the event, I have some sway!

See you then!

I have always loved words. All words. I like to play with words, talk about words, I married a writer.Even as a child, I played with language. I just like words.

Because I love words, I read a lot. A lot. My husband got me a Sony eReader last Christmas and I stopped reading physical books at that moment. I have over 200 books on my Reader right now. And the entire device fits in my purse. Wonderful.

The physical world

So imagine my surprise when I ordered a physical book the other day. I wanted Ann Rockley’s updated book about DITA. I realized that for a learning experience, I wanted the physical book in my hands.

It took the better part of 2 weeks to arrive but it’s been good reading.

Even if you’re not moving to DITA

Last time I was docs manager, I had a large group writing a large library. I saw that we would need to move to some sort of re-usable CMS/authoring thing.

Step one for my group was to get everyone writing in what I called Structured Authoring. We needed everyone to be talking about the same stuff the same way, both in words and in how we structured the content in topics.

Structured authoring helps

DITA 101 is a great refresher on why and how you approach writing in a structured way, even if you’re not making the translition to DITA anytime soon.

If you are thinking about DITA, this book shows you how to work towards it. It’s really not a matter of running down to the DITA store and getting a bucket of DITA. It requires planning, retraining, and testing to make this move. It’s a process.

I recommend you get and read her book, even if you’re not making the DITA move. The recommendations she has for writing in a more structured way will help you or your team.

by Sharon Burton

In our last installment, I talked about the prep I use for recording screen videos. I diverged into Adult learning theory and discussed how my learning styles are not visual and not so strongly auditory.

And yet, because my audience might be strong visual and auditory learners – and my boss certainly is – I’m doing screen videos.

I’m using Camtasia to do the actual recordings, but there are many tools that will do this. We just happen to own Camtasia.

I’m not going over any of the ways to get good audio or what good equipment might be, as Tom Johnson has covered every possible way to do this in great detail.

Next steps

I left us with the first 3 steps done and we’re ready to record the screen.

Step 4: Open the application and get everything ready

Now I open Camtasia and the Author-it application I’m going to work with. I have a rough screen size I want to work with – about 800 by 600 – to get the size of the application I want. Because I work with 2 monitors, I put Camtasia on one screen and the application on the other. It just gives me more real estate to work with.

I also print out the script. Being a kinesthetic learner, I like having the paper in my hand. I’ve also discovered It’s easier for me than looking from one screen to another. Your mileage may vary.

Once everything is set, I’m ready to go.

Step 5: Start recording the screen

With my headset/microphone on, I start recording both video and audio. I’m not going to use this audio but I need to get the timing of the actions correct.

Originally, I tried recording audio and video at the same time, with the intent of using the audio, but it’s too complicated for me to manage both well. Knowing that I’m recording just the screen while I talk helps me focus on getting the actions on the screen just right.

Tip: If I’m recording something that is complicated or is a long process, I’ll break the recording into parts, stopping at the end of each part and saving. That helps me in post production.

Step 6: Start video post-production

After I have the screen recorded, I start working with the first part, if I recorded in parts. I select the entire clip and silence the audio.

Then I start walking the recording, looking for places where I bobbled the cursor, for example. I clip out the bobbles in the video. If the process being show on screen is taking too long, I split and make the process look faster. Generally, I look to make the video smooth and simple, with my total time estimate in mind.

When the video is smooth, I’m ready to record the final audio.

Step 7: Record the audio

I record the audio on a second track in Camtasia because I know I’m going to be editing.

Recording the audio is harder than the screen video. I want my voice to be pleasant and excited without sounding like a late night television advertising spot. I want to emphasize the right words and sentences in the right places. And I want my voice to sound the same across videos.

This can take several tries. And I rarely get through a take without the dogs next door barking or a plane flying over. It can be very frustrating.

Tip: If I stumble on the words or a plane flies over, I pause and then start again from the last logical place I was. I forge ahead, knowing that I’ll edit the audio bobbles out. The trick is to keep your voice the same as it was before the bobble happened. This can take practice.

I’m fortunate that my father was a professional broadcaster and I was taught a little about using your voice from the time I was a small child. I also teach and speak publically so I know a little about using my voice well. It helps.

Step 8: Start audio post-production

Now it’s time to start editing out the audio bobbles and strange noises. I also edit out places where I take a deep breath, as I think it sounds odd. I either cut or silence, depending on what and why I’m editing.

After I get the audio bobbles out, now I start synching the audio to the screen video. Since I originally recorded the screen while I was reading the script, it usually synchs up pretty well and only a little editing is needed.

Step 9: Final touches

After I have the audio and the video synch-ed up, it’s time to start looking for places where I need special effects, like zooming. This is really easy in Camtasia.

If I want to draw attention to something on the screen, for example, I zoom in. I also try to have the same zoom area and percentage so things are not moving all over the place, which I find visually distracting. I want the focus to be on what’s on the screen, not on all the flying around.

Tip: Don’t slowly zoom in. It can look like the item on the screen is coming at you out of the screen. One second is more than slowly enough to ground your viewer into what’s happening and let’s them track what you’re doing.

Step 10: Publish!

Now I can create the output I need. I’m going to the highest resolution I can and then one at about 600×400.

I send the videos to a co-worker for a last sanity check. He tells me if everything looks and sounds good on a different computer than the one I recorded on.

If they pass his sanity check, he uploads them where they need to go.

That’s it!

I hope this overview has been helpful and encourage you to make your own screen videos to support your users. Once you’ve done a few, it’s actually fun!

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks very focused on creating screen videos for our YouTube channel. While this isn’t hard, I thought I’d share how I do it, in case it’s useful information to you.

But first, a related tangent.

Learning styles

Adult learning theory says that adults learn in four modes:

• Visual
• Auditory
• Read/write
• Kinesthetic

Because humans are wonderful, individuals typically prefer one of more of these modes to consume information. This is called a mixed strategy.

People tend to be stronger in some of these modes and weaker in others. Personally, I’m very weak in Visual. I really struggle to consume information when it’s presented in only a visual mode.

For example, when I was in Graduate school, getting my degree in Cultural Anthropology, I struggled with archeological site maps. These line drawings that showed the monumental architecture and distribution of artifacts seemed flat and uninteresting to me. I just couldn’t “see” why the other students were so excited about them.

I’m not a visual learner.

But other people are.

Good user assistance

Good user assistance supports all four learning modes. And because we have the web, it’s easier today to support all four.

Screen videos are a great way to support visual and auditory learners. And they are not my best ways of learning, because they are so visual.

Delivering information in a visual way means this is hard for me. And yet, my customers need this support.

Worse, my boss is a visual learner. I know this because he prefers to video conference when we have our weekly meeting. He says he feels better when he can see who he’s talking to, that it feels flat otherwise.

So, my users need this support and my boss prefers to consume information this way.

Looks like I’ll be making screen videos!

How to make a visual process less visual

Now that we’ve established that we’re not pitching to my strengths and I need to do it anyway, I thought I’d share some ways I’ve found to make this easier for me. It may help you as well.

Step 1: Decide the small thing I’m going to show

This may sound obvious but it’s an important step. The videos must be no longer than five to seven minutes or it’s going to seem complicated, even if it’s not. So, short is good.

I look for a small thing I can show in less than seven minutes, understanding that eventually, I’ll have lots of small things which will be a large thing.

Step 2: Write the script

Because I’m a word oriented, kinesthetic learner, I want a written script that includes what I need to be doing on the screen. Think of it as the plan.

So I write out what I’m going to be saying and what’s generally happening on the screen. I don’t need to include what to click, for example, because I’m fairly confident of the product.

As a rough guide, my scripts work out to about 3 minutes per page, single spaced. I use that as my first measurement of Step 1. If I’m at the middle of the second page and I’m no where near the end, I’ve got issues and I need to edit what I’m doing.

Step 3: Walk the application with the script

When I’m done with the script, I walk the application, doing what I think I’m going to be doing to check issues:

• Do dialog boxes appear where I think they’ll appear on the screen? I need to adjust and relocate these to appear where I want them.
• Is there anywhere where things are going to take too long? This may be a spot I can cut frames or speed up the video in post processing.
• Is this the easiest way to do this? I may discover an easier way as I walk the application.
• Is there a place where things are happening on the screen and I can talk about a best practice while we wait? If it’s short, I’ll add that to the script.

Then I edit the script, making notes and changing things until I have a better feel for this.

When I’m done, it’s time to start recording.

Next week

Next week, I’ll take you thru the actual recording and post processing steps I’m using to get good videos.

I was working with Author-it the other day and discovered a neat trick. You can set how you want a graphic to appear, depending on the output. So, for example, if you want the graphic to appear smaller in your PDF than when you create an online output, you can do it automatically!

To set the scaling

1. Open your library and find the graphic you want to set.
2. Right-click over the graphic and click Properties.
3. From here, select the output tab you want to set.

In the bottom left of the dialog box, you see a tab called Sizing. Set this to be the size you want. I prefer to set by scale but you can also set by specifying the exact size you want.

You can set different sizes for print, help, and web. No more fiddling with the sizing after you create the output.

Pretty cool!

I just thought I’d pass this along to you all:

Interesting read in the blog article from Bob Chapman. Most of it basic on topic-based authoring and multi-output publishing.

http://blog.rrchapman.us/2010/10/using-author-it/

We have a guest post and a fast tip for you:

Using chapter numbering and mini TOCs

I’m currently in the process of customising an Author-it Library for one of my clients.

One of the things that I always get stuck on is how to remove the Chapter number and the mini TOC from the printed output. So as I need to document it for myself, for future reference, I thought I’d share my quick tip with others who might find it useful. At least then I’ll know where to find my tip when I need it next time!

How do I remove the Chapter number and the mini TOC from my Word output?

If you don’t want to include the Chapter number and the ‘In This Chapter’ mini TOC in your Word output, here’s what you need to do in Author-it:

1. In the Chapter Template and First Chapter Template
   Object Templates > Properties > Print tab – Remove the word Chapter and set the list option to (none).
2. In the Chapter Template and First Chapter Template
   Object Templates > Properties > Related Topics tab – Select In This Chapter and on the Appearance tab, clear the Print option.

Posted by Amanda Caley, Content Chameleon, Author-it Certified Consultant