RE: Sample Documents for Practice in Word

["Barnett, Eva" <Eva -dot- Barnett -at- aketontechnologies -dot- com>]

Steve Lefevers wrote:
>I want to practice creating some Techinical Documents in MS Word
>97. I want to focus on the most common type documents in the real 
>business world - you would use on the job.

Again, sorry if this idea has already been posted; I'm on digest...

Steve,

Are you already a good tech writer and just trying to pick up a new tool
skill? If so, please ignore my post.

Assuming that you are just getting started, and that your goal is to
become a tech writer, I suggest that you practice writing task-based
user manuals and instructions that could be ported into a winhelp
authoring tool. 

These are not the most common documents written in business
environments, but for software tech writers, they are the most important
documents (IMHO). These are the documents that you need some practice to
write well, and that are often done exclusively by tech writers. Others
on this list have previously suggested writing manuals for freeware or
shareware, or rewriting a manual that you find hard to use. Links to web
sites that will hook you up with freeware/shareware projects in progress
should be in the archives.

Another suggestion: don't worry about Word's fancy features. I would
recommend just using the built-in styles, and maybe tweaking them *a
little*. If these docs are going into a portfolio, they do have to look
nice, but good organization and clear writing may be much more
impressive.

Good luck with your gearing-up efforts!

-Eva
eva -dot- barnett -at- aketontechnologies -dot- com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Collect Royalties, Not Rejection Letters! Tell us your rejection story when you
submit your manuscript to iUniverse Nov. 6 -Dec. 15 and get five free copies of
your book. What are you waiting for? http://www.iuniverse.com/media/techwr

Have you looked at the new content on TECHWR-L lately?
See http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ and check it out.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.