
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Preorder Book on Amazon.com

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Social Media Etiquette
"You see, the majority of society—you know, the people who don't sit in front of their computers tweeting about how "Eating pancakes makes me feel like death now that I'm 30 #notakidanymore"—doesn't understand what the hell you're saying when you tack what amounts to a pound sign onto any given sentence/word in your correspondence (e-mails, etc.). In fact, they could get offended by what you think is an artfully punctuated joke." Read more
Infographic: Custom Shower Pan Folding & Fastening Techniques
The infographic below takes a detailed look at how to properly fold and fasten one type of shower pan liner, a manufactured sheet membrane. The liner serves as the last line of defense against water leaks in a custom shower floor.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Intelligent Content 2011
English Version of "Creer avec SketchUp" Book Announced
Monday, September 13, 2010
Quality Assurance Tools
Other important tools that play an early role in QA include project summary worksheets (which document a project's background information and are very useful in getting team member's up-to-speed), content inventory spreadsheets, and content matrices. A content inventory spreadsheet is a record of the current content on a site, while a content matrix takes that a step further. A content matrix maps all of the content for a website, both current and planned; it can be used to track URLs, content objects, content status, content type, reviewers, authors, deadlines—basically, it acts as a central repository for all things content.
During the testing phase of a web project, checklists are an important QA tool to validate the front and back-end of the site before launch. Click every link, review every webpage, hit play on every video, if possible. In the CMS, open every content module, delete unused material, verify that everything in the back-end is displaying on the front-end. This type of meticulous attention to detail will pay off on the launch date when the first visitors step aboard.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Advice for Writers Pt. 2
- Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity (Joshua Odell Editions, 1994)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Style Guide: Homebuilding (Home Building?) Terminology
Industry terminology is a standard component of a corporate style guide. In the homebuilding industry, there are numerous ways to write and use common terminology (probably true of most industries). The following is an abbreviated list of just some of these debatable terms. My favored versions are on the left.
- Home vs. House
- Homebuilding vs. Home building
- Homebuilder vs. Home builder
- Homeowner vs. Home owner
- Homebuyer vs. Home buyer
- Backerboard vs. Backer board
- Blown-in insulation vs. Blown in insulation
- Crawlspace vs. Crawl space
- On-site vs. Onsite
- Low-E vs. Low E
- Slab-on-grade foundation vs. Slab on grade foundation
- Watertight vs. Water tight
- Through-wall flashing vs. Through wall flashing
- Thin-set mortar vs. Thin set mortar
- Unfaced batt vs. Un-faced batt
- Whole-house approach vs. Whole house approach
- Shingle-style vs. Shingle-fashion
- Shingle-style vs. Shingle style
- Weatherstripping vs. Weather stripping
- Housewrap vs. House wrap
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Advice for Writers
"Read a lot, write a lot." - Stephen King, On Writing (Pocket, 2001)
King's advice is succinct, clear, hard to forget, and most of all, it rings true. To be a serious writer, King says, you should do these two things above all others.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Must You Always Write in Complete Sentences?
Caveat: Of almost equal importance is the medium. There are many mediums—technical reports are one—where complete sentences are not only the norm but are also best suited to the material and the audience. But that's a discussion for another day.
Read more on a similar topic from one of my earlier blog posts: Writing with Style: Rules vs. Folklore.Thursday, October 22, 2009
Mentioned in STC's IDL SIG Newsletter!
The Society for Technical Communication's (STC) IDL SIG mentioned me in its Fall 2009 newsletter yesterday. Pretty cool! Thanks, IDL SIG. Although a few of the details in the blurb are slightly incorrect (we co-authored a case study in the book, the case studies are related to more trades than just construction, and Laurent Brixius is the author), it's still nice to see.
Check out the Member News section on page 15:
http://stcid.ehost.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IDeaL-Fall2009.pdf
Friday, October 16, 2009
"Creating with SketchUp" Book - Publish Date Set for Nov. 6
A book I worked on is getting published on November 6th! The book is "Creating with SketchUp - 16 projects, from architecture to theater." It will be available from Pearson, a publisher in the education industry. Big thanks go out to the coordinator and author of the book, Laurent Brixius, and the co-director and translator, Jean-Philippe Moreux! As well as to my co-author, James Steacy! They helped make it all possible.
It brings together 16 case studies from a variety of people on their different uses of Google SketchUp. James and I co-authored one of these case studies (he acted as the expert in SketchUp, and I acted as the expert in content development and as lead writer). It's a piece that goes in-depth into the story of crafting a technical step-by-step document for construction trades who need to install a window. Follow the links below to learn more about it!
Pearson is releasing the book in French first (as "Creer avec SketchUp - 16 projets, de l'architecture au theatre"). The book might come out in English down the road, probably depending on the success of the French version. Most of the co-authors are English-speakers, so a version in English isn't much of a stretch.
- To read about the book on the publisher's website (in French): http://www.pearson.fr/livre/?GCOI=27440100233890.
- To read about the book on the main author's website (in French): http://www.arch-image.com/wordpress/.
- To read a translation of the post from the main author's website (in English): http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/sketchup/11619-cool-book-about-sketchup-soon.html#post157358.
Title: Creer avec SketchUp
Subtitle: 16 projets, de l'architecture au theatre
Author: Laurent Brixius
Co-authors: Frédéric Blanc, Matt Chambers, Tim Danaher, David Harned, Takeshi Hashimoto, Alex Jenyon, Timothy S. Killen, John Lang, Lauren A. May, Koenraad Nys, Robert Playford, Nicolas Rateau, Patrick J. Reynolds, Mitchel Stangl, James Steacy, Jean Thiriet, Kim A. Tolman
Collection: Studio Graphique
Language: Francais
Publication date: Novembre 2009
# of pages: 320
Price: 32,00 €