March 2009
Tech writing blogs
Here’s a list of blogs (and some other online content) that I read on a fairly regular basis. The blogs I read most often are towards the top of the list, the ones I dip into now and again are towards the bottom.
If you want to quickly check the most recent post for each of these blogs (well actually just the ones whose RSS feeds work) have a look at my Recent posts from my favourite technical writing bloggers page.
I’d Rather Be Writing
A blog about the latest trends in technical communication
Author: Tom Johnson
About: “… technical communication touches many areas, such as usability, marketing, information architecture, content management, XML, Web 2.0., DITA, management, graphic design, web design, learning theory, social media, and of course just plain writing. Technical writers are often learning and working with the latest technologies. I touch upon many of these topics in my blog.”
URL: http://www.idratherbewriting.com/
justwriteclick
Author: Anne Gentle
About: [Anne blogs about technical writing, information architecture, topic authoring, social media, and other technologies that catch her eye. Anne’s interests include structured authoring, DITA, social media, writing in an Agile environment, wikis and FLOSS Manuals.]
URL: http://justwriteclick.com/
Technically Speaking
Author: Paul Pehrson
About: [Paul doesn’t describe his own blog, so I’ll just say that I like Paul’s blog because he talks a lot of sense and doesn’t over-blog, so you pretty much always know his posts are worth reading. -AC]
URL: http://blog.paulpehrson.com/
ONEMANWRITES
Author: Gordon McLean
About: [Gordon writes thoughtful pieces about the craft of technical writing, working in an Agile software development environment, managing the documentation process, trends in software and documentation, and ways to improve user assistance. His blog posts are often more like articles and deserve to be read carefully and considered.]
URL: http://www.onemanwrites.co.uk/
UAX (User Assistance Experience)
Explorations of how we deliver information to users
Author: Michael Hughes
About: [Michael writes nice short, often humorous, blog posts about online help.]
URL: http://user-assistance.blogspot.com/
Rahul Prabhakar - when the muse strikes!
Author: Rahul Prabhakar (based in Seoul, South Korea)
About: “This blog chronicles some of my most recent work related to technical communication.”
URL: http://2brahulprabhakar.blogspot.com/
ffeathers
a technical writer’s blog
Author: Sarah Maddox
About: [Sarah’s blog is centred around the work she does on Confluence, and on wikis in general and other types of social media. It gives a little bit of a sneak peek into how things work at Atlassian, which can be fascinating to dip into.]
URL: http://ffeathers.wordpress.com/
Gryphon Mountain Journals
Technical Communication and Other Writing Topics
Author: Ben Minson
About: “I blog to help my brain process events and ideas in my field so that they are more meaningful. I blog in the hopes that something I say may carry some value for someone else. I blog because it’s an excuse to write more than software documentation.”
URL: http://www.gryphonmountain.net/
HelpScribe
Improve your technical writing skills!
Author: Craig Haiss
About: [No About page]
URL: http://www.helpscribe.com/
Communications from DMN
Author: Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt
About: [I’ve only recently discovered this blog. It doesn’t describe itself, and I need to read it for longer before offering a description myself.]
URL: http://www.dmncommunications.com/weblog/
A Techie Tech Writer Blog
Musings on technical communication, open source software, and related topics
Author: Janet Swisher
About: This blog is about technical writing and related topics, particularly for the software industry. Topics include technical communication, open source software, user assistance, interface design, and whatever else I find something to write about.
URL: http://www.janetswisher.com
TECHWR-L
Author: community-based
About: TECHWR-L (that's "tech-whirl") is the Internet-based community and resource for technical communicators worldwide.
URL: http://www.techwr-l.com/
Shanghai Tech Writer
Technical Writing, Technology, WordPress, Web 2.0, National Instruments, LabVIEW, Shanghai, China
Author: Susan Wu
About: [Some of Susan’s posts provide a fascinating insight into life as a technical writer in China.]
URL: http://www.shanghaitechwriter.com/about-me/
Kungfuwit: Tech Writing FU
Author: Anonymous
About: A resource of how-tos, quick tips and tools for the everyday technical writer by a Web 2.0/3.0 tech tinkerer, instructional designer in the tropics of South East Asia.
URL: http://kungfuwit.wordpress.com/
UXmatters
Insights and inspiration for the user experience community
Author: Various (with an editorial team)
About: A high-quality Web magazine that aims to deliver compelling content about developing effective user experience (UX) strategies. The site also provides a forum for the discussion of progressive ideas about important issues relating to user experience.
URL: http://www.uxmatters.com/index.php
Usable Help
Examining documentation and help systems since 2002
Author: Gordon Meyer
About: [Gordon writes nice short blog posts with links to useful resources and interesting, relevant information.]
URL: http://www.g2meyer.com/usablehelp/
A Tech Writer's World
The philosophy of technical communication
Author: Andrew Brooke
About: Andrew says: “As you can tell, I am intensely philosophical about information. The point of this blog, therefore, is to offer my views on various topics, and relate them to technical communication.”
URL: http://techwriters-world.blogspot.com/
Core Dump
Author: Keith Soltys
About: “Things that interest me: science and technology, music, technical communication, computers and software, science fiction, and whatever else I feel like writing about.”
URL: http://www.soltys.ca/coredump/coredump.html