The objective for our style guide is to highlight the most important considerations so they’re together in the same place. That way, when we have a new member of our team or another contributor, it’s not a huge chore to review the team style guide and get up to speed.

It was with this in the back of my mind that I went to the Society for Technical Communication’s (STC) yearly conference a couple of weeks ago. I attended some sessions that had to do with writing for localization and for accessibility. In her presentation, “DUH: Diverse. Understandable. Human,” Char James-Tanny talked about inclusion being a better word than accessibility. Her presentation came close to what I had begun thinking about.

I was thinking that we often compartmentalize our writing. One person tells us we have to write to be accessible. Someone else says to write for easy translation. A third says to write for search-engine optimization. There are probably others.

Can’t we do all of them at the same time?

Of course, the answer is yes.

In attending these sessions and thinking further on it, I realized that a writer can meet these various needs through following certain guidelines and styles. I’m compiling a list that will inform the style guide, and I’m thinking about proposing a presentation at next year’s STC conference on the subject.

What are your thoughts? What other audiences or types of writing get compartmentalized like accessibility and easy localization do?

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Here are the main things I talked about. (Warning: I may not be using standard Illustrator terms here.)

I use Illustrator CS4 at work, so my demo and this post also use that version.

Gradients and Gradient Tool

Gradients give a nice three-dimensional look to graphics without a lot of effort. To get a gradient:

1. Draw an object.
2. With the object selected, click the gradient fill in the toolbar.

   

3. Change the colors in the gradient using Gradient palette. Click and drag colors from the Swatches palette into the handles in the Gradient palette.

   

4. Add handles by clicking just underneath the gradient slider in the Gradient palette.
5. Change the way the handles affect the gradient by clicking a handle (bottom) or a location point (top) and dragging it horizontally.

   

6. Remove a handle by clicking it and dragging downward.
7. Toggle between a linear gradient and radial gradient using the dropdown box in the Gradient palette.
8. Change the direction or severity of the gradient by selecting the Gradient Tool in the toolbar  and then either clicking and dragging on or around the object or manipulating the bar that appears on the object. 

   

Pen Tool

Use the Pen Tool to draw things. The idea is that you set anchor points, and Illustrator sets the line in between. Each set of connected anchor points is called a path.

1. Select the Pen Tool in the toolbar.
2. Click somewhere to set the first anchor point.
3. Click again to set the next one.
4. To create a curve, click and then drag in some direction. Two handles appear that indicate the angle and “speed” at which the line is coming to and leaving the anchor point. The longer the line, the higher the speed.

   

5. To make a closed shape, your last click should be on the first anchor point.
6. To change the angle of the handles after you’ve set the anchor point, select the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) in the toolbar. Then select the anchor point. The handles appear; click and drag a handle and move it where you want it.
7. To move an anchor point, select it using the Direct Selection Tool. Then click and drag it.
8. To move multiple anchor points at once to keep their relationship to each other, hold down Shift while selecting the points with the Direct Selection Tool. Then click and drag one of the points you selected.
9. Press P to start a new path.

I figure a lot of technical illustrations are created by first using the Pen Tool to draw over a photograph and then deleting the photograph.

Live Trace

Live Trace is a feature that cuts the colors in an image down to a number you specify. It works great for making an image look more abstract or like a painting. If you want your image in color, this works best for images with a similar range of colors.

1. With the image selected, go to Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options.

   

2. Click the Preview check box so you can see how your changes would look.
3. Set the Mode dropdown to Black and White, Grayscale, or Color.
4. If doing a mode other than Black and White (which assumes only those two colors), set the Max Colors to the number of colors you want in the image. You can use the up and down arrows to move it one at a time, type in a value, or click the right arrow to get a slider. Keep in mind that the more colors you set, the more the image will end up looking like the original (and the longer the preview takes to render).
5. Fiddle with the other settings if you want.
6. When done, click Trace.

   

Multiple Artboards

When you are creating an Illustrator file, by default you have one artboard—the thing that looks like a page. I’ve found that it’s convenient to have multiple artboards in one file if I’m going to be reusing a bunch of the same pieces for several different images. That way, I have all the colors I need in one file and don’t have to take time to import them across files.

To use, edit, and export from multiple artboards:

1. Select the Artboard Tool in the toolbar.
2. If you want, click and drag the handles on the existing artboard so it’s not bigger than you need it to be.

   

3. To make an additional artboard, click and drag somewhere in the dimmed out area. Now you’ve got two artboards.

   

4. Click the Pointer Tool (black arrow) in the toolbar. Notice one artboard is outlined in black and the other in gray. The black outline means it’s selected.

   

5. Click inside another artboard with the Pointer Tool to select it.

This is the beauty of it: The selected artboard is the one that will be exported if you go to File > Save for Web & Devices. So you can export multiple images from a single .ai file. Just make sure to select the right artboard before you export.

Direct Placement in InDesign

Finally, and I think I’ve mentioned this on this blog before, but placing .ai files directly in InDesign makes those images print out sharper than if you save the image as a .jpg or another raster format first. InDesign keeps it in a vector format.

To place the image, click and drag the .ai file from your folder structure (in Windows Explorer or whatever) onto your InDesign spread and release. There’s your image.

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But I’d like your help. I post here about whatever comes to mind in the field of tech comm. I’d like to know if there’s any topic I’ve posted about that you’d like to see me present on or something that has impacted you. Has there been a post or some related posts that have been useful to you or changed your thinking about something?

If you have any ideas, I have a year to turn my thoughts and work in that direction and develop some material.

Thanks for any help you can give.

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In today’s world of technology changing in the blink of an eye, ongoing professional development isn’t an option for technical communicators, it’s a requirement. Over the past decade the field of technical communication has grown and gained more respect as a legitimate profession, and the complexities of the job and skill base required of technical communicators have also increased. Some of what’s new we can learn on the job—if we have a job—but sometimes we need to obtain the skills to stay vital in other ways.

When it comes to professional development in tech comm there are a lot of options. If you’re gainfully employed, enjoying what you do, and just need to brush up on the latest tool, then probably just a training seminar or a short online class is all you need. But if you’re not employed, or employed in a different capacity than you’d like to be, then you might want to consider a bigger educational commitment to make yourself more marketable as a technical communicator in today’s world.

In 2008 I stepped out of the working world to go back to school to earn my master’s degree in technical communication. While I’d started my career as a technical writer in a software development environment, I’d changed roles along the way, and by 2008 I was wondering how I’d gotten on the train I was on and, more importantly, how I could get off of it. I decided earning an advanced degree was the right decision for me, so in January, 2009, I took the plunge and started graduate school as a full-time student.

Making the Decision

If you’re thinking about going back to school to earn an advanced degree a few things you should consider are:

• What is my financial situation? If you’ll be paying for your education yourself this is obviously one of the first things to consider. Even at a state school, graduate school is expensive (trust me). If you do like I did and go full-time you’ll need to make sure you can do without an income during that time.
• Why do I want to go back to school? Or, put another way, what do I want the end result to be? In May, 2008, when I was first looking into my program, I sat in my advisor-to-be’s office and told him I wanted “to catch up with the field of tech comm.” Throughout the program I never lost sight of that goal. (Along with the goal of wanting to get not just any job, but a good job as a technical communicator when I was done.)
• Do I have the determination it will take? Whether you’re going full-time or part-time and taking a class or two at a time while you work, graduate school is no small commitment. Make sure you understand that before you start—and it will still probably be different than you think.

Getting the Most Out of School

Once you’ve decided to go back to school I highly recommend you make the most out of your time as a student. Keep in mind that an academic program is just that: academic. Academic programs are good at teaching you how to think but they don’t always provide all of the practical skills technical communicators need, such as tools knowledge or authoring techniques. Augmenting your education with practical opportunities will make you a more well-rounded technical communicator (and better job candidate) in the long run.

Here are some ways I’ve made the most of my experience as a tech comm student:

• Get what you want out of the program—don’t let it define you. When I had to select a book to review in a theory class I chose Anne Gentle’s Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation rather than something more theoretical. For my final project in the same class I explored the idea of user-generated content and highlighted Adobe Community Help. For my capstone project, I put together a Help system for a product that didn’t have one. Selecting practical project topics whenever the opportunity presented itself made my academic program much more meaningful to me.
• Take advantage of student discounts. No, I don’t mean movie tickets and Disneyland (although those are good, too), I mean discounts to professional societies. Most professional organizations, including STC, SIGDOC, and UPA, offer membership discounts to students. While you can, take advantage of the opportunity to join organizations like STC at the discounted rate.
• Get involved in student or local professional chapters. If you have a student STC chapter at your school, seek out the faculty advisor and be a part of it. Or get involved with the local professional chapter. My local STC chapter welcomed my input and was glad to have me at meetings. We now have two student members on our Administrative Council.
• Participate in professional events. Over the course of my program I attended a conference on DITA that was held on my school’s campus; listened to webinars on FrameMaker and SEO put on by my local STC chapter; and attended the 2010 STC Summit in Dallas (taking advantage of the discounted student registration rate).
• Network, network, network. Start networking early, before you really need to. Saying you’re a student is a lot less threatening to people than when your focus is on finding a job. Start building relationships at the beginning; later, when you are looking for a job, you’ll be amazed at what the fruits of your labors may bring.

Peggy Harvey is currently wrapping up her M.S. in Technical Communication at North Carolina State University, graduating from the program in December. She serves as Treasurer and Membership Manager for the STC Carolina Chapter and is an active member of the technical communication community. After a two-year hiatus from corporate America she has begun her post-education job search and expects to re-enter the working world as a practicing technical communicator soon. You can reach her at peggy(at)connectingtocontent.com or follow her on Twitter.

Flickr photo credit: bruinshorty, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruinshorty/3873037675/.

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The last year wasn’t as amazing as I’d hoped, but we did a few things right.

Filled Leadership Positions

When I ran for president, we had no current president (due to circumstances that I won’t explain here). Our treasurer/programs manager/competitions manager was keeping things going, with help from the immediate past president. I had just taken over a few months previous as the webmaster because the previous one became unable to continue. Our ship was staffed by a skeleton crew and was probably close to being decommissioned by the central office.

After the treasurer and I ran for office and won, I set about filling up the chapter leadership positions. I asked the prior year’s immediate past president to remain in that position for one more year, and she accepted. I recruited Paul to serve as vice president and someone else as the public relations manager. Within a short time, a former chapter president stepped forward to serve as secretary, and another person offered to take the employment manager position. A previous education manager also returned.

It didn’t take long to get nearly a fully staffed chapter, and I was pretty proud of that. I think that after the year the chapter had just experienced, people responded when they saw that someone was sitting in the driver seat and had a foot on the accelerator. The great group we assembled paved the way for other accomplishments.

Survival

Even as voting was going on, I attended the 2009 STC Summit and found out about the million-dollar shortfall. What a fun thing to step into. Not only was I trying to keep the chapter’s collective head above water, but now I had to help the overall organization do the same thing. But I tried to know what was going on, keep the board informed, and get the chapter members’ thoughts and feelings about these events. I could have done better at letting the chapter know what was happening and at trying to recruit new members. However, we did what headquarters asked us to do, meaning that we created a zero-based budget and sent some funds to them so STC could come out of the red.

Ultimately, though the chapter came out of the dues restructuring with only 30 to 35 members, we’re moving forward.

Events

We offered a greater variety of events over this last year. Previously, most of our chapter meetings were in a presentation format. However, we introduced formats such as discussion forums and greater opportunities for networking. We also extensively explored doing webinars and half-day events, which we are introducing this year.

On top of that, we saw a 100% increase in attendance at some of our events. Attendance had been pretty scarce over the last year, and it began climbing back up. This isn’t to say that our events are packed, but by comparison, we made a big jump.

Chapter Website

Tom Johnson took on the webmaster position when I became president, and he led the effort with his WordPress expertise to making the chapter website a more dynamic source of information. The new website was a big step forward in engaging chapter members and providing up-to-date chapter information.

I should add that Tom opened a chapter Twitter account through which we automatically announce updates to the website.

Wrap-up

I’m not sure I was ready to be president of a chapter when I ran, but I knew our chapter needed a president last year or we would be sunk. Our treasurer needed more support. I certainly could have accomplished more, but I think our chapter saw a good year in spite of the challenges. Paul is enthusiastic and has a lot of great ideas, so I expect things to continue getting better.

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Gryp: You mean how that Sauron guy forged one HAT to rule them all?

Ben: You’re getting a few universes confused here.

Gryp: Me? You’re the one talking to a mythological creature.

Ben: *Ahem!* We’re going to talk about a discussion about the Society for Technical Communication that was started by Kristi Leach and carried on by Sarah O’Keefe and numerous others in comments on their posts.

Gryp: Wow, links within your dialogue. That’s pretty slick.

Ben: If you’re good, some day I’ll teach you how. So Gryp, the discussion is largely about old ways versus new ways of doing things. For example, big central conferences versus smaller conferences or unconferences with more open formats. Or top-down leadership and formal structure versus online communities and more volunteers. Would you like to comment on what you think about STC’s current state in this area and their efforts to make changes?

Gryp: I think there’s an interesting parallel between STC and the field of technical communication. Both are going through periods of transformation and redefinition right now, started by the fact that their value has been repeatedly called into question.

Ben: Interesting. I’ve thought the same thing.

Gryp: I do read your blog, but a little bias may be at play there. Let me give you another example. Certain aspects of tech comm change quickly, depending on where technology goes. XML, semantic content, social media, mobile delivery—you get the picture. However, the concepts and goals underlying the field don’t change. User analysis, clear communication, interviewing skills.

Just as technical communicators are trying to adapt to the latest trends and technologies in communication, STC is trying to shift in the way it communicates. Starting a blog, moving publications online to more robust platforms, that kind of thing. But the way STC communicates with its members, the media it uses, doesn’t change the underlying concepts and principles.

Ben: You mean advancing the profession, improving the practice of tech comm—things like that?

Gryp: Exactly. I can see how some people argued that STC needed to get with the times. A society of communicators ought to take advantage of updated communication channels. But this doesn’t change the core of the reason STC exists, and I suppose that’s why things like the annual conference may never go away. In spite of the next new thing, people still need to gather and exchange knowledge. They still need to get together and associate in real life, cultivate flesh-and-blood relationships.

However, you bring up a good point. If “improving the practice” means adopting new channels of communication with members, then STC ought to do that. Not only will doing so market STC better, but STC can stand up as an example of effective use of those channels. It seems the society as a whole lagged behind in using things like blogs and Twitter, but I think they’re catching up. They’ve got people on the board who are already doing those kinds of things, so it follows that STC as an organization would follow suit. I think you have some forward-thinking people running the show these days. But they’re a small number, so they need everyone’s input.

Ben: So do you think there’s an “old vs. new” problem in STC right now? Or are we treading on dangerous ground by using those terms?

Gryp: I think it’s fine to be talking about old and new as long as you’re doing a few things: not equating “old vs. new” with “old vs. young”; and not adopting new things just because they’re new, but doing it if there’s a real business case for it; and on the other hand, not holding on to older practices because you’re nervous about trying something different.

When she was STC President, Cindy Currie talked about the “new normal.” So people are already trying to paint STC as doing new things. The board is trying new things. So give them your feedback, volunteer if you can, and help build the new aspects of STC.

But keep in mind that STC will probably not be completely reinvented because some things are already working, and some things have to be done due to the type of organization that STC is. You may think that the 501(c)(3) card is played just when the board doesn’t want to change something, but its specific non-profit status is a real factor.

Anyway, if you want new, check out Michael Hughes’s first Open Mike post. See, I can do it too. There’s a bit of the new STC in Mike’s post.

Ben: That’s all we have time for right now. But feel free to ask either of us a question or express your view, and we’ll continue the discussion. Thank you!

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Thanks to Paul Pehrson, cameraman.

Tom’s other videocasts from the STC conference are posted on his site. He does a great job coming up with thought-provoking questions and conducting the interviews.

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Last year, I was the incoming Intermountain Chapter president. I missed the beginning of Leadership Day where then-president Mark Clifford took the chapter presidents and SIG managers aside and dropped the bomb labeled “$1.2 million shortfall.” The rest of Leadership Day, most of which I attended, held a tense atmostphere. People were upset and probably panicking to some degree. I felt somewhat overwhelmed as a new chapter president stepping into office and being handed these problems.

I wouldn’t say that I doubted the Society board over the following twelve months, but I tried to voice my concerns where members of the board would hear them. I admit that my dissatisfaction with the board stemmed from a perception that they weren’t open and transparent enough. They solicited ideas from all members, but I didn’t see much communication back that described which ideas the board was discussing. I wasn’t alone on this.

This year, the proceedings of Leadership Day left me with a feeling of greater confidence in STC and its board. I believe that STC is moving forward with more strength and a clearer vision. We still have problems to solve and obstacles to remove, but I believe the board has made huge strides. I’ll tell you about four things that are reassuring for me.

Recommendations from the Community Support and Funding Task Force

Hillary Hart, now vice president of STC, assembled a task force with leaders of communities from all size categories. I had the opportunity to join but didn’t think I could give it the time it would deserve. But the task force surveyed members and made recommendations for board consideration that would boost the support that chapters receive and improve members’ perceptions of the organization and board.

The main recommendations that I support are:

• STC should position itself as the place to go for employers to find technical communicators.
• STC should position itself as the place to go for training on how to write technical papers and how to write technical presentations.
• STC should create a marketing committee to promote STC.

Having been told by chapter members who declined to renew membership this year that STC’s value level didn’t justify the cost, I felt strongly enough about these items that I stood up at an audience microphone and thanked the task force for their work and their recommendations. I think if acted on, these recommendations will significantly increase STC’s importance.

Certification

Cindy Currie announced that the board approved a plan for a work-based certification program with a revised plan due in June. Instead of having to pass an exam, practitioners in the field of tech comm can submit work to be critiqued in six areas. I wonder what this means for communicators who deliver proprietary, private, or sensitive information and will be finding out before the conference is over.

Still, this provides technical communicators with the opportunity to obtain credentials in the profession. As a result, employers will have this specific standard against which to judge candidates and know that someone who has been certified by STC has certain skills.

Marketing Committee

Of course, if employers continue to lack understanding of technical communicators, our skill sets, and why we’re important, they won’t care about our credentials. The task force recommended a marketing committee be formed, and this made perfect sense to me. Chapters have a PR manager position, so why isn’t there such a thing at the Society level?

Mike Hughes wrapped up Leadership Day with a preview of his speech for the annual business meeting the next evening, and he told us that he had already begun forming a marketing committee. This group will focus on making sure employers know who STC is and who technical communicators are.

Transparency and Building Trust

In his closing comments, Mike also told us that one of his emphases as president of the Society will be for the board to open up to the members a lot more. Mike wrote on his personal blog about struggles the board faced, and I think doing so increased his credibility because people could see that the board is composed of real people who wrestle with real problems, and it wasn’t their intent to force a policy or procedure on people. Mike’s posting about it didn’t hurt the board’s image in my mind.

Mike wants members of the board to speak more openly about their deliberations so that members of the Society can become engaged and offer input early—of course with the caveat that we will be listened to, but our ideas may not be acted on. But that openness and encouragement of conversation will help to build the trust that many members lost over the last year.

Wrap-Up

I believe that having made it through the financial crisis, STC can make big strides toward being what it should and being the gathering place for technical communicators of all varieties. It’s encouraging to have received confirmation that Mike and the rest of the board see our problems and want to engage in more open communication with the rest of the members.

When I renewed at the beginning of the year, I was giving the board a year to show me what they would do. After what happened on Leadership Day, I expect I’ll be renewing my membership again in 2011.

Cross posted at http://intermountain-stc.org.

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What I was highlighting was that student members of STC are paying members and therefore have invested in STC. They are interested in the future of STC, which is directly affected by which officers and board members are elected. I think that if a student member cares enough to vote, he or she should have the ability to do so.

Benefit Number One

I admit that when I was a student member five years ago, I didn’t care enough about happenings at the Society level to vote even if I had had the ability to. But just as in national politics, at least in the United States, many people who have the ability to vote in STC elections don’t take the opportunity to. If STC wants as much participation in the international elections as possible, permitting student members to vote is a way to accomplish that.

Benefit Number Two

Giving student members the ability to vote has another benefit: These members will likely feel more loyalty for STC because they haven’t just paid money into the Society; they’ve also helped select its leadership. STC giving student members a vote shows that they care what the students think. They will be more likely to renew next year, possibly as full members. I think STC could be making a big mistake by continuing to not allow student members to vote. As a chapter president, I’d like for student members within my chapter to vote in chapter elections.

Ignorance Alert

Now, I say all of this without knowing why STC leaders have made the decision to exclude student members from elections. Part of the rationale may be that 1) if students get a significant discount, their benefits should be limited somehow, and 2) by limiting the benefits student members receive, we prevent use of this membership level by people who aren’t actually students. (I don’t mean to doubt the ethics of any STC members or would-be members, but you never know what some people will do to save a few bucks.) STC could verify the enrollment of student members at the educational establishments they name when joining, but that’s extra overhead that we don’t need, particularly right now when STC is trying to reduce overhead.

If you have any insight as to why student members can’t vote or would like to otherwise voice your opinion on the matter, please comment.

And if you’re a member of the STC Ideas Ning network, you can see Bill Swallow’s proposal regarding student member voting.

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Yesterday, I gave an STC Web seminar on using quick reference guides as part of a documentation set. (I’ve included a picture of how I used my wife’s earwarmer to work around the fact that the speakerphone feature on my new phones is less than desirable.) I answered a number of questions that participants typed into the meeting’s chat box and would like to pass them on. However, I ran into some technical difficulty when I tried to save the chat transcript, so I’m going from memory when writing these questions. These aren’t in any particular order other than the order in which I remembered them. I’ll also do my best to answer, especially now that I’m not on the spot.

What’s your favorite typeface for quick reference guides?

Given the audiences I write for, I anticipate that most of my guides are going to be printed, so I use a serif typeface for body text. I’ve gotten somewhat weary of Times New Roman—so little personality to go along with its readability—so I’ve gone to Cambria. (I know that Word 2007 has heading styles pre-programmed using Cambria, but I usually use sans serif typefaces for headings.) I think Cambria makes a good body typeface.

For headings, I may use Arial, Lucida Sans Unicode, or something similar. I don’t really care for Verdana because it’s so wide. And when you bold Verdana text, it blows up like a balloon.

How do you estimate how long it takes to create a quick reference guide?

That’s a tough question because it varies. How long a guide will take depends on how much of the content is text or images, how much of the content you can use from an existing help system, and so on. If you’re just starting to create quick reference guides, they may take you longer, but as you do more, you’ll probably get faster at them. But each one can take its own tender loving care, so it’s hard to say for sure.

What do you do when SMEs want a quick reference guide and it doesn’t really fit the situation?

One of the great things about quick reference guides is that after you’ve done a few, project managers, SMEs, and others become fans. Then they come up to you and say, “Hey, we need a quick reference guide for . . .”

This can also be bad—if they really don’t need one. And you have to tell them that.

I think the best thing here is to have the requestor explain the situation. Then talk through how the quick reference guide will or won’t meet the need. If there’s something better, like a video tutorial, explain why. It shows expertise when you can explain why a quick reference guide isn’t appropriate for a given situation rather than promoting it as a one-size-fits-all method of delivering documentation.

Do you put quick reference guides in the documentation plan or project plan, or do you just do them when the need comes up?

It depends. It’s best to try to anticipate the need for quick reference guides when a project is in its early stages. Then there’s a budget for the time you’ll need, and you can schedule that work.

However, as mentioned earlier, sometimes a need comes up unexpectedly. The project manager or a SME may see a need, or you may see it. If it’s a valid need, then some negotiation may be in order. Some of your work may have to be moved around. If the customer or manager wants a guide that wasn’t planned on and you anticipate that it will take more than a few hours, let them know that something else will have to slip.

I wish I could say that I’m a whiz at knowing at the beginning when a quick reference guide will be a great addition to my documentation set. But to this point, the need has usually made itself known while the project was in progress.

What typeface do you use if something will be viewed both online and in print?

The general rule is to use serif typefaces for body text that will be read in print, and sans serif for text read on the Web. (You’ll notice I’m breaking the latter rule on my site. But I made a deliberate choice to use Georgia.) If your guide is going to be read in both places, do some additional research if needed and find out which will be done more than the other. Follow the rule for whichever medium will be used more. However, if it’s pretty even, go with sans serif. I think a sans serif font is a little easier to read in print than a serif font is to read on a screen. But I don’t have any research at hand to back up that statement.

Do you coordinate with technical support when deciding what information is essential vs. nonessential?

To give a bit of background on this question, I explained in the presentation that when you’re creating content for a quick reference guide, it’s good to separate your information into essential vs. nonessential categories. That way, you include what’s essential, and if you have room left over, you can add some of the nonessential stuff. Further, if reviewers want you to add text to the essential concepts, you can bump some nonessential stuff out.

If you’re creating a guide for a product that hasn’t been released, then it doesn’t really make sense to contact support. At this point, like most pre-release documentation, the guide is anticipatory. We’re anticipating what users will need to know. However, if the product is has been released and you think a new guide would be beneficial, I think it would be helpful to get information from support on users’ questions or to find what knowledgebase articles are accessed most. This is probably a good practice for any technical communicator.

But no, personally, I haven’t engaged technical support while putting my guides together.

Do you include cross references among guides?

Not often, but every once in a while, if I have more than one guide for a product, each serving a different purpose, I may need to refer a reader from one to another. However, in one project, I included electronic versions of guides with the help system in the software build so that I could link to it from pages like the FAQ because it answers some of the questions. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with cross referencing among guides if it’s more appropriate than repeating a bunch of information in multiple places.

Could you include quick reference guides in a manual along with the chapters?

This is an interesting idea I hadn’t considered before. But if you’re creating a manual anyway, it could be a good idea to include a quick reference guide (or set of them) on a perforated sheet for easy removal—something showing the most important concepts from the section or the entire manual. It would take some coordination with the publisher so that you have perforated paper in the right places, but it’s an idea that has merit.

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