Technical Writer

I was speaking with another technical writer the other day, and the subject turned to tools of the trade. It’s always interesting to know what other people work with.  The software we can’t do without.  Here’s my list.

Microsoft Word

No matter what you say about Word, it’s a powerful tool, particularly when you start using functionality like styles, templates and macros.

This is probably the most basic tool in the tech writer’s toolbox.

SnagIt

You have got to have a screen capture program.  I use Tech Smith’s Snag It, and was so impressed with it at work I bought it for my home PC.

It has since become my graphics tool of choice as well. When I need to simply crop or resize a graphic I open it in Snag It rather than, say, PaintShop Pro.

XML Spy 

I seem to have been using Altova’s XML Spy for years now.  Each release gets more complex, with more features, but it’s the simple features that have been with the program for a number of releases now are the ones I can’t do without.

• Pretty print
• Schema diagrams
• Generating schemas
• Grid views (and the ability to switch between grid and text view)
• Quick transforms
• Creating updating XML in the grid

and the functionality they have really improved in the last couple of releases:

• Generating XML from databases.

As an XML editor, I think it’s still one of the best.

Captivate

I first came across Captivate at a conference. It had just been released, and Macromeida had someone there to demonstrate it.  The salesman loved the product, and it showed.  It was an impressive demonstration and and impressive product.

At the time Macromedia had just bought out RoboHelp, and everyone was asking “Was RoboHelp dead?”.  It looked as if it was, but MacroMedia seemed more than happy with RoboHelp’s little brother—RoboDemo—which they turned into Captivate. 

(We all know how that story ends, of course.  Adobe bought Macromedia, and suddenly the pre-eminent on-line help system had a new lease of life, along with it’s little brother. They’re both going strong.)

Captivate is a great tool for creating on-line training.  Check it out.

Dreamweaver

An oldie, but a goodie.  Everything you need in the one package to create web pages.  I am still using version 4, while Adobe is up to version 8, but I still couldn’t live without it (work-wise, I mean).

So there you have it.  Those are my tools.  Despite what I say, I probably could live without them all.  All one really needs is Notepad, after all, or some other text editor, but how much work would we get done?

I used Dreamweaver this morning to add 100 links to a site.  It took less than an hour.  If I’d had to do it in Notepad I would have been at it all morning.

Last Modified : March 21st, 2007
Filed under : Tools
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