Category Archives: Tips
Oct
If you open a document in Word and see what looks like large Ps at the end of every sentence, then the Show/Hide marker has been turned on. To get rid of a backwards P, do the following: Click the Home tab in the ribbon. Look for the Paragraph group. Click on the icon that […]
Oct
If you want to improve your web writing skills, follow these 10 steps: Write in chucks. To create your hierarchy, outline the website as you would for printed material. Examine the site’s purpose and outline the main sections (e.g. words people use to navigate) and the links within those heads. Test it before it goes […]
Oct
In MS Word, you can add vertical text inside a text box, shape, callout, or table. If you want to create vertical text in MS Word, follow these steps: Right-click on the table cell that contains the text you want to change. On the Format menu, click Text Direction. Select the orientation you want. MS Word: […]
James asks, “In Word, the Table of Contents gives an error message: { TOCO “2-4″H Z T “HEADING 1,1″}. How do I fix this?” I think the problem is to do with Field Codes. If you want to turn off field codes from appearing your Table of Contents in MS Word, follow these steps: In Word, […]
Oct
If you want to know how to hire a technical writer, read these guidelines. Jane R. in Texas asks for some tips on interviewing tech writers, especially when using assessment tests. Her company is about to hire their first full-time writer and they have not done this before. I’ve worked on both sides on the fence […]
Dec
Here’s how to fix the following error in Word when trying to open the Table of Contents. The error message is: { TOCO “2-4″H Z T “HEADING 1,1”} The problem is usually to do with Field Codes. Here’s a few suggestions. In Word, go to Tools > Options > View tab and click off Field Codes […]
If you use MS Word to write documents, you might find the following tips helpful. I use Word to write documents up to 200 pages, even longer, and have managed to keep the document in good shape by following guidelines. Formatting — avoid cutting/pasting material directly from one file into another as this brings unwanted […]
Summary: Writing for the web is very different from what you learn in school. The rules about grammar, structure, format, and narrative often don’t apply. In this tutorial we identify best practices on how you can improve your web writing, especially if you write for a company, corporate, or government agency. The University of Chicago “Most […]
Fonts. The one thing every sees but no one seems to notice. When I started in writing, it was generally accepted that Times New Roman was THE font to use for printed manuals. No ifs, buts, or maybe. Times New Roman size 11. I wonder if things have changed. Do we now prefer serif fonts […]
Google has introduced video ads to its Adsense offering. This gives web publishers an additional option when placing ads on their site. Instead of text and image ads, you can now jazz up your pages with video content. The video ads, or video units as Google likes to call them, allow you to enrich your […]
Cliff Atkinson from Sociable Media offers an excellent series on how to improve your presentations. In previous tutorials he suggested that you tell a story with your presentation and then how to use storyboards to plan your presentation. These tips follow-up on these tutorials and are worth book-marking if you’re nervous about making your first […]
The more sophisticated a society and its economy becomes, the easier it is for its citizens to do what they need to do. In Lima, Peru, to legally establish a one-person garment workshop takes 289 days of bureaucratic toil, costing $1,231, 31 times the monthly minimum wage. In the Philippines, purchasing land can involve up […]
Digital Trends offer a Financial Reporting Toolkit’s Formula Builder for MS Word. This add-in program that makes it easy to create formulas in Microsoft Word. Formula Builder walks you through the steps of building a formula. Click on the cell address you want in your formula and Formula Builder automatically determines the cell address for you. […]
