Category Archives: Basic

Marqueed

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Marqueed is a Web application that allows users to share image files and comment on and mark-up those image files.

Marqueed is useful for collaborating on images remotely. While numerous tools exist for commenting on and editing text with others online, fewer tools are available that allow users to comment on and edit images online. As the jobs of technical communicators expand beyond producing text—and as technical communication jobs move to remote workspaces—collaboration tools such as Marqueed become more valuable.

You can sign up for an account and begin using Marqueed on the product’s Web site.

Google Drive can be used in a similar fashion, but it is not designed specifically with discussing images in mind.

GoVisually is a similar Web application to Marqueed that has a few more features but with a less simple design and use.

Session Buddy

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Session Buddy is a plug-in for Google’s Chrome browser that allows users to save and label Internet “sessions,” which gather all windows and tabs that are open when the user saves using Session Buddy.

Technical Communicators often rely on numerous information sources while writing. Many tasks will require the same resources. Session Buddy allows users to save groups of resources with names that can be useful for technical communicators.

You can download Session Buddy from the Google Chrome App store.

Session Buddy only works in Chrome. However, other developers have produced similar products for other major browsers.

Session Manager is available on Firefox.

A different Session Manager is available on Internet Explorer.

Canva

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Canva is a basic drag-and-drop graphic design software that lets you produce graphics for web or print.

How it is useful to technical communicators:

Technical communicators can use Canva to create web or print graphics, like profile and cover photos, flyers, ads, web banners, and social media posts.

Learn more:

You can access Canva on any web browser at www.canva.com. Users can create a basic account for free, or you can subscribe to a Canva for Work account for a fee.

Other software like it:

Google Drawing

Audacity

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Audacity is free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.

How it is useful to technical communicators:

Audacity can be used to add/edit audio when working on video assignments. It provides more audio manipulation techniques that are not available through video software.

Where you can learn more about it:

You can learn more about Audacity and download the software through the Audacity website.

Other software like it:

Adobe Audition

Dropbox

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Dropbox is an alternative file storage option that can be downloaded onto both Macs and PCs. It allows users to access their files from any computer by logging onto their Dropbox account, and to also share files with several other parties. Dropbox is especially helpful when sharing extremely large files that may be too large to send over email.

Collaborative teams and remote teams would benefit from Dropbox because files can be accessed and edited as long as there is an internet connection to login to the account. It could be compared to cloud-based storage options, but Dropbox is significantly more integrated into the user’s main computer, and allows for sharing in a way that isn’t possible with some cloud-based options.

More information about Dropbox and the way it works is available on the application’s website: https://www.dropbox.com/about