Category Archives: Basic

Pinterest

Posted on by

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board on which users can collect, organize, and store images that link to online content.

How it is useful to technical communicators:

Pinterest is often associated with recipes, craft ideas, and hobbies, but it can also be useful for organizing online material for classes and internships. Pinterest boards can help visual learners more easily keep track of online resources because images are paired with the content.

Where you can learn more about it:

Pinterest

Pinterest Help Center

Other software like it:

Pinterest is similar to a web browser’s “Bookmarks” folder, but it is organized visually.

Pocket allows users to store internet content to access later. It has a visual interface similar to Pinterest’s.

Confluence

Posted on by

Confluence is a software that is used for group collaboration.  It helps groups working on common tasks reach their mutual goals.  Users have the ability to create, discuss, organize, and centralize their projects all on one common and easy to access platform.  Confluence is a paid software, although users have the option to try a free trial version.

How it is useful:

In the field of technical communication, there are many instances in which the technical communicator must work in a group or collaborate on a project.  Technical communicators may also have the opportunity to manage or lead projects.  During these occasions, having resources to collectively use as a group to store and edit content is essential.  A technical communicator is expected to know how to use a number of collaboration-oriented software, so having an understanding of Confluence will benefit the technical communicator.

Where to learn more about it:

To learn more about Confluence, visit the website at the following link:
https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence
Try out a free trial in order to get hands-on experience with the software before buying it. To try out a free trial version, visit the following link:
https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/try

Similar Software:

Bitrix24 is similar in function to Confluence.  This is a more affordable software.  Users can download a free version, although it does not include all Bitrix24 features, or pay monthly in order to obtain the full version of this program.

Bitrix24 allows users to communicate and collaborate all in one location.  To access this software, visit the following website address:
https://www.bitrix24.com/

 

Visio

Posted on by

Visio is a Microsoft Office software that allows users to create graphs, diagrams, and flow charts to incorporate into their work.  This program provides an easy way to simplify and combine complex information into easy to read graphics.  It is a paid software, and users can access it through a free trial or by paying in small installments each month.

How it is useful:

Technical communicators will often find themselves using charts to display data.  Whether it be in project management or to display in some form of documentation, being able to create a graph proficiently is useful.

Although there are a number of programs that can create graphs, this program focuses solely on this function.  Instead of struggling to create a diagram through Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office created a separate software to make the process easy for anyone to tackle.

Where you can learn more about it:

To learn more about Visio, you can visit the software’s homepage at the following link:
https://goo.gl/74GVHa
Take a guided tour of the software or download a free trial in order to explore Visio yourself.  To access the guided tour of Visio, visit the following link:
http://testdrive.visio.com/en-us

Similar Software:

Omnigraffle is a diagramming application that allows users to organize thoughts in a visually appealing format.  This application is only available for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.  To access this application, visit its website at the following link:

https://www.omnigroup.com/omnigraffle

 

 

Adobe Acrobat Professional

Posted on by

Adobe Acrobat Professional consists of the Adobe PDF Reader and Editor. You can use this tool to create, edit, and export Portable Document Type (PDF) Files. This is a paid software and students can get only free trail if they download it directly from the website. To know about student license information check http://software.ncsu.edu/vendor/adobe/package/adobe-products-student-version.

What you need to know about Adobe Acrobat Professional:

Technical Communication managers expect you to know the basics of opening and editing a PDF in Acrobat Pro. Some companies also use it for preparing Release Notes. You should also know how to convert Word Documents into PDF and vice-versa. Apart from this, if you know how to add comments to a word document you should be able to learn about comments section in Acrobat Pro too.

How it is used in the industry:

As mentioned earlier, corporations use Acrobat Pro for editing and adding comments to a document. Technical Writers who prepare Product Documentation often use Acrobat Pro for preparing Release Notes to go with it. When preparing Release Notes, functionality ranging from writing, editing, and converting gets covered.   

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

This tool is not taught to students in the graduate level. But, students opting for electives specializing in Technical Writing in the undergraduate level will learn how to use this tool in the editing and document design course.

Where can you get more information and learn about Acrobat Pro:

You can learn about Acrobat Pro in the Adobe Acrobat Professional website at https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/tutorials.html. There are separate tutorials for beginners explaining each functionality.

Acrobat Pro is available in all NCSU Libraries, CHASS Lab, Tompkins Computer Based Classrooms for students access.

Alternative free open source software to edit PDFs:

If you want to learn to edit PDFs and work on them, there is a free PDF Editor called PDFescape. It is a cloud-based software that needs no mandatory registration or installation. It also works on multiple browsers.

You can access PDFescape at http://www.pdfescape.com/.

PDFescape will let you edit a PDF document up to 100 pages long. There is a restriction on file size and hence, your file cannot be more than 10 MB. You can also save your file online for up to 7 days. After that it gets deleted automatically. Most of the functions that you can do in Acrobat Pro is covered in PDFescape.