Posts Tagged "findability"

Webinar Recording — Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies

I recently gave a presentation to the Southwestern Ontario STC chapter called Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies.  Here’s a recording of the presentation:

Webinar recording
Slides only
Audio only

Looking at Breadcrumbs in a New Way

One of the findability features in our help systems that we often overlook is the breadcrumb. Breadcrumbs typically sit above the page title and highlight the hierarchical path that leads to where you are. Here’s a screenshot of a typical breadcrumb, taken from Adobe Illustrator’s help: Greg Nudelman discusses breadcrumbs in one of his chapters (Read more...)

Using Tags to Increase Findability

I recently read Tagging: People-Powered Metadata for the Social Web (2008), by Gene Smith. Smith dives into tagging as a method for adding metadata to resources, which in turn increases the organization and findability of the resources. Traditional help authoring tools categorize resources through folders (a carryover from Windows folders), whereas web platforms typically use tags. Tags (Read more...)

Slides from STC Webinar on Organizing Content (Findability)

Here are my slides from the STC webinar I presented on organizing content (findability). The official title of the webinar was “Organizing Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies.”  I added detailed notes for each slide. This should make the presentation understandable even without the audio recording. You can download the presentation in two formats: PDF format (Read more...)

My STC Webinar on Organizing Content This Thursday at 4pm EST

I’m giving an STC webinar this Thursday. Here’s the description: Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-Based Hierarchies Organizing help content so that users can both find and learn information often requires technical writers to break out of the traditional topic-based folders and move toward faceted navigation, search engine optimization, interface text, level-based help, and (Read more...)

Podcast: Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-based Hierarchies

Length: 48 min. Audio with Slides MP3 Audio Only PowerPoint Show File PowerPoint Original File iPod format I recently gave a presentation at the STC Summit in Sacramento titled “Organizing Help Content: Breaking Out of Topic-based Hierarchies.” I would have recorded my presentation, but recording is not allowed. I did, however, record a practice run-through (Read more...)