Technical Writing ToolBox

A Blog on Technical Writing

Category Archives: Software

Top 10 Best Jobs in 2013

1 Comment Posted by Gurpreet Singh on March 14, 2014

In my last blog post, I talked about the 60th best job in 2013– Technical Writing. But what about the top 10 best jobs in 2013?

Comcast released a list of top 200 different jobs in the U.S based on five criteria: physical demands, work environment, income, stress and hiring outlook. The data for this report came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies in the U.S.

The 2012 MadCap Roadshow in Toronto

2 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on May 12, 2012

MadCap Software visits several cities in the US, Canada and Europe to provide an intensive, one-day technical writing seminar called Madcap Roadshow.

Thanks to the heavily discounted price (75% off), available only for technical communication students, I registered for the 2012 Madcap Roadshow in Toronto. This event will be held on 17th May at Toronto Hilton. I am pretty excited about this event as this would be my first Madcap Roadshow. Even without the student discount I might have attended it at the regular price ($99) due to the value it provides.

The only thing I hate about this event is that it is scheduled on Wednesday instead of a weekend. I have to miss two classes, TCN806-Web-Based Training and Multimedia and TCN800-Technical Writing II, to attend this event. However, our cool professor, Beth Agnew, records her sessions and upload her slides and audio recording of the entire lecture in Blackboard so I can still go through it later in the week.

Pomodairo: A Software Timer based on the Pomodoro Technique

6 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on May 10, 2012

Program Name: Pomodairo

Use: A software timer based on the Pomodoro Technique

Cost: Freeware

Size: 1.7 MB

Works on: Windows (XP/Vista/7), Linux and Mac (requires Adobe AIR)

Download Link: http://code.google.com/p/pomodairo

5 Free Online Tools for Distraction-Free Writing

7 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on May 8, 2012

Last week I talked about the importance of distraction free writing and suggested five free desktop tools for distraction free writing. However, some of us cannot install any software in a workplace computer due to the mighty-IT department restrictions or often work on shared computers. If you find yourself in either of these scenarios then you can use an online version of a distraction free software.

An online distraction free tool allows you to write without any distraction. There is no installation required and it can work with any modern browser. Let’s look at five such online distraction free tools:

Update (19 Feb 2014): A reader comment pointed out that QuiteWrite, LightWrite and Writer are inaccessible.

1. Koi-Writer

Online Access: http://www.koi-writer.com

TextCrawler- Search and Replace Text in Multiple Files

5 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on April 30, 2012

Program Name: TextCrawler

Use: Search and Replace Text across multiple files

Cost: Freeware

Works on: Windows (XP/Vista/7)

Detailed Review: Read here (opens in a new window)

Download Link: http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/content/textcrawler/tcdownload

I’ve often faced disappointment from various Help Authoring Tools when it comes to a simple text operations such as search and replace among multiple files. Most of the time I had to create a small macro that could do the job, or had to manually search and replace the text in html mode. Few years back I started using specialized text editors such as Crimson Editor and Notepad++ to do the job. They were good but limited in their functionality and took a lot of time to do the job.

I recently started using TextCrawler and have been pretty impressed with its ability to find and replace text among multiple files.

Five Best Distraction-Free Writing Tools for your Desktop

14 Comments Posted by Gurpreet Singh on April 24, 2012

As a person who makes his living by writing, I have to admit that writing is hard work. And what makes it even harder are the constant distractions in our workspace. I’m not talking about noisy children, complaining in-laws, and constantly barking neighbor’s dog (although they all distract!). I’m talking about the constant electronic distraction on our computer screen.