Standards for Online Communication: Amazon.ca: Dawn M. Stevens, JoAnn T. Hackos: Books

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"...recommended for those who need help getting started and in finding the right questions to ask."----From Library and Information Science Annual, 1999

Book Description

Experience firsthand what makes online information work and why

Standards for Online Communication gives you guidelines for how to place information online within your company. It provides both a design and development process and a set of guidelines for the Internet, intranets, and help systems for designers and authors who need to create effective electronic information.

Drawing on their design and consulting experience, authors JoAnn Hackos and Dawn Stevens demonstrate how to judge what will work for your users, how to translate users' needs into a set of clear specifications, and how to implement these specifications. Using examples of good design, they provide expert advice and guidance on:
* Giving customers and employees the online information they need to do their jobs
* How to organize online information so your users can easily navigate through it
* Dealing with the special design requirements of the Web, intranets, and online help systems
* What graphics users really need and where sound and video fit in
* The issues involved with accessibility and navigation-multimedia, maps, indexes, hypertext, and more

On the accompanying CD, you'll find a winhelp file of the book designed according to the principles taught in the book. Whether you are a webmaster, user-interface designer, content creator, or technical writer, with Standards for Online Communication you'll experience firsthand what makes online information work and why.

Visit our Web site at: http://www.wiley.com/compbooks/

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Electronic information, information databases, corporate knowledge bases-they're the wave of the future and becoming more commonplace every day. Read the first page

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Concordance

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5.0 out of 5 stars An eye-opening book that changed my approach for the better, July 3 2001

By

Linda Zarate "IT Ops Consultant" (Azusa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standards for Online Communication (Paperback)

The approach outlined in this book has completely changed the way I tackle developing on-line documents. I have extensive experience in a technique called Information Mapping that is an analysis and document design methodology for paper documents. In many ways the authors' methods are similar to Information Mapping - at least at a macro level. After reading this book I've gained an appreciation for the vast differences between paper and on-line documentation. My "paper-based" thinking before this book resulted in a waste of the underlying capabilities of an on-line document. The authors show how to use technology to vastly improve your reader's efficiency and overall experience when seeking and reading the information you create. If you are used to writing for paper-based publications, or have deveopled on-line pages using nothing but intuition and judegement, this book will completely change your way of thinking.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A must for online Help authors, May 22 2001

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Heather Sharfeddin "ContemporaryWestern.com R... (Beaverton, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Standards for Online Communication (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for helping technical authors accustomed to writing printed documentation in understanding how and why the structure should be different for online readers. Too often authors simply move the information online without any clear understanding of the context in which the reader is using it. I recommend this book to anyone developing software Help files or planning single sourcing documentation.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Tech Writer's Bible, Aug 10 2000

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Garbonzo "rr martin fan" (Corona, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standards for Online Communication (Paperback)

If you are serious about becoming a successful technical writer, I highly recommend purchasing this book.

Of all the books I have purchased, I refer to this one the most often. The CD is great because it has the entire text of the book categorized for easy access right from your computer!

Many technical writing books are outdated and were written BI (before the internet). This book focuses on technical writing using newer technology such as the Internet, WWW, and corporate intranets.

I can't count the number of times this book has come in handy. It is a great reference that you should keep close at hand. Great job Joann!

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars This one's a keeper.
Recently, I worked on an online help project and found various parts of the online communication process mystifying, which our online help writers take for granted. Read more

Published on Jun 30 2000 by Melanie

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Have" for Technical Writers
I have a shelf full of books on technical writing. Ever on the lookout for something new or better, I picked this up. As usual, Joann delivers only the best.