Choosing a doc toolkit

Photo by Cottonbro Studios from Pexels. I have spent the last year at my current job working on transitioning our docs from Madcap Flare to Antora. First things, Madcap Flare is a great tool. This is the third place I have worked that has used Flare for some form of documentation, and it does its job well. However, there are several factors that impacted the decision to move away from Flare to another tool. ...

Building a Portfolio Site

Photo by Vojtech Okenka from Pexels. TL;DR Here’s what I did to create this site and give myself a (well, almost) free site to build out a portfolio. Create an account with a Git service provider. I used GitLab I already had, but GitHub also works. Select a starter template from Forestry.io for the desired SSG (static site generator) and create it on Forestry. Forestry.io automatically adds a new repository and branch on your Git provider. (I used the Hylia template for 11ty.) Authenticate with your Git service provider and import the site to Forestry. Publish the site to Netlify. Add content using Forestry.io’s headless CMS WYSIWYG editor, and Netlify automatically finds the changes as you make them and updates your site in nearly real time. Update In anticipation of different responsibilities brought on by a job change, I modified how I create my site. ...

My Tech Writing Journey

My journey into tech writing started in 2013. Reynolds and Reynolds Software Training I started out my journey into the world of talking and writing about technology and software as a customer trainer at Reynolds and Reynolds. A provider of software and other services for car dealerships, I taught dealership personnel and new ReyRey hires how to use the accounting and payroll portions of the software. I taught mostly online, interactive webinars over Webex, making use of their Hands-on Lab feature. I also taught in-person, intensive classes for dealership controllers and office managers and as a deep-dive into my specialty for recent Reynolds and Reynolds hires. ...