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Category Archives: For Work

Articles in this category help you simplify your everyday business writing, either by teaching you the right way to use a common template, or by teaching you tips and tricks to improve the way you compose and style technical information.

On Document Style: Headers and Footers

Yesterday I told a story about Annabelle playing pretend, whether that meant announcing herself to be a ferocious dragon to scare off things that go bump, or an innocent young babe to get away with outright disobedience. Either way, there’s magic in a little bit of delusion. And if you read the article when it [...]

On Document Style: Declaring Your Variables

As I’m sure all three-year-olds do, our precious little Annabelle has an incredible imagination, and she puts it to great use. As a storyteller, of course, I’ve cherished every moment of that. Or…well, nearly all of them. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here, but one of my proudest moments as a father so [...]

On Document Styles: How to Use Section Breaks in Microsoft Word

I spent yesterday explaining why technical writers use text columns, providing some specific examples along the way. What I didn’t provide was any kind of instructions. I hope to remedy that today. I’m going to walk you through the basics of setting up columns in Microsoft Word. Setting Up a Columned Layout The easiest way [...]

On Document Style: Text Columns

Yesterday’s story about carving out the blackberry bush, while carefully leaving load-bearing columns in the heart of it, would make for an excellent post on document structure. Wouldn’t it? Maybe I’ll have to tell it again sometime when you’re not looking…. Today I want to talk about a different type of columns, though: text columns, [...]

On Document Style: Building Forts

I’ve used today’s photo before, but it’s so adorable I just had to drag it out again. That’s not the only reason, of course. It’s also incredibly appropriate to the story I want to tell. I don’t know if it’s readily apparent in that image, but we were building a fort in that photo. I [...]