English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

For my instructions project, I think that a document markup test (described in Instructor Blog #6) will be most appropriate for my project. I think this test would be most appropriate for my instructions because it will help me identify the places in my instructions where I haven't explained clearly how to find the commands or buttons in the InDesign workspace. I have read several InDesign instructions (and other Adobe programs, e.g.

Thumbnails use a blue color with regular black typeface. The headers and subheaders are variations of Lucida Grande font and the body text uses Georgia. Dimensions are 9 in H x 7 in W to fit into a smaller instruction book.

Graphics include screen shots of menus and of the entire InDesign workspace combining screen shots with illustrated arrows to point out important features. I have put three sample graphics into one .pdf file for the rough drafts.

I have to say, I was pretty surprised by the Thomson Handbook's statement that capturing screenshots can be difficult and even time-consuming. While I can't speak for PCs (although Google informs me that you simply have to press the 'Print Screen' key), I can tell you that Mac has a some great key shortcuts that make it easy to catch anything on your screen and turn it into an image file. For any Mac users in the class, here are the shortcuts:

For my Instructions Project, I plan to create instructions on how to create a master page in Adobe InDesign. I will most likely create a sample master page to construct in the instructions (i.e., a tutorial) for a typical book or catalog layout. I have used master pages in InDesign for projects both in class and in internships. I have found master pages to be very useful when working with a longer document that has a standard layout for most pages.

These chapters offered interesting pointers about technical descriptions and instructions. I found the most helpful part of the chapters in Chapter 19, where the reading gave tips on the style you should use when writing technical descriptions.

1. Do I need to go into more detail about my experience/education?

2. Is my tone too rigid?

So, according to these readings, my cover letter's tone should be conversational, personable and relaxed (see "Junk cover letters kill good resumes"), but also cordial and professional (see Instructor Blog #3). I've personally never heard that a cover letter should be conversational, or written the way you would speak (as the "Junk cover letters kill good resumes" article suggests) and doubt that I will write my cover letter in a conversational tone.

Résumé attached.