2017

Southern Communicator

From the editor’s desk Ana Young gives us an outline of what to expect in this issue of Southern Communicator.
Foreword: New tribes - Rhonda Bracey gives us an insight into our working world and how we operate within it.
Technical Writing by the Numbers. Brian Lindgren uses some amusing advertisements to make a serious point: how you express numbers is just as important as words in getting your message to readers.
Design words with data. John Saito explains how data informs the writing at Dropbox.
Using variables in Flare to simplify PDF templates. Daniel Ferguson explains how Flare variables are an easy, yet powerful way to simplify single‐sourcing in Flare.
ASTC Conference notice
Too many words. Irene Wong's tips tell us how to reduce our text and why we should.
Is Zoomin in your future? Janet Taylor interviewed Joe Gelb to learn about Zoomin, a new era in software designed to take care of that exploding volume of content we are faced with.
The three ingredients of cost‐effective writing. Simon Hertnon asserts that there a three key ways to reduce the cost of the documentation process.
Seven habits of highly effective technical writers. Barry Saiff gives us his opinion on what makes a great technical writer.

From the editor's desk Ana Young gives us an outline of what to expect in this issue of Southern Communicator.
Foreword: Why technical writers are driving the customer experience bus Joe Gelb challenges the doomsayers with a different view of the with a different view of the future for technical communicators.
Alliteration has no right to work as well as it does Irene Wong makes a case for us to use alliteration in our work.
What is the user experience of content? Content strategist, Augustin Kendall, describes his four must-haves when preparing content and gives us a very easy to understand analogy.
What every technical writer should know about graphic formats Daryl Colquhoun shares some of his extensive knowledge of graphics.
Welcome to the Write the Docs community Swapnil Ogale introduces Write the docs to Australian technical communicators.
Generate content from source code using doxygen Grant Noble suggests you consider using doxygen to keep your API documentation up to date.
TechCommNZ Conference - Collaborate 2017
How to become a more confident speaker Grant Baldwin gives his advice on how to become a more relaxed, confident speaker.
Increase the clarity of text by using ASD Simplified Technical English (STE) Mike Unwalla discusses the benefits and potential drawbacks of using STE.
Windows 10 tip: Reset your PC completely Ed Bott gives a really handy tip for an option we may all need at some time or another.