An announcement
This is an embarrassing post to write, because if thereâs one thing I find awkward, itâs blowing my own trumpet. However, Iâm in need of work contacts, so Iâll prepare my embouchureâ¦
About a month ago, in response to my rather anguished plea for career suggestions, several people suggested technical authoring. I thought it was a pretty good idea, so I did a bit of research. It was clear that having some kind of portfolio (in addition to this weblog) would help me a lot, so I decided to see if I could persuade a shareware developer to let me write a manual for free, in return for using the result as a portfolio piece.
As luck would have it, that very day I stumbled on a fantastic piece of software, which didnât yet have any documentationâQuicksilver. The developer, Nicholas, accepted my offer, so Iâve been hard at work writing the thing for a few weeks. Quicksilver is proving to be very popular, and the clamor for documentation became so loud that we decided to release the manual in its somewhat unfinished form, alongside the new Beta version of the software. The past few days have therefore been very hectic, but fun.
So, I present the Quicksilver Manual: written by yours truly, edited by Nicholas. Itâs not perfect, and itâs not finished, so be gentle with me. Iâd love some constructive criticism, thoughâif anyone can be bothered to read it. And if by some slim chance you happen to be a developer looking to hire a technical author, then do get in touch.
Nicholas came up with a really cool job title for me: Lead Documentrix. I love itâapt, funny and ever-so-slightly saucy. Iâm thinking of getting a T-shirt made. So, if youâre contacting me about technical authoring, the address to use is: documentrix [at] rousette [dot] org [dot] uk.
Oh, and itâs my birthday today (thanks to David for the very observant birthday wishes)â¦
1
Happy Birthday, bsag - and congrats too.----- Have a great birthday.
by Pete @ 29/03/2004 1:03 pm • Permalink •
2
happy birthday! and great work on the quicksilver docs! that app is amazing, and now, thanks to your work, i'm actually getting my way around it... =)
by brian @ 29/03/2004 3:03 pm • Permalink •
3
You rock. Thank you so much and happy birthday!
by Nicholas @ 29/03/2004 3:04 pm • Permalink •
4
Many Happy Returns, and best wishes for the future.
by Keith @ 29/03/2004 4:04 pm • Permalink •
5
2004/03/29 09:58 QuickSilver has a manual
by 2lmc spool @ 29/03/2004 7:03 pm • Permalink •
6
happy birthday!
I don't know anything about quicksilver, but I'll try to read the manual and see if I have a clue...
by stacy @ 29/03/2004 8:03 pm • Permalink •
7
Quicksilver Screenshots Quicksilver action shots!
by metacosm @ 29/03/2004 8:03 pm • Permalink •
8
Hurrah! A very happy birthday to you, you lovely girl.
How excellent to see new adventures and horizons are opening up for you at this time. I will read it, but I know already that with your geekiness, wit and humanity, it will be good.
You are a star!
by ThoughtBadger @ 29/03/2004 9:04 pm • Permalink •
9
Happy Birthday! And good luck as a Documentrix. Damn! That's a good title. ^_^
by jess @ 29/03/2004 10:03 pm • Permalink •
10
QuickSilver is potentially huge.
Wait, nevermind, it's already huge. And potentially a lot huger.
Way to go. I wish you the best of luck with all of this. Documentation is so important with software like QS. This whole project has made smile from ear to ear since I discovered it two days ago.
by Jay @ 30/03/2004 2:03 am • Permalink •
11
Happiest of birthdays! Congratulations too on the opportunity to work on the Quicksilver docs. QS is a great application, and thanks to your documentation I've already learned more great things I can do with it. What I've read so far is clear and easy to understand. Well done!
by Doug Miller @ 30/03/2004 2:04 am • Permalink •
12
Happy Birthday!!
I've been using LanuchBar for quite a while now (paid for it too), and I've switched to QS as of late last week. Very nice so far!
The things I have to say about the Docs is that the Advanced section is a tease and I very much like the Tips.
by Jeffrey J. Hoover @ 30/03/2004 3:04 am • Permalink •
13
Yesterday I found myself idly wondering why you hadn't mentioned the amazing Quicksilver here - I discovered it over the weekend, and I'm not as quick as you normally. Now I know! I'm really pleased for you. I'm delighted that you have turned your formidable talents to tech-doc. I'll try and read the Quicksilver docs sometime.
btw I spent a bit of yesterday making the Mail.scpt in Quicksilver speak to Mailsmith rather than Mail...
by pete @ 30/03/2004 7:03 am • Permalink •
14
Lead Documentrix, good one, I�ve been jealous of people for less. Happy birthday, may your particular voice of curiosity, humanism and technological joy continue to give yourself & your readers pleasure & (cliche time!) food for thought for some time to come.
by john @ 30/03/2004 7:04 am • Permalink •
15
Whooops! Someone had to do it, eh? Documentrix, obviously.
by Jann @ 30/03/2004 9:03 am • Permalink •
16
Happy Birthday but she's a lead dominatrix!
by Jann @ 30/03/2004 9:04 am • Permalink •
17
A little behind everyone else, but happy birthday too
And I'll have a look at Quicksilver and your manual asap!
by djn1 @ 30/03/2004 3:03 pm • Permalink •
18
Hey, congrats! And, of course, happy birthday. As a non-mac user I won't get much benefit from the manual, but it looks good
by Jo @ 30/03/2004 3:04 pm • Permalink •
19
All: Wow - I'm overwhelmed. Thanks for the birthday wishes and lovely comments about the manual - both are much appreciated.
pete: Heh, I was bursting to mention it, and nearly shattered into a thousand geeky pieces (hmm, great name for a band - 'a thousand geeky pieces') under the sheer pressure. :-D I haven't had time to try and modify the Mail.scpt yet, but I would be enormously interested in the one you've written. What can I say - I'm lazy, and you're a far better Applescripter than I am.
Jann: I find myself having to type it very carefully.
by bsag @ 30/03/2004 5:03 pm • Permalink •
20
yes, well - my script got overwritten by the updated version of Quicksilver... my fault I suppose for mucking around inside packages and then forgetting. But I managed to find a copy, so it might get sent soon. (I'm not generally convinced by this way of integrating email support into applications. What's wrong with the good old Application Support folder?)
Anyway, I hope you're hard at the celebrations by now!
by pete @ 30/03/2004 7:04 pm • Permalink •
21
pete: "Great puddles of Splinge!". You know what would be really great? A random Bloodnok-ism generator.
Aaanyway... thanks for the script - works wonderfully. Perhaps you might consider submitting it on the QS forum when you're happy with it?
by bsag @ 31/03/2004 5:03 pm • Permalink •
22
Happy (belated) birthday, Lead Documentrix!!
by Artichoke Heart @ 01/04/2004 6:04 pm • Permalink •
23
Belated Birthday Greetings! I've been hiding away trying to finalise my manuscript which goes in the post April 13th.
Also turned 34 on the 31st. Kind of scary. Other coincidences: downloaded Quicksilver a week ago and love it. Applied for a job as a technical writer about ten days ago.
Good luck with all your projects!
by jb @ 02/04/2004 8:04 am • Permalink •
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Artichoke Heart: Thanks!
jb: And Happy Belated Birthday to you too! Before my birthday, I remembered that yours was a few days after mine, and made a mental note to send birthday greetings. Then I promptly forgot
Great minds think alike, eh? Good luck with your projects, too.
by bsag @ 03/04/2004 2:05 pm • Permalink •
25
Ack, I missed this post somehow! A very belated but equally happy birthday to you.
by David @ 11/04/2004 10:04 pm • Permalink •
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