Document Design Links

• Adobe InDesign Tutorials
• Adobe PageMaker Tutorials
• Alignment
• Color Management Made Easy
• Conciseness is Key to Good Technical Communication
• Containment
• Contrast and Meaning
• Create Custom Grids
• Dabbling in Document Design
• Design for Reading
• Designing Documents with a Word Processor
• Document Design
• Grouping
• Headings, Titles, and Lables
• Layout
• Newsletter Design for Non-Designers
• Page Design: Directing the Reader's Eye
• Page Layout
• A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, But . . . .
• Technical Writing for Desktop Publishers
• Typography and Page Layout
• Typography and Page Layout: Margins
• Typography and Page Layout: Principles of Design
• When Good Color Goes Bad
• Whitespace

Resume Writing Resources

General Resources

• http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Resumes
• http://www.internationalstudent.com/resume_writing/samples.shtml
• http://content.monster.com/resume/home.aspx
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/p_resdesign.html

Skills-based Resumes

• resume with "skill summary" section
• excellent example, with callout boxes
• RISD course handout, with several skills based resume samples

Proposal Writing

• Does Typography Affect Proposal Assessment
• How to Write a Project Proposal
• Making a Proposal
• Proposal Writing Short Course
• Proposal Writer's Guide
• Writing the Winning Proposal

Sample Proposals

Excellent general models

• Two short proposals
• Proposal to Integrate User-Centered Design in the Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Proposal: Integrating Licensed Library Resources with Sakai

Good executive summaries

• American Health Choices Plan
• What To Do About ICANN

Some long proposals

• A Proposal to NOAO for the Dark Energy Survey
• Thirty Meter Telescope: Construction Proposal

Good introduction

• Anti-Span Technical Alliance Technology and Policy Proposal

Excellent layout

• Proposal for a Position as Python Advocacy Coordinator

Report Writing Resources

• Annual Reports that Work
• Business Reports that Demand Attention
• How to Write a Report Without Getting Lynched
• Looking to the Future: The Role of the Technical Communicator in On-Line Report Design
• Short Reports: How to Write Routine Technical Documents
• Some Advice on Writing a Technical Report
• A Structured Process for Turning Usability Data into Usability Information
• Technical Reports for Quick Reader Comprehension
• Ten Tips on Writing White Papers

Sample Reports

Formal annual reports with a high degree of "general audience" visual appeal

• PLANYC Progress Report (2008)
• Trafficking in Persons Report (2008)

Examples of "inverted pyramid" organization

• Homicide Trends in the United States Crime Data Brief
• "National Plant Genome Initiatiative: Progress Report"

Example of good use of "spot color," sidebars, and page frame elements

• "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States"

Examples of good progress reports

• "Developing a New IT Funding Model for Campus-wide Infrastructure and Services: Interim Report to the Provost " Notice how this report offers a "Highlights" section that is chronologically arranged.
• "River Murray Corridor Systems Model: Year 2 Interim Progress Report – Task A" - This report is organized by "Milestones," with the goal and progress to date outlined in each of two "milestone" sections.
• "PM Motor Parametric Design Analyses for a Hybrid Electric Vehicle Traction Drive Application — Interim Report " - This report follows a "topical" model with a detailed Executive Summary, following by an Introduction, Background, and Technology Review Section BEFORE the topically arranged body of the report.

PowerPoint Resources

• Rethinking the Design of Presentation Slides: The Assertion-Evidence Structure
• Undersdanding and Using PowerPoint
• Research Points the Finger and PowerPoint
• PowerPoint is Evil
• PowerPoint Presentations: A Speaker's Guide
• PowerPoint Makes You Dumb

Usability Resources

• Usability.gov - This site contains information on usability methodology, techniques, and research used by the Federal Government.

• http://www.usability.gov/pdfs/guidelines.html - This site contains the online web design and usability manual we discussed in class.

• http://www.usability.gov/templates - Templates used by the U.S. government in usability testing.

• http://www.usability.gov/basics/measured.html - Some methology used by the U.S. government in usability testing.

• Usabilitynet.org - This site is part of a project funded by the European Union to promote usability and user-centered design.

• http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/r_questionnaire.htm - On this site, you will find links to some of the general assessment tools recommended by the European Union to measure usability.