Webmaster, technical writer, production specialist, and editor with ten years of experience in the software industry writing, producing, and publishing documentation for software developers.
Accomplished webmaster with experience setting up and
administering web servers, designing aesthetically-pleasing and highly-usable
site templates for multiple browsers and platforms, and working across departments
to keep site information accurate and relevant.
Skilled technical writer with a diverse portfolio including WSDL annotations, extensive API documentation, internal and external Reference manuals, Getting Started guides, FAQs, tutorials, and internal and external procedures.
Experienced and independent production specialist
with extensive practice writing and producing long and
short documents in Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Word.
I have converted these documents to PostScript, PDF, Dynamic
HTML, and Microsoft Help using FrameScript and my own
custom WebWorks Publisher templates.
Proficient editor having edited a broad range of documents including FAQs, legal documents, web-based Marketing material, and long, technical documentation. I have also created and maintained several corporate Style Guides.
Achievements
Updated and published up to 8,000 pages of API documentation covering four platforms (SOAP, XML, Java, and .NET) every two weeks.
Designed and created 80-style, 12-master page, single-source
FrameMaker templates for Documentation and Training departments.
Created four internal training classes attended by representatives
from the Marketing, Training, Support, and R&D departments.
Received recognition from these departments for my initiative.
Enthusiastic participant in the eBay Developer Conference and eBay Live for two years in a row. Met with developers, did video and audio interviews, taped conference sessions, and created blog posts. Well remembered by developers.
Reviewed, tested, and documented bi-weekly schema changes to the eBay Web Services platform. Specialized in My eBay, My Messages, Notifications, and eBay Giving Works.
In first two weeks of work wrote a 60 topic embedded help file from scratch on a high-profile QuickBooks export tool (eBay Accounting Assistant), made significant contributions to the UI design, and provided content for the eBay Help pages.
Improved AutoMap build process to support afternoon and nightly builds of 15 different single-sourced doc sets.
Scheduled and performed full production on three major
product releases (print/PDF/Dynamic HTML) and six alpha/beta
releases (PDF/Dynamic HTML only) a year.
Tested PDF and HTML documentation, product CD, and product
installation image for every release.
Worked closely with writers at all stages of the documentation
process to provide technical and style support, address
questions and problems, and perform rotating integrity
checks to decrease time to print.
Maintained Documentation Team file server. Set up corporate
intranet so employees had immediate access to files edited
in real time.
Created the Corporate Style Guide via a Style Committee.
Frequently updated it with new decisions, and converted
it to multiple formats to accommodate online and UNIX-based
users.
Decreased InstantDB review cycles by two days by taking
advantage of time difference between the US and the UK.
Provided materials, support, and testing for third-party
Japanese translation agency resulting in under budget,
early delivery of translated documentation [Japanese
Getting Started: PDF 2.4MB].
Planned accurate production schedules for monthly production
of large (approximately 1000-page, five-book) documentation
sets given available resources and task requirements.
Performed final production on Borland software manuals
including copyediting, proofing, logical page breaks,
graphic manipulation (where needed), template integrity
checks, conversion to multiple formats (PostScript/PDF/Dynamic
HTML), and final archiving.
Provided technical, software, and style support to ensure
that writing teams worked efficiently and in line with
Corporate standards.
Worked with localization teams, remote print vendors,
and web groups to ensure timely delivery and publication
of final documents. Negotiated requirements with each
group and provided additional technical support where
needed.
Edited documentation in accordance with the Style Guide
for consistency of style and terminology.
Converted:
HTML to FrameMaker for the JBuilder team
RTF (Help) to FrameMaker for the Delphi team
FrameMaker to PDF and HTML for the C++Builder and
AppServer teams.
Set up and maintained Documentation Testing Lab of eight
machines running various operating systems, browsers,
resolutions, and applications.
Reduced conversion time by 50% and improved documentation
usability by designing and creating customized WebWorks
Publisher FrameMaker-to-HTML conversion templates.
Designed and created paper and online documentation usability
surveys to assess user needs.
Tools
Publishing (print, CD, web):
FrameMaker, Acrobat, Dynamic HTML (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), WebWorks Professional, AutoMap, Vignette, Plone, WebKing, WebDAV, Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project), Help Workshop, RoboHelp, HomeSite, Dreamweaver, HTML PowerTools, TextPad
