Books on Writing that are Worth Reading (and some that aren't)

Some books on writing are worth reading--and some aren't. Here is my list of must reads, and one must-avoid.

Is DITA a "semantic tagging" standard?

As much as DITA has the capacity to be a system for totally semantic tagging, the reality is that what happens to those tags totally depends on what kind of output you're generating, and what processing engine you're using to do it. So the answer to the question posed in the title is, "It isn't yet. But hopefully it will be, soon." This post explains why.

Titles, NavTitles, and SearchTitles

This is one of the decision-areas for departmental standards that needs to be decided at a new installation. It’s more about long-term implications than short-term. But as the number of topics grows, the long term begins to arrive.

Writing in 2nd Person

I have been writing in 2nd person for the majority of the last decade, mostly because it just felt better. But just the other day I realized exactly why it is the right voice to use for technical documentation. (It's rather astonishing how long it took, in retrospect.)