Services

Taking a FreshLook™

Training Writers

Coaching Writers

Writing from a User's Point of View

Increasing your Return on Information

Improving Documentation for Databases

Supporting Writers' Groups

We've prepared step-by-step instructions for using consumer databases such as the flatfile databases in AppleWorks, ClarisWorks, and Microsoft Works, and the relational database of FileMaker Pro.  We have developed detailed styleguides for the documentation teams on Relational's Ingres and the Oracle Personal Database. We have coached and critiqued the development of help systems for several of these databases, as well.

Working with Rich Coulombre, of the Support Group, we have created two books for developers of FileMaker Pro databases, from Addison-Wesley.

With our partner Dr. Subhasish Mazumdar, we have extended our FreshLook™ critiques to object-oriented database languages and environments, analyzing the documentation from the point of view of a developer, making specific recommendations for improvement when it counts--that is, during the actual development of the manuals. An example of our more theoretical work in object-oriented databases is our article on Adding Semantics to SGML Databases.