Davin's blog

Tag: writing

  • How to write release notes

    I confess, I’m a release notes reader, and I’ve read some overwrought release notes lately. When you use them like an installation guide, a features list, or a list of software conflicts, you’ve got it wrong. The purpose of release notes is simple: Release notes explain what changed with this version of your software. Period.…

  • Thanks MS. But I don’t want to disconnect from the Internet.

    That’s just a bizarre instruction. “You can now disconnect from the Internet.” I almost blew it too by clicking the “Cancel” button because (1) I thought it was all done and it was the only button shaped thing available, (2) I do not want to disconnect anyway. Luckily, I noticed in time that the progress…

  • Stay up-to-date through our…what?

    Okay, so…when I first glanced at this text, I did a triple-take because I thought it read, “The best way to stay updated with the Design Encyclopedia is through our ass… It’s actually “RSS,” not some kinky techie-mojo. Just thought I’d share. (It’s from The Design Encyclopedia, which is actually a cool project.)

  • Congratulations, your bank account has been deleted!

    I actually got this feedback from a website a couple days ago. It struck me as a funny confirmation.

  • Techie error text

    As I logged in to a local coffee shop wireless network, I got this message. I took a snapshot because I thought the error text was telling. Clearly, a programmer wrote it. Else you can always goto following url to logout… Here’s the thing: nobody actually says else and goto isn’t actually a word. And,…

  • Nice error text from Gmail

    I like the peronality coming through what would normally be very dull error text.

  • Don’t be passing up good…

    Don’t be passing up good jobs just because you lack the appropriate education. — From a spam message about enrolling for some sort of education program. I guess they are trying to write to their audience’s level.

  • MS Manual of Style has no “open source” entry

    I was just drafting an email and wanted to know if there is a standard way of writing out “open source,” like, is it capitalized. I happen to have the “Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition” on my desk, and I found no entry for anything resembling “open source” in it. Somehow,…

  • Email or e-mail?

    Searched Google for “email” and returned 802,000,000 results. Searched Google for “e-mail” and returned 1,300,000,000 results. But, also got Google’s “Did you mean: email?” prompt, which suggests that Google, at least, has “email” as a preferred term with “e-mail” as a variant term. I almost always write “email,” but when I think about it, putting…

  • Writing, distraction, writing

    So, I’m in the midst of trying to crank out a proposal that is to be in the mail today. I’m making progress, but too slowly. So, Chey told me to turn on some techno music and write to this blog for 5 minutes. So, I am. Any other bloggers out there getting comments that…