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Technical Expertise: Writing & Editing
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Much of our writing and editing experience
is from documenting and editing computer products under development.
This means continually changing the document as the product’s feature
set, functionality, and interface evolve. Typically, this work is
carried out under shifting priorities, moving deadlines, and changing
organizational structures. |
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We find that planning ahead, being flexible,
and keeping a positive attitude are essential components in making
us good writers and editors. Most likely, your project shares one
or more of these traits. We stand ready to help you succeed. The project
backgrounds listed below show how we have helped others. |
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To give you a good idea of what you
can expect from working with Smith Editing, we have also included
many project samples. You can click the links in the project descriptions
below, or go to Technical Samples,
Corporate Samples, and Medical
Samples pages directly. |
Textbooks
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Writing
Testbenches: Functional Verification of HDL Models, 383 pages.
Captured the attention of the electronic design industry by being
the first book to focus entirely on verification. Targeted the engineer
interested in planning and implementing a verification process for
hardware designs. High demand pushed the book into its fifth printing
in just two years. Authored by Janick Bergeron (www.janick.bergeron.com).
Editor of manuscript and author of back cover copy. |
Quick reference guides
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e
Language Field Guide,
30 pocket-sized pages. Provided verification engineers with e
language syntax, examples, and coding guidelines. Used unique step-page
layout where the labels identifying each page’s contents were visible.
Designed page layout, formatted, and edited manuscript. Also developed
online PDF version that had bookmarks, hypertext links, and search
capabilities. Award of Excellence winner in 2001 Society of Technical
Communications competition. This guide was developed for Qualis Design
(www.qualis.com), a verification
IP, consulting, and training firm. |
Conference presentations
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Maximized engineer’s billable time
by editing, co-authoring, illustrating, and formatting their technical
articles for trade journals and
engineering conferences. These papers and slide presentations kept
engineers in the electronic design community abreast of the latest
in verification methodologies. Two works won Best Paper awards at
Synopsys User Group conferences. Received three Qualis Recognition
awards. These presentations were prepared for Qualis Design (www.qualis.com),
a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. |
User and reference guides
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Qualis ATM/Utopia eVC User Guide,
120 pages, and Qualis SONET eVC User Guide, 80 pages. Instructed
verification engineers about verifying broadband networking hardware
designs using the verification component for their protocol (ATM/Utopia
or SONET). Created FrameMaker and HTML editions from POD statements
in the source code. Editor, page and web formatter, and illustrator.
Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. |
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Lotus
1-2-3 for Sun, Reference Guide, 750 pages. Teamed with
two other writers to port the documentation for the PC version of
1-2-3 (1100 pages) to the Sun, Unix System V, VAX/VMS, and ALL-IN-1
workstation platforms simultaneously. Team author for platform-specific
details. Wrote all on-screen text including Help for two utilities
used to configure 1-2-3. This group spearheaded the use of Interleaf
within Lotus, and using Interleaf's conditional assembly feature we
set an unprecedented productivity record at Lotus. Lotus was a computer
software developer best known for its spreadsheet product, 1-2-3. |
Functional specifications
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Lotus
1-2-3 for Windows with SmartHelp, Functional Specification,
125 pages. This specification described the first multimedia-enhanced
application from Lotus. It served primarily within the product team
to explain the product's behaviors, capture the decision rationale
behind the feature set, and indicate future evolutions of the product.
It served outside the team to help the marketing, quality assurance,
sales customer support, and international development teams to create
their plans. Contributing author and sole editor. Lotus was a computer
software developer best known for its spreadsheet product, 1-2-3. |
Illustrations
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Network
diagram. Illustrated the network structure in place at the Qualis
headquarters and remote office. Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. (PDF file 33
KB) |
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Process
improvement diagram. As part of a process improvement team for
Qualis Design, illustrated the information flow for a key business
component - training class delivery. Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. (PDF file 33
KB) |
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BFM
diagram. To clarify the content in a technical presentation, we
illustrated the structure the author was trying to convey. Blue shading
highlighted the element being discussed. Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. (PDF file 53
KB) |
Training materials
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Qualis
courses, 400 - 800 slides/course, 19 courses. Introductory through
advanced ASIC verification, synthesis, system design, and reuse methodology
training classes for design and verification engineers. Maximized
efficiency of course maintenance by using PowerPoint's Custom Show
feature. To minimize costs, used just-in-time digital printing. Editor,
formatter, and illustrator. Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. |
Computer-based training
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1-2-3
for Windows with Multimedia SmartHelp, 640 MB. Part of the R&D
team that developed the first multimedia product from Lotus. Our success
was in how we harnessed the advantages of animation, narration, and
hypertext to explain concepts and features of 1-2-3 that were hard
to explain in printed text. Applied knowledge of learning preferences,
screen design principles, and intuitive learning to our effort. Feature
and user interface designer for player and online Help, author of
movie scripts and Help text, and editor. Lotus was a computer software
developer best known for its spreadsheet product, 1-2-3. |
Web-based training
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Qualis Wisdom Stream course, 500 slides.
Qualis created a streaming video and audio web-based course by filming
a live delivery of a course. The course was available to employees
of any company that purchased access. Students could select the sections
of interest, replay sections as needed, email an instructor for help,
and email comments from the customized Real Audio player. Managers
could keep track of utilization. Synchronized the timing between the
video, audio, and PowerPoint slides; helped design the user interface
of the player and web pages; authored the Help; and edited, formatted,
and illustrated the slides. Qualis Design (www.qualis.com)
is a verification IP, consulting, and training firm. |
Online help
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Became a specialist in online Help
at Lotus. Collaborated with developers to create the first Help system
at Lotus. Created the first WinHelp project at Lotus. Added customized
buttons to expand WinHelp’s capabilities and added customized links
that showed the hierarchy of the displayed Help page. Was consulted
by many departments about designing their Help projects. Have also
used RoboHelp to create Help from the printed documentation. Lotus
was a computer software developer best known for its spreadsheet product,
1-2-3. |
Style guides
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Updated
the Lotus Documentation Style Guide, 300 pages. Lead the
update project, which required obtaining support from editors in fourteen
product groups. Lotus was a computer software developer best known
for its spreadsheet product, 1-2-3. |
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