Activity for Monica Cellio‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: How do you track dependencies for your co-authors? I've changed teams (and companies) since asking this question years ago, and the doc set is even larger on my current team. Here's how we manage changes that affect parts of the documentation with different primary/responsible writers. First, we do use source control as mentioned in another answe... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I highlight changes in HTML output from Flare, based on branch diff? We did not find an off-the-shelf solution to this and built our own. I'm not the author and can't release the code, but here is an overview of the approach. Flare versions from 2016 onward support adding pre- and post-build steps to a build target. We modified our "branch build" target to call o... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Questionable Promotions! I think this would particularly help in this "new site, imported content" stage. There are a lot of questions and answers that are old and valuable. They all started here at score 0 (that's by design), and some of those questions would almost certainly benefit from new or updated answers if we saw ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: A Code of Conduct, dare I say it I was hoping that our code of conduct could be something closer to the "be nice" model, something like this: - Be respectful and polite. - Presume everyone else is doing so, too. - Be open to constructive feedback. - Well-meaning people on a worldwide, multi-cultural platform can accidentally... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Question list shows activity that I can't find This might be related to this issue, which is sort of the reverse of the one I'm reporting now. According to the front page, ArtOfCode did something on this question an hour ago (as I write this). But I can't find it. Here's the history for the question: ![screenshot][1] It's my question, ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do we distinguish someone talking to another person via telepathy rather than via vocal means? The first step is to use different styling for the telepathic parts, as suggested in the answer by Evil Sparrow. I recommend against using italics because italics are often used for inner dialogue (thoughts). But it's not just styling; go deeper. Telepathy is a different kind of communication, s... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	What are our plans for image uploading? I needed to include screenshots in this question but didn't see a way to add them directly. I uploaded those to imgur so I could post, but that's not the ideal solution. (You'll see why if you look at where on imgur I uploaded them.) Where is image-hosting in the roadmap? If it'll be a while then... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	I answered a question 2 hours ago, but the front page says the last activity was 8 hours ago. According to the question list, this question was last active 8 hours ago as I write this: ![screenshot][1] However, I answered it 2 hours ago as shown in the history on my answer: ![screenshot][2] Is this list heavily cached (I assume there's some caching), or is something else going on?... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do we follow up a description within a descriptive text with another description? I endorse Evil Sparrow's answer. If, however you must lead with the old man for some reason, you can return from the room back to him with a paragraph break. Paragraph breaks are (small) discontinuities and you should use them when changing subjects, just as you do when changing speakers in dialogu... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Could the question list show what the most recent activity was (and by whom), rather than the author of the question? I've realized in using this site how dependent I am on the information on the SE question list about who and what bumped a post. "Answered by" + name is a valuable "hey, go read this!" clue, as does "modified by" + name I don't recognize as recently active on that question. Further, a lot of questi... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Alternatives to second-person POV narration in RPG settings In your first example, all three of your sentences focus on the effect. Instead, mix in some descriptions of the cause. Instead of: > You have a feeling of immense dread as you take in the macabre sight > You are reminded of your own mortality as you witness the gruesome murder of Sir Importa... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Welcome to Writing on Codidact! Welcome to a new home for the Writing community. Please use it, report problems and make requests on Meta, and collect your thoughts about what we need to support our community. This site is running on beta software that will eventually become Codidact. We started with a Q&A platform that alread... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I cite previously published print school newspapers on now online school newspaper? Print publications that are no longer in print are (were) still print publications. You would therefore cite them the same way you would any other newspaper article from a still-extant paper. (Citation format varies by style guide.) However, if you only accessed it via an intermediary, like a compila... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to eliminate standoff between "Lengthy" vs "Concision"? "Concise" doesn't mean "very short"; it means "no more verbose than it needs to be". In your case, you have needs that establish a minimum length. Trying to fight against that will only lead to frustration, as you've seen. If people are using this document as a basis for implementation, it's better t... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Compelling story with the world as a villain A villain has intention -- it's out to cause some outcome, foil the main character (if it's personal), and generally advance its own agenda. The world, on the other hand, just is, barring worlds with minds and will. It sounds like you're trying to write a person-versus-nature (or society) story rathe... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview? Show his religious practices more and his explicit beliefs less. What does a devout Catholic do? Probably he doesn't spend all day talking about his beliefs; instead he lives them. He tithes. He fasts on Fridays. He attends mass daily before going to work (or wherever he spends his days). He teaches ... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Referring to different instances of the same character in time travel The Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer has this situation with a core character (so it's not a passing situation). The narrator and the characters identify the two as Brit the Elder and Brit the Younger. When more time-travel shenanigans happen, we also encounter Brit the Even Elder and Brit the Much Yo... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write a good moderator nomination post? A nomination post is basically a sales pitch, packed into 1200 characters. You need to persuade readers that you are or might be a good choice in a few hundred words (give or take). So a nomination is longer than an "elevator pitch" but shorter than a full bid. Therefore, don't think of your nominat... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Character had a different name in the past. Which name should I use in a flashback? The reader needs a connection when transitioning into the flashback. That transition can be either external or internal. By external, I mean introducing the flashback. In this case, the reader knows who's in the flashback so you can use the then-current name without any more explanation. For example... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is there a need for better software for writers? IDE-like tools exist for writers. Scrivener is a powerful general-purpose tool (also with questions here). Madcap Flare, aimed at technical writers, has good support for updating links, defining "snippets" (xinclude blocks, essentially), variables, conditionalization, advanced build options, and more... (more)	—	almost 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do publishers care if submitted work has already been copyrighted? If you live in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention (most countries are), then your work is copyrighted as soon as you create it, regardless of whether you go through any registration process. To a publisher, your work is already copyrighted, and if they want the copyright and not ju... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I effectively research for a high-fantasy setting? > Base parts of the setting on real world cultures or locations. Unless you have near-infinite time to do your worldbuilding, you're probably going to keep coming back to our world. So start there! Not in the sense of "modern-day Earth with the serial numbers filed off", but in the sense of specific... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is a more techy Technical Writer job title that isn't cutesy or confusing? This is a challenging specialization to capture in a job title, which is why my LinkedIn tagline says "speaker to programmers". But that doesn't work as a job title at any but the edgiest startups. As suggested in this answer, some use Programming Writer. At a previous company I was documenting but ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should one blog in a few languages? Writing a full translation will approximately double the time you spend creating each post, so as other answers have said, you'll need to consider the cost versus benefit. However, thee's another approach you could take: keep writing in your native language and provide a summary in the other language... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	How should we plan for translations' space needs when designing diagrams that require text? Our documentation set includes some diagrams where text is integral and can't be handled in callouts, like flowcharts and entity relationship diagrams. Our documentation is translated, so these diagrams need to be translated too. But diagram design is informed by the amount of text we need to include... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	How can we make images with (necessary) text more translatable mechanically? Our documentation set includes some diagrams, such as entity relationship diagrams and flowcharts, where text is integral and cannot reasonably be handled in callouts. Our documentation is translated into another language, so these diagrams ought to get translated too. (I don't know if they currently... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How much episode recap is necessary in a tv-focused podcast? You said in a comment that this is for an existing, old show, presumably one with a fanbase. While your listeners have presumably seen it (they're listening to your podcast about it, after all), they might not have done so recently and even hardcore fans might not always remember episode sequencing (... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer? In the point-of-view culture in my story, all of the women in priestly families have two-syllable names beginning with vowels. (There are reasons for this, but they're completely tangential to my question.) I've gotten feedback from a beta reader that the character names look/sound too similar, even ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	When blogging recipes, how can I support both readers who want the narrative/journey and ones who want the printer-friendly recipe? Increasingly often, if you Google for a recipe your search results will be full of long, image-rich blog posts that, somewhere in there, have the actual recipe you were looking for. Many of these have a "printer-friendly version" link to make that easier; I can get the stuff I need in my kitchen on p... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Making science for toddlers easy to remember It's been decades since I was a kid watching cartoons on TV, and I can still sing some of the Schoolhouse Rock songs. Schoolhouse Rock, for those unfamiliar with it, was a series of short (2-3 minute) bits of educational programming interspersed among Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Bullwinkle, et al. Each... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	For HTML documentation sets, are there meaningful guidelines for topic length? We produce a large HTML documentation set with the conventional two-pane view: expandable table of contents on the left, selected topic on the right. When you select a topic, if it has subtopics -- that is, sub-pages in the table of contents -- the TOC automatically expands to show them. Because our ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	Adding tags to documentation built in Flare? Our software documentation set (for a SQL analytics database platform) is large, because SQL and databases have many pieces. Often a single statement, function, or feature will be highly related to a few others, and in the past people have (manually) added "related information" sections to pages to m... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is special in API documentation compared to general technical writing? API stands for "application programming interface". API documentation is addressed to programmers who will use that interface to accomplish some task. While all technical writing is addressed to someone who's trying to accomplish some task, and while some of those people (and tasks) are deeply techni... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I create a domain name using a pen name that is common with another person's domain name? Names are almost never globally unique. This is true whether the owner chooses or the owner's parents do. Author Alex Feinman even has a note on his web site (.net) saying "looking for the other one? that's .com" with a link. If you search Google or LinkedIn for a name, odds are good you'll find more... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Symbolism of 18 Journeyers I see two parts to your question: signaling that 18 is significant, and signaling why it is significant. Assuming that you'll have Jewish readers too, don't skimp on the first part -- you want to give them something to notice and figure out, too. Another answer addresses ways to show why 18 is signi... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	How can I highlight changes in HTML output from Flare, based on branch diff? We use Madcap Flare for a large documentation set, with HTML output. (Flare source is a very HTML-y XML with some Flare-specific additions.) We use git for source control and new work is done on branches. This means that at the end we have a git pull request (PR) that can show a diff between the bran... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I use acronyms in dialogues before telling the readers what it stands for in fiction? If you don't provide a hint, then readers will know only that somebody requested a meeting and that's considered an emergency. If you want to convey something about the nature of the organization (or emergency) you need to provide more of a hint, but that doesn't necessarily mean expanding the acrony... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to include external references when writing internal documentation? The guiding principle in my experience is: put the link where the reader needs the referenced information. Examples: - "This interface is like Somebody Else's Thing (link, or make SET a link itself), and in addition..." -- put the link right there, because somebody unfamiliar with SET will need to a... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do we need to make consistent use of archaic English in our poem/novel? Regardless of what you're writing, if you use an archaic form readers will notice, and if you use an archaic form only once and not everywhere it applies, readers will notice that too. If you're doing it for effect, you've achieved your goal. This is sometimes the case in poetry. On the other hand, i... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Including disabled characters without "inspiration porn" You avoid it by showing us a whole, three-dimensional character with attendant complexity. Doing great things is not about one thing. Your character has a mix of traits, talents, interests, inclinations, genes (if it's that kind of magic), and more, and uses all those things to deal with all obstacl... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do we edit a novel that's written by several people? The first step is to work out some style guidelines among yourselves. Agree on what style you want the finished product to follow. Because this is a project among friends rather than, say, a corporate publication, you'll probably end up including aspects of each writer's style while moving the whole ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Question	—	How large should photos on my blog be? I sometimes post photos on my blog, like when I'm blogging about food. I've been shrinking the huge pictures my phone takes down to a size that fits more reasonably in a browser window -- my browser window, so far -- because I don't want my posts to require a huge window. Recently I've noticed that t... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is in scope for criticizing technical writing This answer covers a single work like a paper well, and what it says applies to larger works too. Correctness and clarity are the most important factors in any technical work. For larger works, such as a new section in a large documentation set, I look for some additional things: - Consistency of st... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to tag distinct options/entities without giving any an implicit priority or suggested order? Full names and arbitrary names are good solutions to the question you asked. To address the question behind the one you asked -- the implicit "superiority" in ordering -- write examples that don't start with the first unit. For example, I might describe a database with nodes A, B, and C, and then tal... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can I write a book of my D&D game? Plagiarism would be taking exact text from the various game manuals and representing it as your own. So don't do that. But you probably weren't going to anyway, because you want to tell a story, not publish a game log. Think of your story as being inspired by your game, but retell it as a story. Whe... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Consulting experts - why should they talk to someone who isn't a published writer yet? I've got nothing on shadowing (I suspect that's a very hard sell), but for asking questions, there are two (non-exclusive) approaches that I've seen and occasionally been part of (on both sides). The first is to start with your own circle of friends. I'm not a radiologist, lawyer, chef, schoolteache... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Methods for writing a code review How you structure a code review depends on the tools you're using and the level of scrutiny that was requested. Instead of giving you an exact template, therefore, I'll address the different types of content. At the lowest level, a code review can include feedback on individual lines or sections of ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: What language shall they sing in? These are songs, and we learn songs differently from spoken language. Have you ever found yourself singing along to a favorite song in a language you don't even speak, but you've listened to the recording enough to have memorized it? You were almost certainly helped by meter and perhaps rhyme, by the... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Strategies for writing software design documents This answer provides a lot of good information. I want to augment it, not compete with it. Over time, many organizations develop templates for various documents (design, functional spec, test plan, etc). Often they're derived from IEEE standards -- usually, in my experience, they're simplified from ... (more)	—	about 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How soon is too soon for a redemption arc? The light is inside him; it just needs a path out. Not a big gaping doorway that opens all at once, but small tendrils. Think "many drips carve a rock", not sudden change. How do you do that? In a lot of fiction that I've read (and I suspect there's psychology behind this, but I don't know), the fir... (more)	—	about 5 years ago

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