greeting from a new guy

[johanm]

Hi,

I live in Belgium and my hobbies are computers (PHP, linux, Mac, web...), reading SF & Fantasy and birdwatching.
I started blogging this year and want to focus on technical articles (webdevelopment, Apple, virtualization, gadgets, ...). Searching Google for technical writing tips and courses I found this site. It looks like it is worth spending some (or rather a lot) of time with it.
I am also looking for a course on technical writing. One of the courses I've found is the "Professional Technical Writing course" at online-learning.com. Can anyone recommend this course ?

thanx,

Johan

[itchyfingers]

Im new also but no response yet to my query hope you have better luck and find the advise you want sorry I cant help you but welcome anyway

[wilfriedvoss]

Welcome to the forum!

First, no, I don't have any experience with the course you found. I have, however, published three technical books without taking any course (I am from Germany, by the way). As I can see from your entry, your English skills are very good, so you shouldn't be afraid to write without a course (make sure you have a good word processor that has some style/grammar checking). Reading other technical books & articles in English language will help, too.

The writing style in technical literature is by far not as important as in, for instance, novels. I have seen books originally written in German and then translated by the engineers who wrote it and the result was disastrous (e.g. "The CPU has to meat the deadline..." - That's not a typo, they really wrote "meat"...). Nevertheless, the book sold in good numbers, because it covered a very special niche in technology.

I am not saying that style is NOT important, but, again, your written English is, in my personal opinion, sufficient. In addition, if you manage to publish an article there will be editors who will review your writing. They will not reject you due to some minor style problems; they are more interested in publishing an interesting topic.

Regards,
Wilfried Voss
http://www.frogenyozurt.com

[johanm]

Thanks for the replies. The course I mentioned looks very interesting, but looks can be deceiving, that's why I asked. Upon successfull completion it offers a certificate which gives you as an aspiring writer some credibility. I also am aware that the only way to gain 'street' credibility is to write, write and then write some more.
But this site does offer a lot of tips too.

[johanm]

Another reason for the course is that while there is an abundance of information available on the internet, especially for my interests, quite a lot of that information isn't presented in way that it will improve my understanding of English. If you know what I mean. Having someone looking over your shoulder while you learn writing and offer feedback can be an advantage and a way to distinguish yourself later from the majority of bloggers.