Rewriting the rules for TRIRIGA docs

Veni, vidi, vici! TRIRIGA, TRIRIGAFEEDIA, and TRIRIGA UX! But to start off, happy anniversary! Believe it or not, November 2015 not only witnessed the 2nd anniversary of my quiet “bright blue” tech blog at jay.manaloto.ibm, but also the 10th anniversary of my tech career at TRIRIGA. From the old TRIRIGA days of co-locating at the office to the global IBM days of telecommuting from home. Not a bad deal.

So why have I returned? To be honest, I was always going to return. But this year has been especially consuming, fascinating, and satisfying with my exploration of new TRIRIGA territories, namely TRIRIGAFEEDIA and TRIRIGA UX. With the former, if you remember, I created “an experimental WordPress hub that collects feeds”. With the latter, I recently dove into the world of Google Polymer.

TRIRIGA UX Article 1

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. I’ve always been pretty transparent about the origin of my TRIRIGAFEEDIA blog. But now that IBM has announced the releases of IBM TRIRIGA 10.5.0 and IBM TRIRIGA Application Platform 3.5.0 with its UX Framework, I can finally reveal the origin, design, and development of my TRIRIGA UX Articles. Wanna find out?

Feeding the frenzy for TRIRIGA feeds

Long time, no TRIRIGA! While I haven’t discussed TRIRIGA much since my bouncing IBM design post or included it in a blog title since my splitting IBM TRIRIGA post, I’ve experimented with socio-mobile brainstorms to reimagine TRIRIGA information delivery ever since my killing XML post last year. Now, following the successful spark of a colleague’s TRIRIGA Flipboard magazine, I’ve a new brainstorm!

I’ve recently wondered, “Why don’t I open Flipboard as often as Twitter?” Then I realized that despite its striking visual layout, Flipboard flips are not as quickly or easily digestible as Twitter streams. But maybe that’s the point. If I’m scanning with my smartphone, 12 articles flipped on Flipboard might take 6 to 12 finger swipes, while the same 12 articles tweeted on Twitter might take only 3 or 4 swipes.

TRIRIGAFEEDIA @ WordPress

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. I admit, we don’t need a Twitter presence that simply duplicates our Flipboard. But then my brainstorm struck! Why not build a WordPress presence that collects tedious-to-search articles then streams them as more visible posts? In turn, why not feed this WordPress stream into a Twitter stream? Voila, TRIRIGAFEEDIA!

Bouncing into responsive WP design

WordPress! In my previous post about responsive web design (RWD), I asked myself, “Will I switch to an RWD template in the future? It’s possible. But I haven’t found the right one yet.” Well, less than two weeks later, I found the start of a workable WordPress theme — the Visual theme by Devin Price. The default wasn’t perfect, but with the proper customizations, it evolved into a satisfying RWD solution.

Why the dark Visual theme? I admit, I’ve avoided “black-on-white themes because their traditional print-based look-and-feel feels too safe or outdated”. So I wanted to find a new light-on-dark theme that could remind me of my old orange-on-black Parament theme yet also infuse a refreshing RWD edge. Although I tried the free Sunspot, Hero, and Isola themes, each showed some irritating oddity.

Visual theme (desktop)

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. Throughout my hours of experiments that compared responsive themes, color schemes, and font families, one theme kept coming back for more while demonstrating the fewest distractions with the greatest impact. Until I finally took the leap — a customized orange-on-black Visual theme. Thanks, Parament. Hello, Visual!

Casting podcasts into content strategy

Content strategy! As early as last month, August 2014, I knew next to nothing about content strategy, content marketing, and custom content. But on August 27, something happened — I attended a MadCap-hosted webinar by content strategist Mark Baker. Although Mark’s presentation focused on EPPO topic-based authoring, it opened the gateway to the kaleidoscopic world of content strategy.

Naturally, over the following weeks, my senses were sharpened or tuned to pick up some of the more appealing articles by content marketing tacticians, especially those that overlap or collide with the approaches by technical communicators and recreational bloggers. While the perceptions of content strategy might differ for these roles, I see a common effort to appreciate the big picture!

Content Framework

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. Do I have a personal content strategy? Now that’s an intriguing question! Although I’ve never taken a formal course on content marketing or marketing strategy because I was never interested before, I’m indeed applying my own strategy, even if it’s only on the instinctual level. What is my content strategy? Let’s find out.

Sharpening senses with social media

“I share, therefore I am.” In a previous post about enforcing our reality, I explored the concept of our evolving social-media presence, its possible dangers, and its perceived influence on “our total social reality”. Despite our social technophobia, social media “poses no more and no less of a social threat than any other technological breakthrough like the automobile, television, and Internet”.

But can social media be something more than simply “sharing your thoughts, feelings, photos, and lives with the online world”? More than simply “an effort to declare or enforce your perceived reality or existence”? Why not? If we look up beyond our impulsive two-second retweets, sharing thoughts can lead to exploring new ideas, uncovering new interpretations, and discovering new insights.

Watch Dogs: Skills Tree

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. When I launched my blog in November 2013, I knew next to nothing about cloud computing. But I didn’t let that stop me from learning the cloud basics. Now, 10 months later, I’ve sharpened my senses to a point where I’m finding flawed statements about IBM BlueMix PaaS and IBM Service Engage SaaS on other blogs!

Killing XML authoring with IBM apples

Apple and IBM! The recent joint announcement by Apple and IBM of their “global partnership to transform enterprise mobility” just shows that given enough time, anything can happen, especially in an ever-evolving and occasionally unpredictable socio-mobile industry that touches everything from bitcoins and wearables to 3D printers and biometric sensors. Yes, even structured XML authoring.

But can XML authoring survive? As I noted in a previous post, “the DITA Open Toolkit was released only 9 years ago“. By comparison, MadCap Flare was launched only 8 years ago, and Syncro Soft Oxygen introduced visual XML editing only 7 years ago. But today, I can see the signs that XML authoring, like CDs and DVDs, is already past its prime and approaching the end of its useful life.

Apple + IBM

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. While I’ve previously tackled the subject of XML authoring several different times from several different angles, I wanted to take another look in the new light of this “anything can happen” Apple and IBM announcement. Would it be poetic if IBM, which introduced DITA-XML authoring in 2001, helped to kill it by 2021?

Smashing schedules in the mobile age

Truth? Myth? The 8-hour sleep cycle. The 8-hour work day. The 40-hour work week. Most of us have probably seen the recurring tweets, blogs, and articles about the truths and myths behind these industrial traditions. In fact, when I first decided to write about this topic, I was planning to focus on the 8-hour sleep cycle. Until I realized that the 8-hour work day was strongly connected.

So I decided to perform another one of my experiments. In my previous post about spicy rotations, I argued that to keep my projects fresh and to avoid burning out, the key is to “rotate my product-specific Agile teams, just like I rotate my favorite restaurants”. Why not extend that idea beyond my work hours? Why not apply it to my sleep cycle or my entire day? What is my natural work cycle?

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Hi, my name is Jay, and I’m an IBM TRIRIGA information developer at IBM. For two full weeks in April, I relaxed my working, playing, eating, and sleeping schedules to their most “natural” cycles. Even if I felt like playing the Assassin’s Creed IV video game or watching Japanese touge racing videos at night until 3am in the morning, when did I experience my most productive work hours?