Articles / Books -- Published Writings
I'm a published author of articles and books and I've done my share of tech writing. I've also written direct mail and marketing copy.
Articles
I spent a number of years (1984-1990) working for what ended up being known as Access to Wang, a vertical market computer magazine that covered the Wang minicomputer marketplace.
I started off as a freelance writer and then joined the organization full time, ending up as an associate editor. Here are some of the Special Reports and articles I wrote.
To see the interviews I've conducted, please go to the Interviews page.
Wang's Integrated Products (1986)
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Of all the stories I've written, this may be my favorite because it took a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the real Wang Laboratories. One of the projects mentioned with great hope -- the 42X -- was killed a few years later and this article shows why Wang Labs was doomed. (From Access 86: The Magazine for Wang System Users, December 1986, Copyright © 1986 Data Base Publications.)
WP From A to Z (1987)
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Wang Labs created the word processing market and I've never found a better word processor than their original WPS system. My article from 1987 discusses the successor to Wang WP -- WP Plus. (From Access 87: The Magazine for Wang System Users, December 1987, Copyright © 1987 Data Base Publications.)
Wang OFFICE (1988)
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It's just an opening piece that introduced other articles dealing with the internals of Wang OFFICE, which was Wang Labs' office automation software. (From Access 88: The Magazine for Wang System Users, February 1988, Copyright © 1988 Data Base Publications.)
High Notes & Low Notes (1989)
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The yearly VS Software Survey was something I instituted in 1986. I created the questionnaire, compiled and interpreted the data, and wrote the Special Report. (From Access to Wang: The Independent Magazine for Wang System Users, December 1989, Copyright © 1989 Data Base Publications.)
Rumor Column
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Using the moniker "Charlie the Clown", I wrote the beloved Rumors column for the various incarnations of Access magazine. Charlie was the most popular feature in the magazine.
Books
I've written two best-selling books on web design that definitely aren't boring.
- Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design. (new window -- different site)
- Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design.