Tech – Page 4 – Tech, writing, and tech writing

Installing apps on older versions of iOS

Ever tried to download an iOS app on your iThing and got a “This application requires iOS X.Y or greater” message, but no app? Annoying as heck.

There are various reasons you might not be able to install/run iOS X.Y. For example, I have an original iPad running iOS 5.1.1 – I can’t upgrade any higher, the device isn’t supported on later versions. My iPhone could have upgraded, but I ran out of storage space, so it couldn’t handle the installation, and I couldn’t find a convenient time to archive a bunch of content, so I was similarly blocked there for a while.

Newer apps (or newer releases of older apps) tend to make the most of the latest fun features in iOS, so don’t support older versions. But apps that have been knocking around for a while probably did at some stage, and that’s something you can take advantage of. Continue reading “Installing apps on older versions of iOS”

Do not disturb!

The Do not disturb feature on my iPhone is my new best friend. I seem to be receiving more cold calls than usual of late, and turning on Do not disturb allows me to ensure that important calls still get through, but time-sink calls that I can easily filter and deal with at a more convenient time can be avoided. Continue reading “Do not disturb!”

Downgrading Adobe Software

Most writers I’ve worked with don’t know that Adobe will allow you to downgrade a product by one version when you purchase the current version. This could come in useful, for example, if you have an expanding documentation team using software that’s not backwards-compatible (I’m thinking RoboHelp and FrameMaker in particular): instead of upgrading licenses for everyone on the team, you can buy current licenses for the newcomers and downgrade them to be compatible with the software the team is already using. More information is available at Adobe’s page on volume licensing policies.

It would be nice if you could roll back by more than one version, but given the cost of some of these products, having even that much flexibility can be enormously valuable!

Creating keyboard shortcuts in Word

When using software, some people like to point-and-click, others like to stick to the keyboard. If you’re in the latter camp, then you’ve probably encountered a handful of menu/toolbar/ribbon buttons with no keyboard shortcut in various pieces of software. Microsoft Word helpfully allows you to assign your own shortcuts to functions with no current shortcut, or to re-assign the shortcut for a function if the default doesn’t fit your reflexes! Continue reading “Creating keyboard shortcuts in Word”

What does API documentation look like?

How long is a piece of string? If you’re starting a new API documentation project and want to see examples of how other people have tackled presenting the information, head on over to http://www.programmableweb.com/ which catalogs a plethora of public-domain API docs in its directory, as well as providing API-related news articles, and some useful how tos.