I’ve been working in Technical Communications for nearly seven years now, first and foremost Technical Writer and more recently as Documentation Manager. In other words, my work revolves around manuals and online helps, authoring tools and guidelines, documentation standards and… you get the picture.

And yet, although I write articles and develop documentation tools in my free time as well, I rarely write about my job on this site. But when I was offered the opportunity to read and review Best Practices for Technical Writers and Editors, I just couldn’t resist.

One of the many things that really bothered me about my web site was the fact that it didn’t look good on my iPhone, or any small screen for that matter.

Years ago I read about responsive web design, media queries, etc., but I never had the will or the time to dive into the subject. Then Twitter Bootstrap came out, and it changed everything.

Too much time passed since the last Glyph release. Way too much. Finally I found the time and will to tidy up the last few remaining bugs, update the docs, and release it!

The Ruby Compendium has been updated, and it now lists the most up-to-date versions of various Ruby implementatios, even more web sites, books, podcasts, and Rubyists. In addition to the PDF version, the book can now be read online here on H3RALD.com.

I don’t remember the exact day when I started using a todo list in a serious way. It definitely happened at work, but I can’t remember when exactly. The point is that, once I started working (and getting paid for what I love doing – writing), I slowly turned into a real productivity freak.

I write everything down. My colleagues know that if I say that I’ll do something right now but I don’t do it within five minutes, they have to assume that I forgot about it altogether and they’d better send me an email.

I am not a paper person. Never been one. When I got a job which consisted in working on the computer for eight hours a day, I started looking for todo list programs. That turned into an endless quest: I tried X for a few weeks, then I discovered that Y was better, used it for months, then moved onto Z, and so on.

Obie did it, again. With the second edition of his former masterpiece, The Rails Way, he managed to outdo himself delivering a new, even more useful, Rails Bible. Wether you’re a Ruby on Rails professional like him or just an enthusiast, this book is pretty much everything you need to learn how to master the third release of DHH’s Ruby web framework.

The Rails 3 Way is no ordinary second edition. If you already own The Rails Way, you’ll be pleasantly surprised that this is a different, more polished book. While something had to remain the same, there’s a lot of new content in its 708 pages, and even the old content has been rewritten or at least revised.

It doesn’t matter whether you already know Rails 2.x or you’re jumping straight into the Rails 3 world, if you use Rails, you can’t miss this book.