[ATTW-L] mobile-friendly documentation in the introductory tech comm course

[Mark Crane]

Some possibilities include:
1. Responsive web layouts or "mobile-first development" designed to adapt
to phones

2. Exporting documents as Epubs, which scale nicely with most ebook
readers, as long as you are primarily concerned about words and not fixed
layouts with images

3. PDF files with 24 point fonts.  These look great on my iPad mini.

With the disclaimer that I don't really know what I'm talking about,
designing for mobile first disrupts or erases many of the genres that are
the foundation of the conventional tech comm class.  I'm not saying that
that these genres cease to be in use, but that many of their conventions
tend to matter less.

On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 6:24 AM Josephine Walwema <walwema at oakland.edu>
wrote:

> I have thought about this mobile friendly format, but have not figured out
> how to achieve it yet.
> Following closely.
>
> jw
>
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2020 at 7:59 AM Mark Crane <craniac at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm thinking of having my students in "Introduction to Technical
>> Communications" deliver their assignments in multiple formats.  Generally,
>> they submit a Word document or in situations where the layout and
>> formatting might be at risk, a PDF file.  I've been thinking about having
>> each assignment submitted in a conventional, A4-sized electronic format,
>> and in a format that might retain readability on a cellphone or smaller
>> tablet.  My concern is that this may be too much technical overhead in an
>> introductory course and take time away from other important areas.
>>
>> So I guess I'm asking if anyone is already asking their students to
>> deliver mobile-friendly documents, and if so, what resources are you
>> finding helpful?
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> MC
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>
>
> --
>
> Josie
>
> ________________________________________
>
> Josephine Walwema, PhD
>
> Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric
>
> Oakland University
>
> 308 O'Dowd Hall, 586 Pioneer Drive
>
> Rochester, MI 48309-4482
>
> 248-370-4136
>
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