Your favorite technical writing round-ups

Technically We Write is all about technical writing, technical editing, web content, usability, UX, and anything else you can put under the "technical communication" classification. And we celebrate all forms of technical and professional writing.

We are a community, and we want to share the writing advice of our community. Occasionally, we ask our community a question about their writing process, their favorite tools, why they love writing, and other questions about practicing the art of technical communication. These are the most-read "round-up" articles of the past year:

1. Your gift buying guide for writers

As we entered the holiday season, we asked our community about what gifts writers would love. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many of our community respond with their favorite gift recommendations. You shared so many great ideas we had to split the gift recommendations into several parts. Look for additional gift suggestions in Your favorite devices for writing and Gift suggestions for your home office.

If you're looking for a good keyboard recommendation, you might also read Our favorite keyboards.

2. Our favorite technical writing tools

At the start of the Fall semester, we asked our community about what digital writing tools that students and other aspiring writers might need to learn. The list is wide ranging, from desktop word processors to project management tools, version control, and a little about automation.

On a related note, you might also like to read our round-up on What recommendations for a first-time writer and other favorite writing tools in What tool do you use most of the time.

3. Our favorite word processors

The mighty word processor still rules for creating documents where you need to see the formatting as you write it. For creating printed material, a good word processor is a frequently used tool. We asked our writer community about their favorite desktop word processors. This was our first glimpse that Microsoft Word may have been unseated as the most popular desktop word processor.

Along similar lines, our community also shared their favorite word processors from the past. Check out Blast from the past: Our favorite classic word processors to see if your favorite old-timey word processor made the list.

4. What's your favorite font

These days, technical writers can choose from a variety of fonts, many of which are available for free from websites like Google Fonts. And of course, everyone has their favorite font for print or online materials. We polled our community to share their favorite fonts for print work. You shared your favorite serif and sans serif fonts.

5. How did you get into technical writing

Everyone has their own unique journey into technical writing. Whether it's a passion or just a job, we're all about technical and professional writing, so we asked our community about how they first got into technical writing. Some were intentional in entering technical writing as a career, while others had a more roundabout entry point.

Related to this topic, our community also shared their first step into technical writing in a different round-up article. Read Where did you write your first article for how folks found a home for their first article.