STOPPRESS


To survive and prosper in the information age, one must become a magpie of information.
To be an effective magpie means having the information readily accessible and searchable at will – in short, a database.
Our "GoodToKnow" database, which we started in 1991, has grown to several thousand items of information, some of which is of only historical interest, but much of which is still very relevant and potentially useful.
To mark our twentieth anniversary in business, we have decided to open up this database of information for the benefit of all our site visitors. Because of copyright issues, republishing requires us to recast the information in our words – and this takes time. So we will release it incrementally, so you might want to revisit from time to time – or better still, subscribe to our RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to alert you of any items as they become available. In a revival of the title of our faxed newsletter of the early 1990s, we publish the items under the name STOPPRESS (pun intended).
To make the information as relevant as possible, we shall start with the most current information, and work our way backwards. It will be archived automatically by month or by year, depending on the number of items involved.
The items are categorised – most under more than one category – and by clicking on a category, you can see all the items that fall under it. The collection is also searchable.

Product Reviews


It's well over a decade since I used to review products for MacUser, MacWeek, 3D and other computer or construction industry magazines back in the U.K.
A dozen years on, and particularly in the face of a tidal wave of iPhone/iPod touch applications – I am once again feeling the urge again to report on the pros and cons of software and hardware products that I come across in my own work, for the benefit of my current and prospective clients, who – if I know them – are far too busy in their own work to investigate themselves. As with the Good To Know database, this will be an incremental process, but over time I hope the collection will grow to be a truly useful resource. Feel free to drop me a line about them or leave comments.

- Jonathan Stoppi


Technical documentation


Following our acclaimed Architectural Drafting in MiniCAD series of textbooks, we have also, under contract, applied our skills in explaining technical material by producing custom technical documentation and illustration in areas as varied as optical switch technologies, text-mining and foreign scripts. In this capacity we have experience in:
  • Debriefing subject matter experts (SMEs)
  • Writing and editing all end-user documentation for company software and hardware products
  • Rewriting inadequate legacy documentation
  • Creating or improving technical illustrations for improved clarity
  • Writing white papers on key applications to help focus marketing efforts
  • Correcting key presentations or correspondence for correct English usage and style
  • Editing, formatting and co-authoring academic papers by SMEs
  • Redesigning and improving user interface of proprietary software to enhance usability.

See our case studies by way of examples. We are also free for initial no-obligation meetings throughout the Capital Region District of Greater Victoria.