Writer, editor, designer, teacher.

(And font enthusiast.)

With a sharp editorial eye, I view websites like printed books. Spare spacing will not be spared.

Writer ∙ Editor ∙ Author

My career in technical writing led me to work for large and small software companies. Over the years, I’ve also written blogs, newsletters, website copy, essays, and poetry.

I’ve been lucky enough to know a few authors and have proofread manuscripts before publication.

I’m currently exploring writing memoir in different formats, including essays and poems.

Nice to meet you! I’m Cristina.

Designer ∙ Artist ∙ Teacher

Art is a big part of my life, and has come to me through pastry (I went to culinary school) and through sewing.

I designed and created my own line of handbags and wallets, published the patterns, and taught bagmaking classes. My tutorials are thorough in both the written word and the step-by-step videos.

I’ve dabbled in surface pattern design, creating my own fabric prints.

Tester ∙ Troubleshooter

While I didn’t end up in computer programming as a career, testing and figuring things out when they go wrong is one of my specialties.

Customer support invariably was part of my job as a technical writer, and I’m able to easily bridge the gap between the engineering mind and the end-user.

Over the years, I’ve created and maintained many websites, can read code, and have a strong understanding of CSS, HTML, and databases.

Once upon a time

Writing has been a part of my life since third grade, when I imagined what life would be like if I were royalty. In my story, “Princess for a Day,” I described how everything would be beautiful and just right. Years later, my mystery-thriller scrawled into a small spiral notepad featured characters sporting my favorite names (changed weekly) and a reinterpreted first-date story from my 7th-grade band teacher. The elegant-sounding Château Blanc turned out to be fast-food White Castle of mini burger fame. It was a good story!

Most of my early writing is lost in time, but my college years saw computers overtake the pen. I recently found a stack of dot-matrix printouts of my poetry and essays, complete with professor feedback! Apparently I had a knack for titling my poems well.

I discovered fonts

Being the solo writer at software start-ups, I relished in creating entirely new book layouts, selecting fonts and paragraph spacing, and arranging the flow of information. Designing online help systems was an exciting and creative challenge in the days before the internet. Everything had to make sense, but the formatting was just as important as the text.

I dove into the world of typography and design, learning the balance between interesting layouts and chaos. Spacing rules were changing as digital fonts cozied up their characters and automated spell-checkers began replacing two spaces with one. My eye saw every detail of the letters before even reading a word.

Formatting ebooks and proofreading print books before publication further bolstered my ability to see blocks on a page and the stories they contain. The words are important. But so is spacing, typesetting, and the order in which information is presented.

technical writing

The customer was always my focus as I translated engineer explanations into tutorials that worked for the target audience. I excelled when things went wrong, making a point of using the software incorrectly to see what happened. Intentional mishaps allowed me to document the way out, a workaround, or strongly worded warnings. In an ideal world, engineers make the workflow intuitive and uncomplicated, and adjust the code to make misuse impossible.

During my career, I also evaluated software for creating guides in PDF format. One application refused to include live hyperlinks in the resulting digital file, so I trashed it. Clickable links in a Table of Contents is a non-negotiable, non-optional feature for customers facing a hundred-page help manual. Without those links, readers that are already seeking help are now adding frustration to their day. And they are only on page two!

A poorly designed website reads the same way as that unhelpful help manual. Customers want to know exactly where to look and exactly how to get there.

& pattern making.

When I started designing handbags and publishing my patterns for fellow bagmakers, I created my tutorials to be as foolproof as possible with written instructions and helpful illustrations. If you follow my lead, you’ll end up making a great bag.

I look at websites the same way I do my publications. I analyze the page flow, layouts, fonts, and colors even before I read the text. It’s distracting if everything is not flawlessly consistent. In a document, I can tell if extra carriage returns were inserted instead of adjusting the style’s built-in spacing. (I’m the type that chooses to show hidden characters, so I see all those extra paragraph marks. There are no spacing secrets with me!)

I’m here to see that every website has a chance to become visually flawless and 100% user-friendly.