Krista Van Laan

I have two areas of what might be called expertise--the local history and architecture of Northern California, and technical writing.

My book "Wolfe & Higgins: Master Architects of the Spanish Revival" is about the amazingly prolific architectural firm of Wolfe & Higgins and the Spanish Revival style they introduced to Northern California in the 1920s. One hundred years ago. San Jose architect Frank Wolfe, already well known in California for his innovative Prairie-style residential designs, partnered with his son Carl Wolfe and William Ernest Higgins. Early adopters of the Spanish Revival style that swept California in the 1920s, the firm of Wolfe & Higgins lasted only fourteen years but in that short time produced more than 500 homes, commercial buildings, and institutional buildings. Among these are some of the most recognizable architectural landmarks in Northern California and some of the most beautiful houses in San Jose. Full color with nearly 400 external and internal photographs.

"Frank Delos Wolfe: California Prairie Architecture," is about the Prairie-influenced work of architect Frank Wolfe. From 1912 to 1922, Wolfe drew on influences of Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Charles Trost, and other Prairie-school architects to produce a body of work in Northern California that luckily for us today is largely still standing. During his time, Wolfe was heavily featured in architectural trade magazines with designs considered "artistic" and "different", only to become forgotten until very recently. The people who commissioned his designs were unique individuals--nonconformists who wanted something special in a home. The book contains nearly 250 photographs, including many interiors of these beautiful homes, and stories of their fascinating owners.

My most recent book, "Schiele Subdivision and Alameda Park: History, Architecture, and Preservation in a San Jose Neighborhood," is co-authored with Kay Gutknecht. This book tells the story of a fascinating neighborhood in old San Jose.

I've written or co-written two books about technical writing--"The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing," currently on its second edition (2022), improved and with many more pages, and in 2001, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing" with Cathy Julian (out of print). Both of these books focus on what's involved in doing the job in what is probably the most intense of technical writing environments, the fast-paced world of high tech.

I've got many years of experience writing and managing writers in software, telecommunications, hardware, and Internet service companies. For nearly six years, I was lucky enough to live in Finland, where I managed documentation teams at Unda (a Scitex subsidiary) and Nokia. It was a great experience. In Finland, we looked for people who could write well in English and trained them to do documentation, so that was where I realized I desperately needed a book that told a motivated learner how to do everything from walking into a new job to cranking out developer documentation.

There have been many other times during my long career I could have used a book exactly like "The Insider's Guide..." More than once, I trained people who wanted to move into tech writing from other departments of the company I happened to work for at the time. I've always felt that if a person is intelligent and motivated, he or she can learn the skills needed to be a good tech writer. We saw it during the dot-com boom, too. People with no experience at all were hired to write product documentation, and some of them did really well, and others, not so much.

During the past 20 years, I've managed user experience departments, where I've been responsible for functions such as design, usability, user research, and web development in addition to content. I know how important a part of the user experience content is.

When I'm not writing or working at my job, I'm involved in my other passions of historic preservation, old home renovation, painting, and mosaics. Too many hobbies and too little time...