The (110) fiber texture observed in FeTaN sputtered films is characterized using several x-ray diffraction techniques including the high angle and glancing angle geometries, rocking curves, and pole figure tilt scans. These techniques are compared with respect to their geometries and the textural information that they yield. The magnetically soft FeTaN films have potential for use in inductive write heads and their properties are known to depend strongly on the preferred crystallographic orientation. It is shown that the use of a strongly oriented (0002) Ti underlayer enhances the strength of the (110) fiber in the FeTaN, decreases its skew, and decreases random orientations with respect to films that do not have an underlayer.