RE: Best remote tools for tech. writing

["Le Vie, DonaldX S" <donaldx -dot- s -dot- le -dot- vie -at- intel -dot- com>]

Jim:

First of all, good luck with working remote. It's great work when you can
get it.

Second, I'd focus on these apps/skills in addition to the ones you already
have:

1. Some kind of online help utility (RoboHelp, Doc-to-Help)
2. Adobe Acrobat 4.0X (get the Acrobat Bible...soup to nuts, everything you
need)
3. Upgrade to cable modem or DSL if you haven't already
4. Invest in a 100 MB or 250 MB Zip drive
5. Assuming you know HTML fairly well, XML should be next on your
plate...lots of books available
6. I'm not sure about tackling the job of learning Flash or Dreamweaver
unless you really want to do web design...I don't see much "web content
development" with Flash and other such applications that in my experience
appeal more to the eye candy crowd. And with Dreamweaver, that depends on
what you call "web content development." For many potential clients, I don't
think Front Page will get it for them. 
7. Javascript...I've learned just enough to be dangerous, but I rarely get
called to use that skill. If you're going to promote yourself as a technical
writer, then I don't see much call for using it; if you're going to promote
yourself more as a web design guy, then you'll need to learn it. 
8. Lots of folks hang with the MS Office crowd, and with that in mind,
learning VBA might be a good thing to know. I've used it to customize Excel
and Word for internal apps and it's made people happy.

Be sure you investigate the reality of people outsourcing selected web
design/development jobs to someone who promotes himself as a sole proprietor
technical writer (if that's what you are going to do). I think that
companies needing web design elements such as Flash or Javascript will turn
to design firms that specialize in those apps...

Regards,
Donn Le Vie 



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