Re: The case against M$ Word

[quills -at- airmail -dot- net]

Chris,

While I'm searching for the thread, I still caution you about 
InDesign. Page layout isn't really the paradigm you need for large 
complex documents. Page layout is about intense management of 
character spacing, word spacing, and other element spacing. InDesign 
shows that by the dialogs it presents. Lots of detailed dialog boxes 
for very precise control of characters. FrameMaker gives much less 
control over character placement and concentrates on data 
relationship instead.

Scott

At 8:22 AM -0700 10/29/08, Chris Morton wrote:
>OK, look. No one answered my original question regarding the thread I'm
>seeking. I'm not looking for a debate here, rather info about a thread to
>which I contributed and followed.
>
>I have laid out many a software manual in my time, thanks, and I'm not
>wanting to argue with any of you about it being a whale of lot easier using
>a *real* page layout tool. (My personal preference is PageMaker, simply
>because I've used it since its very first iteration and know it intimately.
>But I'm also experienced with FrameMaker and understand its place.)
>
>As for Word, I've inherited a manual, begun by our SW and HW engineers, that
>would take a while to correctly recompose. If I'm going to invest time
>recomposing the thing, then, why not do so using a *layout tool* that
>provides the features to which I'm accustomed?
>
>As for the current mess, every time I want to add or insert something, all
>of my prior graphics work needs to be continually tweaked. Yesterday a
>subhead mysteriously disappeared all on its own. Had I built these DOCs from
>scratch, things may have been different, but my own experience says that
>Word cannot handle the sort of sophisticated graphics placement/manipulation
>(including overlays) that I'm wanting to use. Further, someone please tell
>me about Word's preflight ability when compared to any of the Adobe
>products.
>
>Now...does anyone remember that thread? I believe the OP of it was a newbie
>inquiring about tools we use, and it was started perhaps the week before
>last. I'm simply looking for some keywords I can use to pull it up in my
>Gmail archive.
>
>Thanks
>
>>  Chris
>
>On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 4:53 PM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
>>  I'm preparing an executive summary as to why M$ Word is not an adequate
>>  tool for software manual production and why Adobe InDesign is a superior
>>  choice for the task at hand. (FrameMaker is more than this company needs.)
>>
>>  Just a few weeks ago I participated in a thread whereby a techwr-l newbie
>>  inquired about the tools of the trade. In that thread, there were many
>>  reasons given why Word is insufficient. Can someone please point me to that
>>  thread, or others that support my view?
>>
>>  Thanks
>>
>>  > Chris
>>
>>
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ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. 
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Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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