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As Richard so nicely pointed out, I meant to send this response to the list
and inadvertently send it just to Richard.
Richard has answered my questions, but I wanted to acknowledge my
appreciation and says thanks again.
Bobbi
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roberta Hennessey <rahennessey -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: Two Professional Questions
To: "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>
Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and interesting responses. Another
opinion always seems like a good idea to me. What a nice group on this list.
Regarding Frame vs. Word, this is the first time I've used Word for a
project. I get very nervous when I print a few pages and Word changes
Headings as soon as I click on the OK button on the print dialog. I've moved
the dialog box, etc. to make sure I wasn't hitting something on the screen
by mistake, etc. It has also gone suddenly blank on me - and then comes
back. I never remember Frame doing this. Word makes me nervous and more
neurotic (oh no, not that) as I'm constantly saving to various locations,
fearful I'll lose work.
Also, as this project expands, different users will have differing levels of
access. An easy way to solve this is to build different books, which I think
will be easier with Frame. In the future, the company may go with content
management and online help. I'm not sure if MadCap is a good solution for
them and if Frame would be a better intermediary.
Another consideration is FrameMaker used to come with WebWorks and this
would provide a transition online help until the $ was there for a more
sophisticated help. I can't seem to see anything about whether WebWorks is
still included in the FrameMaker price.
Does anyone know?
I have to admit Word wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be. I went
through the tutorials on Lynda.com and was able to come up to speed quickly.
Word does do more than I thought it could.
Again, thanks to all.
Bobbi
On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 3:56 PM, Combs, Richard
<richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>wrote:
> Roberta Hennessey wrote:
>
> > Hi moderator,
> >
> > I have two questions I'd like to post to the list. If you have any
> > questions, you may contact me.
>
> Congratulations, you've posted to the list. There is no moderator filtering
> messages. If you're ever in doubt about the appropriateness of something,
> send it to admin@ techwr-l.com (as indicated at the bottom of each message
> you receive from the list).
>
> > 2. I am on a contract job and using Word to document an application. My
> > manager has asked to outline the benefits of going with FrameMaker
> instead
> > of Word. I have a draft in Word and my idea is to show a mock up of a
> > FrameMaker document to visually display the quality difference.
>
> I happen to think that FM is superior to Word in many respects, but Gene is
> right -- it depends on the situation, and if an experienced FM user can't
> think of obvious benefits in a specific situation, there probably isn't much
> of a case to be made.
>
> In any case, an FM mockup strikes me as pointless. FM's major advantages
> involve process (large doc management, solid autonumbering, better generated
> lists and xrefs, variables, conditions, etc.), not appearance. What kind of
> visual "quality difference" would you expect a mockup to reveal?
>
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-903-6372
> ------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
Roberta Hennessey
Technical Writer
(978) 835-4282
--
Roberta Hennessey
Technical Writer
(978) 835-4282
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