Re: Advice on systems

[Janie Bergen <BERGEN -at- UNTVAX -dot- BITNET>]

Paula Reynolds writes:

>I'm new to the list, and hoping for wisdom.  I began work for a
>manufacturing firm about six weeks ago.  At the moment, we're using
>Microsoft Word 5.5 to do our manuals.  Our manuals are *very* basic:
>until six weeks ago, the only other tech writer used Courier font.

>I was hired to improve the system.  However, they want me to improve the
>system for no money.  Since that isn't going to happen, I was hoping for
>advice on which system to use:  PageMaker, FrameMaker, or Word for
>Windows.  And even if you don't have advice, I'd appreciate information
>on the setup your company uses.

Paula, any advice should take into consideration what kind of writing
you want to do with this software. For instance, are you using a lot of
graphics and concentrating on page design? Pagemaker might be good for
this type of writing. Are you writing long, complex documents with
a need for generating indexes, tables of contents, etc.? Then maybe
you should look at FrameMaker (most expensive of the three programs).
If you are doing simple documents, primarily using text, then look
at Word for Windows (a wonderful program and the least expensive of
the three). Does your company already have any of these programs?
Can you justify purchasing PageMaker or FrameMaker? Most users never
come close to using everything these programs offer. Personally, I
think for most documentation you can use Word for Windows and push
it to the max with some macros and power tricks.

Good luck.

Janie Bergen