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Subject:Re: multiple versions From:Matt Abe <MATTA -at- COUNTY -dot- LMT -dot- MN -dot- ORG> Date:Mon, 28 Jun 1993 14:34:11 CST
On Mon, 28 Jun 1993, Maria Townsley <maria -at- MSD -dot- MEASUREX -dot- COM> wrote:
> Writing multiple versions of the "same" manual is a major part of
> my job.
I would suggest FrameMaker to anyone who is faced with producing
multiple, nearly identical versions of a manual. Late last year, we
used FrameMaker for Windows for this purpose, and it worked well. In
particular, FrameMaker's ability to use variable text and conditional
text saved us lots of time. Without FrameMaker, the documentation
would not have been able to ship when it did. Future maintenance of
this documentation set is also greatly simplified, since it really is
a single document with various variable and conditional text
(and graphics) defined.
Since then, we have also begun using FrameMaker for Macintosh, with
similar good results. We have found the documents fairly
transportable between the two platforms (there are some
incompatibilities between the way PCs and Macs handle graphics).
FrameMaker also offers controls that have have reliably automated
many tasks that we previously had to accomplish manually. As
mentioned earlier in the TECHWR-L group, FrameMaker also has an
online documentation creator and reader. I have found tech support
to be excellent and easily accessible via Internet mail (in addition
to the other traditional channels). The manuals and reference
materials are well-written and designed, IMHO (they work for us).
I am receiving no compensation of any kind for this testimonial! Our
department is simply quite pleased with the product. I was very
hesitant to switch from what we were using (nothing major was
broken). We have determined that FrameMaker is the best tool for us
to accomplish our particular documentation tasks. FrameMaker is now
our primary DTP application software.
[These comments come from a department with die-hard ("since version
1.0") users of Ventura Publisher and PageMaker.]
Regards,
Matt Abe
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Matthew Abe Internet: matta -at- county -dot- lmt -dot- mn -dot- org
Manager, Engineering Services
LaserMaster Corporation
7156 Shady Oak Road
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
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