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Subject:Re: Switching from Word to FrameMaker From:Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 1 Aug 1996 11:45:45 PDT
As a general rule, you should switch to a new DTP system at the beginning
of a new project -- preferably one that's sure to have several months
of schedule slippage (THAT shouldn't be hard). Converting manuals is
surprisingly painful. Learning new DTP systems isn't that hard, but you
want the time to go back and do things the right way, rather than the
ugly way you thought of first, before you really understood the product.
You can't do this when you've pulled a DTP switcheroo on yourself
in the middle of a project.
FrameMaker's okay -- it's much better than Word, and, used properly, with
a love of structure as the route to maximum long-term laziness, it will
amply pay back the investment. As it's more robust than Word, it will
probably pay back the investment even if used stupidly. (I far prefer
Interleaf for highly structured documentation, personally.)
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon, President/Managing Editor, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139
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