TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Documentation Group needs advice! From:Kat Nagel/MasterWork <katnagel -at- EZNET -dot- NET> Date:Sun, 5 Jan 1997 17:07:07 -0500
Joanne Grey wrote:
>At the last company I worked for, we used Word exclusively
>but heavily. Paragraph tags, macros, variables, lots of images, heavy use
>- and creation
>- of custom templates. My next job used Frame. I got *one day* to play
>with it before I
>got an assignment.
>
>While I was admittedly less than proficient, I got the basics down in that
>one day,
>thanks to the ways with which we used Word. Five years ago, the story
>would have been
>much different.
I dunno. I started using FrameMaker in July, 1992 (4.5 years ago---not
5---but close enough, I think 8) ). Until then, my principle tool was
MSWord3.
Everyone told me I'd regret the change: "FrameMaker is soooo hard to
learn." HAH! It took me less than a day to feel comfortable enough to
start a major project with Frame. Every time I stumbled across a new
feature, my reaction was: "Oh, wow! -Now- I can do...." By the time I
finished the project, I'd used every feature except the Equation Editor.
Spent an hour or two playing with that, then went back to the companies
where my friends had moaned about the long learning curve and offered to
train their new employees. Made a tidy piece of change that year.
K@
Kat Nagel, MasterWork Consulting Services
Technical writing / Editing / Document design / Research
"Za Zen. Za Snack. Za Nap.
Eat and sleep---Nothing sacred about the Order."
___Alfred Birnbaum & Riku Kanmei, in <<Zen for Cats>>
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
