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: The Writer's Kit From:Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 13 Jan 1998 18:48:17 GMT
On Tue, 6 Jan 1998 08:12:51 -0500, you wrote:
>Jim Chevallier wrote:
>
>>Plus, if your client has made it your responsibility to provide a
>printer-ready* file, most print shops apparently don't handle Word. Probably
>not Frame either, no?
No, but I get around it by sending Postscript print files. Most
printers can deal with these, and it sidesteps a lot of problems, such
as dealing with fonts and figuring out which printer supports which
application and which operating system.
Someone else provided a long list of applications that you should have
as a contractor. I don't think you have to have all of the
applications listed. Personally, I don't buy an application until I
see a need for it that justifies its cost. After all, I'm not going to
make much money if I take a $1500 job that requires me to buy
Interleaf (on sale, it was$1000). I'll turn down the work or see if
the client and I can work out another means of accessing the software
(licensed versions; I don't bootleg).
The things I think you _do_ need:
* A word processor that will read in text files from a variety of
other sources. Word or WordPerfect are generally good for this.
* A graphics package that will import and export graphics in a wide
variety of formats. I prefer Corel for this. You could also use a
general conversion program such as HiJack.
* The most commonly used DTP package in your area of expertise. For me
when I started my business, this was Ventura. Then it shifted to
Interleaf, and now to Frame.
I don't know why someone would rib you about not having Pagemaker
unless you do a lot of short pieces or marketing work.
Good luck,
Barb
Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
Technical Writing
