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.
Okay, I've had it. Word isn't the best tool for long documents, but it's not
the evil entity everyone's making it out to me. I work for a writing
contractor who has been using Word for 10 years, and despite it's problems,
it has some major advantages, primarily its macro language and that it
doesn't cost an arm and a leg for freelancers and clients to purchase.
I managed this technical writing firm of 15 writers for three years, and I
didn't have the Word struggles described on this list. Why? Because the
company owners and I took the time to really learn Word, by subscribing to
newsgroups and learning to use the macro language. Whenever someone came
across a bug, someone knew how to help them quickly. We wrote macros which
overcome most of the major irritations, such as buggy numbering, cross-file
cross-references, headers and footers, the works. If you'd like to check out
these macros, you can download them at www.tech-tav.com. Some are free and
the rest are available for twenty bucks, try before you buy. They come with
extensive documentation.
But the real factor here is training and communication. You can't expect
people who say they are experienced Word users to walk into your office and
start working. Most of the technical writers I know who work with Word have
a very low level of understanding of how the program works, and how to
overcome its frustrations. It is ridicul
