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.
Lyda,
I was required to learn QuarkXPress because that's all we were allowed to
use when I worked there (version 3.5 era). But I've also used Frame, and I'm
biased toward it for long docs like we whirlers do. I do think QXP is a
dream to use, and I'd use it for my job if it did the things I need.
IF you've used PageMaker, learning QXP is no big deal. I learned it without
a book in a few days. Also, they do have what I swear is the *best*
third-party book ever, by David Blatner, and I saw recently that there's one
by him for version 4. I read it just for fun, it was that well written. I'll
have to take the others' word that it's hard to learn otherwise. Coming from
the Quark and Word perspective, I thought learning Frame was a nightmare.
First time I was ever truly baffled by software. Thank goodness for
FrameMaker for Dummies.
As Wil said, QuarkXPress is really designed for high-end page layout and
design. Artists love it. Advertisers and marketers swear by it (note, these
folks may also be Mac bigots). But it doesn't really do well what you need,
while either Frame or Word do. Explain this to marketing. Don't be defensive
about it. But do be firm in explaining what you need.
Subscribe to the FrameUsers list (www.FrameUsers.com). Distribute PDFs. Have
fun!
Lisa Wright
This week I'm the Trademark goddess!
PeakEffects, Inc.
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.