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I have to disagree here. If you have it, learn it. Otherwise it's no more
useful than that second toaster oven Aunt Edna gave you at last year's
family reunion. And though most writers might not do more than
printscreen-crop-and-plop, do you want to crop-and-plop yourself into that
lump of writers? Why? Instead, learn the tool. Learn how to do amazing
things. Why? Well, chances are that moving forward you won't be a "tech
writer's tech writer" (whatever the hell that means). A lot of writers I am
in frequent contact with are expanding their roles into web authoring, not
so much programming (though that's happening too).
So yes, learning Java or another programming language can be useful,
provided that's the industry you're into. But no matter the industry, web
delivery is becoming more and more popular, and knowing how to make better
web images (not just by masking and funky effects, but by properly reducing
colors and indexing palettes to the proper formats using PhotoShop and
ImageReady) will push your work to the next level.
I'm not advocating Photoshop over other things to learn, but given that you
already have it, have tutorials, and have the time, why the hell not? Sure,
learn other things too, but why push learning something aside just because
most people don't use it properly anyway? That's just stupid.
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BILL SWALLOW
Technical Writer
C O U R I O N C O R P O R A T I O N
1881 Worcester Road
Framingham, Mass. 01701
T E L * 508-879-8400 x316
F A X * 508-879-8500
www.courion.com
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-----Original Message-----
>>As tech writers,
>>do you find this to be a prominent software in the
>>profession? Also, do you think it's a good choice in
>>which to invest my time?
Yes it is important to know Photoshop.
No it is not a good use of your time. Most writers (in my experience) can
minimize their use of graphic editing tools to cropping and Save As... You
don't need to know how to do masking and funky effects.
Use your time to learn Java or some other programming language. Knowing one
language will help you understand others and having code samples in addition
to writing samples is a big plus.
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IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
+++ Miramo -- Database/XML publishing automation. See us at +++
+++ Seybold SFO, Sept. 25-27, in the Adobe Partners Pavilion +++
+++ More info: http://www.axialinfo.comhttp://www.miramo.com +++
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