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: lookin' for a PDF alternative From:"Kelly Williamson" <kwcwtech -at- iwaynet -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 17 Oct 2001 16:49:05 -0400
> 2. Has anyone ever used a Word document, saved and locked as a form, as an
> alternative to a PDF, for wide distribution?
Hi WW. I have used Word documents, saved and locked as forms for wide
distribution. When I've done it on the Web, I *always* provide a PDF
alternative. I've done it for our internal customers without providing a PDF
alternative, because, and only because, I know that everyone has Word and
exactly what version they have.
> Does locking a document as a
> form keep all formatting intact?
Yep. You'll probably want to make it read-only so it's not accidentally
overwritten, as well as password protect it (if you don't the user can just
unlock the form and change the formatting.)
> What kinds of
> limitations might using the doc as form impose, besides the fact that the
> user must have Word?
You must worry about what version of Word they have too. And whether they're
all Windows users. And whether they trust you/you're company--they may be
worried about viruses, etc. The only other thing I can think of is that they
can't run spell check unless you include a macro (let me know if you need
it) which makes a lot of people very nervous unless they're internal
customers. (Of course, you can't run spell check in PDF forms either,
AFAIK.)
Good luck!
Kelly Williamson
kwcwtech -at- iwaynet -dot- net
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Announcing new options for IPCC 01, October 24-27 in Santa Fe,
New Mexico: attend the entire event or select a single day.
For details and online registration, visit http://ieeepcs.org/2001
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
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.
