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.
jrondeau wrote:
> Version x exists on our server as a PageMaker file.
> Version x+1 exists, for our purposes, on paper only
> (it was created in FrameMaker by one of our partners,
> and We Do Not Use Frame). The way the version x+2 GS
> guide is to be generated, I am told, is by entering
> the changes between x and x+1 into the x file (perhaps
> the pun is intended), so that as we get the x+2 changes
> from the developers we will be ready to enter them.
Stop, I'm dizzy! Forget all the Xs and Os and +1s... just pick a
tool and rekey everything. I'd do it in Word... after the
content is done you can pour it into whatever template or DTP
program the Great Ones demand.
Don't mess with a partner, though, not over something silly like
a publishing tool. Don't let him know about your secret demo
project that shows how to publish the exact same manual with
Word instead of AdobeMaker.
I actually had this same experience on my very first tech
writing job -- a boss who wanted everything done in PageMaker. I
did one project in PageMaker just to prove I could. But for the
next project I developed a Word template (Word 2.0, no less)
that exactly duplicated their format. They told me it couldn't
be done (in fact, they told me not to do it) but in the end they
dumped PageMaker and started using the new Word template. It was
the engineers who demanded it, because all of a sudden everybody
in the office could read draft documents without buying a new
copy of PageMaker.
Good luck,
Mike O.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com
Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
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.
