Re: FrameMaker and track changes? (take II)

[eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com]

My name is Eric, I'm a Framehead and MSWord hater. But for the love of <insert
deity here> I'm not going to participate in any 12 step programs just yet. ;)

"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> wrote on 11/20/2003 10:45:28 AM:
> For that matter, consider reinstalling your operating
> system or even moving to a newer version.

Good Idea. But I hope you have a good list of all the software and patches
you've installed over the years. Best to first analyse your system and ensure
that all software installation files and patches are on-hand or available.

> If you never turn off your computer, that's another
> frequent cause of problems

I'd have to ask why the computer is being left on. Schedule 'house cleaning'
activities at lunch/break time if that's the only reason the computer is being
left on. Even in sleep mode most computers and screens consume enough energy to
be considered wasteful.

> Here are a couple things that can cause serious
> instability in Word: First, using Master Documents.
> Unless you're Steve Hudson, don't even think of
> trying.

<lol> Has Steve ever convinced a large number of people that he isn't personally
blessed to have the success his approach seems to benefit from?

> Second, check the settings for saving files: Open
> the Tools menu, Select Options, then click the Save tab.
> Deselect "Enable Fast Saves" if it's selected.

And your network administrator should see to it that EVERYONE is aware of this.
They'll absolutely LOVE the savings in server disk space if your company is word
document heavy. I've found people using hundred meg template files. Great fun to
receive a HUGE 1 line memo to find that all memos ever sent by someone are
hidden in the saved changes. Your company should be thrilled with the increased
security of eliminating that leak of information as well as the saving in disk
space costs. :)

> If your documents have been saved using
> this bug (Microsoft
> calls it a "feature"), they can quickly grow corrupted.
> The solution is to
> disable fast saves, then for each document, select all the
> text except the
> final paragraph marker, paste it into a new file, then
> save the file.

That's only in the case the files are corrupted. Right? If the files are fine,
turning off fast saves and doing a save as should be fine.

> Nope. Try solving the problems first, using some of my
> suggestions and any
> others that you receive. Use Frame if it provides other
> advantages; for
> example, it handles long and complex documents much betterthan Word.

I'm reading the articles in the WOW newsletters about MSWords XML features with
a lot of interest. Ultimately, it may be the best workflow to breakdown the
information being produced into the smallest manageable granularity and work in
XML in MSWord with the appropriate schema/dtd etc. Then, a better
formatting/layout/production tool (Framemaker, Epic, etc) can then be used to
assemble and produce the final output.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer



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