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Re: Recommended apps to learn as a new tech writer...
Subject:Re: Recommended apps to learn as a new tech writer... From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 26 Aug 2005 18:11:29 -0400
To reiterate why asking us for advice on which tools to focus on
learning is bad, I list the apps I use on a regular basis:
FrameMaker
WebWorks Publisher Professional for FrameMaker
Acrobat Professional
PaintShop Pro
Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect Edition
Visual SourceSafe
Ndoc
FAR
Note how they differ from David's, and from each other...
I say it's most important for you to focus on your studies and on
learning the theories and concepts behind the technologies than learn
the technologies themselves. I know a lot of writers who use software
but really have no idea what it is their software is doing. My
personal position is that this is a very dangerous way of carrying on
in a professional career. Should anything go wrong or change (like a
tool go away or some such thing, which happens more often that you'd
think), there will be a lot of unanswered questions as to how to
proceed.
On 8/26/05, David Loveless <daveloveless -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> The programs that I use the most are DreamWeaver, OpenOffice, Word,
> Vizio, PowerPoint, and Excel in that order. If I had to add any others
> that I use semi-often, I would throw in Quark, InDesign, and
> Photoshop. It all depends on your field and the type of documentation
> you are writing. I agree with Joe--XML and HTML are really nice to
> know, especially XML. All the job posting in my region (Salt Lake
> City) seem to require XML. Oh, that the STC is absolutely essential in
> my opinion. You can get a student membership for $50 a year (if I
> remember right), and many institutions will even pay that fee for you.
--
Bill Swallow
42.8162,-73.7736
Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
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