Formatting Docs On-The-Fly

[Tony Markos <ajmarkos -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

CB:

Thanks for your (below) very informative response.  

You stated:

"Structured FrameMaker limits the ability of
individual
authors to get creative with the company style."

My comment and a question:

On a past TW assignment, I had edited/rewrote alot of
procedures written by network engineers.  As the job
was at a DOD agency, we had a standard format/style. 
However, that format/style was often violated.  In
correcting these situations, I noted that the reason
for such violations was almost always the same: 
Getting creative with the format/style was an easy way
for the writer to mask "holes" in his/her
understanding of the subject at hand (i.e, if I do not
fully understand the subject, then a way around the
situation is to "modify" the style so that it fits
what I do know).

Is not such modifying the style on-the-fly such a
wide-spread issue that structured Framemaker is bound
to be of limited use?

Tony Markos

--- CB Casper <knowone -at- surfy -dot- net> wrote:

I moved from Interleaf to structured FrameMaker inan
environment that produces a huge amount of docs from
many departments for multiple products. They have a
legitimate desire for the hundreds of docs to have a
simliar look and feel to their presentation.

Structured FrameMaker limits the ability of individual
authors to get creative with the company style.
 
After a couple of years of using structured FM, I was
given a unstructured FM doc to make some major
changes.
 
I gave up using unstructured FM and converted it to
structured. I was too well versed in structured and
the lack of it was too frustrating. I knew how to get
what was needed in the structured environment, but not
in unstructured.
 
So the answer is, from a training perspective, authors
need to learn both.
> 


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