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Subject:Recommended web site programs From:Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net> To:TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:46:06 -0700 (PDT)
Group,
All of my previous -- and current -- fulltime tech writing positions have been involved with producing either hardcopy manuals or pdf's for posting online by another department of the company I worked for. Never was I able to become involved with editing or generating online content, or even designing a web page.
A few years ago, I tried Frontpage 2003 to produce a web page for my function within a scientific organization to which I belong; I edit and publish its quarterly journal and post the resultant pdf online. While my own web page has sufficed, FP was balky for me to learn and the final page is . . . well . . . quite amateurish. (I'd post the url here, but I'd probably be banished after the laughter subsided.)
Anyway, I'd like some advice as to what today's so-called benchmark web site program is (WordStar was the "benchmark" word processor when I got it back in early 1984). I learned some basic html coding back in 2000, and have used it to do touch-up work once in awhile, but I'm thinking an off-the-shelf program is what I really need.
I belong to and lurk in the FrontPage yahoo e-mail list, but have learned that FP has apparently been discontinued because almost all postings are about "Expression".
Earlier this year, I downloaded the 30-day trial version of Adobe's Dreamweaver and worked my way through the online tutorial with nice results producing the target web page for which the tutorial was designed. It's a really pricey program for someone who is not into web design fulltime, so I might consider a version one rev earlier or so. And I don't want to get into learning something already on its way out. (Yes, I know everything comes and goes, but some stuff stays longer -- like FrameMaker, whose demise has been -- luckily predicted for many years now.)
So what do you guys think? FP, Dreamweaver, or something else, and why or why not?
No hurry. I've got lots of time.
-- Kenpo in Atlanta
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
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authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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