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Subject:Re: What software are you using? From:Marianne Adams <handson!boston -dot- handson -dot- com!marianne -at- UUNET -dot- UU -dot- NET> Date:Tue, 22 Nov 1994 09:24:00 PST
I agree with the reply below, except that, unless cost is an issue, I
recommend FrameMaker rather than Word (or any other word processor) for
technical documentation. Frame, although lacking in some of the niceties of
the high-end word processors (like drag-and-drop editing and grammar
checking), is much better for handling long documents such as books. Its
template design features are flexible and allow you to control formatting
with a minimum of styles. For example, I was able to design a Frame book
template for a client last summer that covered every possible contingency (I
think) with only 36 styles. The Word template I am currently using has 185!
Granted, I didn't design it, and I suspect with a closer look some of the
styles could be eliminated, but some of Word's design characteristics (such
as the inability to absorb extra space at the top of pages) make at least
some of the extra styles necessary.
As a free-lancer, I have worked in a number of companies that use Frame and
have heard no one who has spent more than a month or so with the product say
that they don't like it. I can't say the same for people who have tried to
make Word - an excellent word processor - try to function as a book
publishing tool.
Most folks would say that PageMaker would be a better product for your
newsletters, but, unless you're doing really fancy stuff, Frame handes
newsletters just fine, too. In fact, the product comes with a very nice
newslette template.
A word of advice (OK, a few sentences): No matter which tool you choose,
make sure that you take the, time to really learn the ins and outs of what
the tool can do. All of these programs have all kinds of undocumented or
poorly documented "features" that you only know about if you've been poking
in the innards for a while.
Marianne Adams
marianne -at- boston -dot- handson -dot- com
p.s. If you're really serious about free-lancing on the Mac, you should
consider getting and learning both Frame and Word to keep yourself
competitive.
----------
You probably are going to need at least 10-12-14 Megs of RAM.
If you are primarily doing desktop publishing / page layaout get PageMaker.
However, for Technical writing either get FrameMaker or MS Word.
FrameMaker is by far the most widely used document procesor among companies
I am familiar with.
______
At 13:49 11/21/94 -0500, KnoxML1 wrote:
>I am buying a new computer soon (a Mac Performa 630cd, probably, with 8 MB
of
>ram & a 250 MB hard drive). The goal, aside from playing, is to keep my
skills
>current with the changing job market and to set myself up so freelancing is
an
>option. I do scientific & technical editing, substantive editing and some
>writing on technical subjects, and also nontechnical stuff like resumes and
>newsletters. I have done some computer documentation, but not much.
>With those goals in mind, would I be smarter to get Pagemaker, Framemaker,
or
>something else? Is any one package used significantly more in the field
than
>the others?
