TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re. PageMaker vs. Word From:Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> Date:Thu, 31 Aug 1995 13:14:28 LCL
Patty Ewy asked about the relative suitability of
PageMaker vs. Microsoft Word for document
production. Two questions that might help:
1. What isn't working that your manager wants to
fix? If you're productive now with PM, why go
through the whole learning cycle all over again?
If you need to move to collaborative writing, with
several people working on the same file, then
Frame is probably a better alternative than PM or
MSW.
2. Do you ever plan to do color publishing or
typesetting? PM is better for both, particularly
if you don't have a good service bureau locally
that will work with wordpro files. Most won't, or
will simply take your file and import it into PM
or some other beast that drives a typesetter well.
Other than that? Both tools have legions of
devoted followers, and both get the job done. I've
heard far more horror stories about MSW than PM,
but that's not a reason to disqualify it.
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of
our reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.
