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Subject:Writing and Layout From:Mike Dannenberg <100767 -dot- 707 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM> Date:Sun, 31 Mar 1996 16:26:54 EST
There's been quite a lot of discussion lately about whetehr technical writers
shoul dbe involved in document design, or just concentrate on the writing. From
my experince, I would say, the answer is somewhere in between (call me a liberal
if you want). In my current project, the layout has been designed by a
professional layout designer. That guy also has been writing documentation for
the same company, and I've designed layouts before. Now, I'd say, the stuff I
write is better than what he wrote earlier and his layout are sure as hell
better than anything I could ever have come uo with. Currently we're working
together, I specify the structure of the docs and he designs an appropriate
layout. Works pretty well.
The moral: let the pros do the job. While a technical writer should be able to
knock up a layout, it woul dusually not be as good as that of a a layout
professional.
