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Subject:Re: Framemaker? From:Keith Anderson <kanderso -at- TRI -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 4 Dec 1996 09:59:29 -0500
I think tech writing students should be introduced to Macs, PCs, UNIX,
Word, FrameMaker, Ventura, and even WinHelp tools. It's unfortunate, but
most schools don't want to invest in the real-world tools or are so
involved with their own political battles that departments with the
resources to help each other will not work together.
The reality is that our industry is vast. You never know what you will
be working on next. That's business. I recently graduated after going to
school part time for about eight years. If my school was a reflection of
reality, the entire tech writing industry would be using Mac Classics
with Word 5 and PageMaker 3. I even had a class two years ago in a room
using TRS-80s.
I think most industries have similar academic roots. There's theory and
then there's reality.
Keith Anderson
The Registry
Documentation Services Practice http://www.tri.com mailto:kanderso -at- tri -dot- com
(847) 290-9119 Voice
(847) 290-9165 Fax
>----------
>From: Tony G. Rocco[SMTP:trocco -at- NAVIS -dot- COM]
>Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 1996 7:02 PM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: Re: Framemaker?
>At 14:38 -0800 12/3/96, Westbrook wrote:
>>I expect to graduate with a tech writing degree in a year and was =
>>browsing through the job postings on the Usenet. What I kept finding was
>>jobs
>>requesting experience with a program titled "Framemaker." I have never
>>heard of this app & was wondering if somebody could please tell me what =
>>it is and on what platform it runs.
>>
>Frankly, Westbrook, I find it more than a little odd that someone going to
>school to learn to be a tech writer (a laudable aim, I might add) hasn't
>heard of the industry standard application for producing print
>documentation. What have you been working in? Word, perhaps? I would ask
>the director of the program why you and other aspiring tech writers have
>never been told about this vital tech writer tool. You should be receiving
>training in it.