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.
>I just finished my second interview for a tech writing position and
>it looks like I have a job. My interviewer was explaining their
>production process to me and asked me if I knew Interleaf. I had
>never heard of it. He said it was ok, because hardly anyone outside
>the company was familiar with it either and I would pick it up
>quickly. I found their website and the product looks pretty good. Is
>anyone else familiar with Interleaf? Is it easy to work with?
>Reliable? Powerful? Any info anyone could provide to satisfy my
>curiousity would be greatly appreciated.
Jody Lorig's response was right on and very informative. So was Melonie
Holliman.
I hope I can add some useful information. I "learned" Interleaf enough
to update existing documents in one day. I had seen other people use it
before I started however, so that gave me an edge. A year later I was
still learning new things! It is a very comprehensive program with an
easy-to-use graphic package, and a very powerful conditional text
feature. Like Jody said, every paragraph has a property sheet (tag)
which defines the style formatting in depth. These tags are controlled
through the use of catalogs that appear in front of each virtual manual.
Usually, the dept has created a catalog based on the dept. style guides
and Interleaf enforces their use. The catalogs can be used to make
global changes throughout the manual.
I miss working with Interleaf, since I'm now stuck with Word. I miss
the control I had and the tremendous capabilities. The software could
handle 10,000 page docs as well as 10 page docs.