Re: Incorporating Pagemaker in a Tech Writing Class?

[Michael Lewis <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU>]

Elna,

Thanks for this. I didn't make it completely clear that the Writing and
Document Design subject is part of the Tech Communication stream -- but
it's also part of the PR stream. So our tech comm course does include
material on (paper) document design and layout. However, a design course
for online would require more software: see my next point.

Sadly, the decision to use PM (on Macs) was made eons ago, and the
Australian tertiary education sector is (like yours, from what I hear)
being systematically starved of funds. Even if our uni got hold of free
copies of FM, we'd lack the people to install it! Likewise, we don't
have funds or other resources to support large-scale on-line doc
development courses -- there's no point in using simple tools (like MS
Word) at this level; better to avoid it entirely than adopt a
mickey-mouse solution.

Elna Tymes wrote:
>
> Michael-
>
> We offer a one-year paid internship program in technical communication,
> and based on our experience, I'd strongly suggest that you include some
> material on page design and layout, both for the paper environment and
> the online environment.  However, I have a lot of reservations about
> using Pagemaker to do so.
>
> If you really want to get bang for the buck, so to speak, I'd suggest
> that instead of Pagemaker, you teach Framemaker and use that program's
> page layout and design capabilities to teach paper design and layout.
> For the online environment, there are so many programs out there that
> you can practically pick your favorite.  WIRED's Webmonkey just did a
> comparison, so you might check there for their recommendations.
>
> Elna Tymes
> Los Trancos Systems
>

--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
PO Box 1249, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
Suite 8, The Watertower, 1 Marian St, Redfern 2016
http://www.brandle.com.au/~lewism
Tel +61-2-9310-2224 ... Fax +61-2-9310-5056