Re: DEBATE: Word-processing or DTP

["Hutchings, Christa" <cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM>]

Sadly, I worked with a contract writer at my previous job who absolutely
refused to consider doing page layout work. He had previously been an
employee of the company and was a terrific writer and great person, but
he apparently considered page layout work beneath him and had convinced
management many years ago that the writer/formatter concept was the way
to go. The company consequently choose Interleaf as its DTP app and now
has so much money invested in Interleaf that it won't even consider
changing to something less expensive so the writers can do their own
page layout. Even when Interleaf bites the dust (and it's not a matter
of if, but when), they'll probably stick with the writer/formatter
scenario because: 1) this writer is a permanent contractor there and has
a lot of sway with management, and 2) the TW manager there has never
worked in any other kind of environment and doesn't know any other way
to run a TW group.

As the saying goes, to each his own...

Chris Welch-Hutchings
Senior Technical Writer
Home Wireless Networks, Inc.
mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com


-----Original Message-----
From: Bergen, Jane [mailto:janeb -at- ANSWERSOFT -dot- COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 4:44 PM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: DEBATE: Word-processing or DTP


Sheesh, am I the only tech writer who considers page layout to be part
of the overall information design strategy??? DTP has evolved, for tech
writers, to more than a peripheral task.

Christa Hutchings writes:
> Finally, on a personal note, I also like the variety of doing document
> design and page layout and working with graphics, along with
> my writing
> tasks. I guess there are writers out there who don't want to
> be bothered
> with these tasks, but I found myself pretty bored doing only writing.

I labor over every bulleted list, numbered list, sidebar note, heading
level, font choice, and other DTP considerations as part of my
JOB...which is that of "information design": to make information
accessible to the user, to make retrieving information faster and easier
for the user, and to enhance the overall "palatableness" (is that a
word?!) for the user. It never occurs to me that this is a "bother" for
a writer. Admittedly, I don't spend as much time over it as I do the
gathering and writing of information, but it still is a significant
portion of my work.

Jane
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.
Richardson, TX  (972)997-8355

~~~