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Hi all,
First, many thanks for all the direct and indirect encouragement I've gotten
over the past nearly two years from this list -- I've finally landed a job
that will let me do some real technical writing (among other things, but
that's another story).
So here's my dilemma, four days into things (partly why I'm providing as
little detail as possible): I've been given a Getting Started guide to work
on. We'll be coming out with the latest version of the software probably this
fall. Version x exists on our server as a PageMaker file. Version x+1 exists,
for our purposes, on paper only (it was created in FrameMaker by one of our
partners, and We Do Not Use Frame). The way the version x+2 GS guide is to be
generated, I am told, is by entering the changes between x and x+1 into the x
file (perhaps the pun is intended), so that as we get the x+2 changes from the
developers we will be ready to enter them.
This is not an intuitively obvious process to me. Nor is PageMaker an obvious
tool for the task, however one develops a process. Part of the problem lies
with the fact that I do not care for the organization or layout or style (in
the larger sense of the term) of either existing GS guide. We are a fairly
small company (25 or so employees, with more to come as soon as we can find
them), so there are a few People Who Have Done This Task Before with whom I
work. Any advice on how to proceed, either politically or procedurally (so to
speak)?
My own preference at the moment (given the tools at my disposal) is to create
a new template in Word, and work from it. PLEASE -- I am NOT trying to
recommence the Word/Frame debate. But I am open to any and all suggestions
from those wiser and more experienced than I.
TIA,
Jennifer
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