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.
Subject:Re: Linux users' expectations of online help From:David Neeley <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 23 Sep 2003 17:02:44 -0700 (PDT)
Sean,
<rant>Anyone who has had a 100+ page doc in Word format and had the page numbers change every time or two the doc was opened *knows* it's not WYSIWYG. Also, anyone who carefully checks printed copy against the on-screen representation *also* knows it isn't.
The argument generally is whether Word is "WYSIWYG enough"...and that is an argument I don't have time for, either.
However, I would still plump for a tool similar in approach to Lyx that would enable much more seamless authoring in XML while taking most technical writers *out* of the desktop publishing business most of the time while limiting their ability to screw around with the formatting much--and certainly not to override the styles when the notion seizes them! Validation would be automatic, as would most tagging, leaving the writer more time to compose, self edit, and to be sure of the facts and technology underlying the document in question.
Personally, I've spent a few hundred excess hours correcting other people's docs that had very poor templates to begin with and authors and maintainers without much of a clue after that! But then, that's just me!</rant>
David
----------------------------------------------------
The fact that Word is not 100% WYSIWYG is a hot and
tempered debate on a list like this. I don't want to
be the one who starts that war ... <sigh>again</sigh>.
NEED TO PUBLISH YOUR FRAMEMAKER CONTENT ONLINE?
?Mustang? (code name) is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to Web, intranets, and online Help.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! See a live demo that
will take your breath away: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l3
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
