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On 9/9/05, Hiking Nut <carolinahikingnut -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Can someone give me their opinion on this? I've heard from a few
> people that as a tech writer, it's good to know HTML. My question is
> this - is it better to start off learning how to code manually, then
> start using a "real" HTML editor like Dreamweaver, or is it best to
> just use something like Dreamweaver from the start?
>
> thanks,
>
> Andy
Andy,
As a former coder turned tech writer, I can honestly say that knowing
any programming or design language is a tremendous asset, for the
following reasons:
1) You can fix problems yourself and not be at the mercy of third
parties. WYSIWYG editors can be incredible assets or enormous pains in
the rear, but neither one offers the reward of being able to look at a
page's source code and removing errors without having to parse through
the editor to do so. Coding manually can be laborious, but the results
are often more satisfactory, at least to me. :) YMMV, of course.
2) It keeps your skills broad. Just in my limited experience, I have
found that I need to be able to do much, much more than just write
well and clearly. I'm often called upon to do the work of a
programmer, systems analyst, and software tester just to write the
docs, and all of that requires knowing HTML, XML, JavaScript, CSS, and
so on.
3) You can communicate better with SME's. If I know how to design a
good Web site, I can talk to the developer or coder on a level that
they can understand, and we can both benefit from the flow of the
information exchange.
Elizabeth Castro has won kudos from the tech publishing literati for
writing books that explain HTML and the like in clear,
easy-to-understand terms. This book in particular wins raves from my
friends and co-workers, so I recommend it:
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