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Subject:RE: Current trends in Authoring Tools? From:"Brierley, Sean" <Sean -dot- Brierley -at- ipc -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 8 Feb 2007 10:11:34 -0500
That's the interesting point.
Word fails at long documents in several areas, requiring expertise and
rework. You only have to look up recent posts on how best to do numbered
lists in Word to see that most people implement a sequence fields or VBA
solution. In short, everybody doesn't know it and it is difficult to
learn.
Why people use Word for tech writing IMHO:
1) It's ubiquitous. You can share the files everywhere (which has cons
as well as pros).
2) It's paid for by IT and already included on the employee's PC, so
they don't need an additional purchase for software (why not make
programmers use it to code, then?).
3) Managers believe it's easy to use based on their experience writing
resumes and memos.
Having said that, I have no doubt it is the most common technical
writing tool on the planet.
Regards.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sean -dot- brierley=ipc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sean -dot- brierley=ipc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of ct
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 9:52 AM
<snip>
The last few contract jobs I've worked as well as the last 3 permanent
jobs (and the job I am moving into - a fortune 50 company) have all
abandoned tools like RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Flare, etc. Their tool of
choice?
Word.
Why? It's in use. It's got a future development path. And everybody
knows it.
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