Re: .pdf vs. .html

Subject: Re: .pdf vs. .html
From: Gary Schnabl <gSchnabl -at- LivernoisYards -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:57:56 -0400

Robert Lauriston wrote:
> I wouldn't recommend FrameMaker without knowing more about the current
> source format and the document, since it's expensive and has a steep
> learning curve. You might be the first person I've ever heard
> compliment its ease of use.
>
> OpenOffice works with Word files, generates good PDFs with named
> destinations, and is free.
>
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 1:13 PM, <quills -at- airmail -dot- net> wrote:
>
>> Adding to my last post on this topic, the tool you use for creation of
>> you documents is very important. To create PDFs and use utilities to do
>> this efficiently, I'd recommend a full featured product like Adobe
>> FrameMaker. Even producing HTML I lean toward FrameMaker because of it's
>> ease of use in design and structure.
>>
>> You could use Word, but that is a kludge, not a solution. ...
>>

OpenOffice works with importing/exporting Word 2003 DOC files, but not
Word 2007 DOCX files without being first down-converted to a DOC file on
import, and losing whatever DOCX formatting and features introduced via
Word 2007.

My first full-time technical editing assignment involved working six
months 100% in (conventional--not structured) FrameMaker documents that
were distilled into Acrobat PDFs, and +I found both applications fairly
easy to use. I found structured FrameMaker somewhat easy also, but,
obviously, a fair amount of learning is involved.

OpenOffice does have some difficulties (and requires kludges) with
x-refs across separate subdocuments with its master documents. OTOH,
x-refs are very trouble-free with FrameMaker. Of the three, I would rate
FrameMaker, OOo, and Word 2007 1, 2, 3--in that order--for large bookmaking.

As to OOo's PDF generation, is there an Adobe PDF printer-file add-on
available for OOo for "printing" to a printer file?

Gary
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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Follow-Ups:

References:
.pdf vs. .html: From: Anne Woolson
Re: .pdf vs. .html: From: quills
Re: .pdf vs. .html: From: Robert Lauriston

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