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.
I've used Interleaf on Unix workstations for about 4 years. I use
it now on my present contract. I like it very much.
Interleaf is especially strong in managing large documents and
large numbers of related document files.
I can't really compare it to Framemaker because my only exposure
to FM was to play around with a demo for five minutes. However,
like everyone else, I've heard good things about it.
Back to Interleaf: It is a very powerful package, though not very
user friendly if you are naturally an impatient person. Most of the
engineers who use it just want to do some simple text input or editing
and get frustrated with all the possible mouse button combinations.
At the first company where I used ileaf, everyone was trained to use it; here,
I don't believe anyone was formally trained. In fact, the other tech
writer and I are often the ones to lend a hand to those in
need of some instruction in "Intergrief," as they lovingly call it.
So, if you are going to spend some major bucks on Interleaf and its
add-ons, be sure you are going to be able to take advantage of
most of its features. I am still learning new features about
Interleaf myself. Why, just the other day I learned that our ileaf 5.3
has a graphics "airbrush" type tool and another graphics
tool that lets you adjust the contrast of an image. (Neat stuff, but
I'm words, not pictures.) Make sure you also have enough memory for ileaf.
By the way, we also use Worldview here, an Interleaf (licensed) product.
Worldview presents a read-only window to
the user, and there are various ways, including using hyperlinks, to
navigate through a document and to access other documents. Naturally, WV
is useful for online help applications and for online documentation of all
sorts.