Might somebody (or somebodies) want to create a quick tour guide
manual--showing how to use Writer to build a book-type set of documents
in a couple dozen pages or so. This shouldn't be very difficult because
there is a guide already available that could be used as a model. Adobe
had created such a guide for versions 5.5 and 6.x of FrameMaker back
during the 1990s and included a number of files for novices user to
practice on.
Adobe kept including the practice Tour files for FrameMaker versions 7.x
(and possibly version 8.x, too), but left out the instruction guide PDF
in those installations (starting back in 2002) for some strange reason.
Two Adobe FrameMaker forum members made available the older guides for
FM 5.5 and FM 6, which seem to work fine with FM 7.0. Anyway, I fooled
around with the Tour yesterday and today, and it seems to be still
applicable for "newer" versions of FrameMaker. [I'm still using the
older FM 7.0 installation from my editing days at Motorola/Freescale. FM
8.x has been out since summer of 2007.]
I could make those files and guide (PDF) available for any OOoAuthors
member/group to adapt them for Writer. Also, maybe some new
technical-writing student/members from the Austin area (if they
materialize) might want to... The OOo guide could either become a main
Writer Guide chapter or else be relegated to the Appendix.
Adobe chose some interesting material (on printing with color for
eventual later printing) for their three-chapter "book," replete with a
ToC and preinstalled index entries, to be built by the users. Ours could
also choose a pertinent topic for its contents--possibly some in-depth,
useful exposition on PDF import/export, which is mostly absent in the
Writer Guide. Choosing such a topic would actually reduce the size of
the Writer Guide by a few chapters because those users could "create"
that material themselves while following the directions in the Tour guide.
Gary
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Gary Schnabl
2775 Honorah
Detroit MI 48209
(734) 245-3324
