I have worked with Framemaker, robo help, visio, dreamweaver, html, xml, photoshop, ... a lot of things I no longer remember. However, I have not worked with any recent versions of these. Also, when consulting most of my clients wanted documentation in Word. They were not convinced Framemaker was worth the investment. I eventually quit fighting Word and it improved over the past 15 years enough to be useful for documentation beyond 10 pages in length. I used to do some coding as well, but nothing currently used.
Stephenie K Barrett > Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:16:56 +0200 > From: theca...@aim.com > To: doc@openoffice.apache.org > Subject: Re: Is it time to re-evaluate the viability of internal > documentation? > > On 03/28/2014 10:19 PM, Kay Schenk wrote: > > On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 5:06 AM, HP <theca...@aim.com> wrote: > > > >> Hi Guyz, > >> > >> I hope you are OK with me intervening here, I am "pretty new" to this > >> thing. > >> > >> I think we need to, as a team, focus on one specific guide or per chapter. > >> Split the work by chapter, once you have finished yours, ask if others need > >> help. > >> Maybe we could have someone check the Writer guide, for a start. I am not > >> even sure where all this stuff is located in wiki. > > > > The "new" guides are here: > > https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/UserGuide > > > > > > > >> I have only just started and made very minor edits because I am trying to > >> get used to the style and stuff. > >> > >> I am an experienced tech writer, with a consultant background. I do not > >> have tons of time, but can help out here and there. > >> > > My primary interest at the moment is with the "internal" help. Like you, I > > am just getting started with that. When I get a bit further along, I hope > > to share some ideas. > > > > Out of curiosity, what documentation tools have you worked with or prefer? > > I have worked with SAP KW, Arbotext XML, oXygenXML (XML editing and > XSLT), docbook, xslt, xsl-fo, JSPWiki, vim and a bunch of other unix > command line utils, subversion, cvs ... > Currently, I author in vim using JSPWiki style syntax and produce a 2000 > page book ... without counting the generated apidocs. I author the XSL > in oXygenXML and use renderx for xslfo PDF generation. I use sed, awk, > and grep quite a lot. > > I used to author XML directly ... spent more time formatting than > actually writing content, then you have the Word/Arbotext crap where you > have to live in formatting hell. Keeping formatting simple makes > everything easier, especially if you have to change the styling. > > > > > > >> > >> I think we need some structure somewhere, what do you think ? Just me two > >> cents ;-) > >> > >> Regards, > >> > >> HP > >> > >> > >> > >> On 03/22/2014 11:01 PM, Kay Schenk wrote: > >> > >>> On Sat, Mar 22, 2014 at 12:53 PM, Dave <davepo...@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> > >>> I'm not sure, but possibly the first step would be to have a list of all > >>>> the best documentation so far. I personally don't use documentation much, > >>>> just google around. I do use the internal Help of OpenOffice though. What > >>>> are the average user's habits? If I were to use documentation, I guess it > >>>> wouldn't be general documentation, but ratther documentation on how to > >>>> solve specific tasks. > >>>> > >>>> Good points. Maybe the topic of another survey? > >>> > >>> > >>> On 22 March 2014 17:54, Keith N. McKenna <keith.mcke...@comcast.net> > >>>> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> Andrea Pescetti wrote: > >>>>>> On 19/03/2014 Keith N. McKenna wrote: > >>>>>> > >>>>> <snip> > >>>>> > >>>>>> In other fields we notice that it is important to involve and empower > >>>>>> new volunteers quickly and easily. For example, a new documentation > >>>>>> volunteer would now have the problem that he needs a wiki account > >>>>>> created (and he needs someone to do it, since registration is currently > >>>>>> disabled) and then a welcome message on what to do, and then a list of > >>>>>> tasks... > >>>>>> > >>>>>> If the more active people here could have all necessary privileges to > >>>>>> answer prospective volunteers with a "Welcome, we created a wiki > >>>>>> > >>>>> account > >>>>> for you, a couple of small tasks that you can do to start are X and Y", > >>>>>> this would be much more effective. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> I should have all the necessary privileges, at last on the mwiki. The > >>>>> problem I see is that I am just about the only person active right now > >>>>> and I am tired of putting fourth the effort to draw people in and in > >>>>> better than 80% of cases nothing comes of it. I am willing to try again, > >>>>> but I can not do it alone. We need to be able to attract experienced > >>>>> technical writers that can guide volunteers. > >>>>> > >>>>> Should you wish to try it, let us know and we'll look into what's > >>>>> needed > >>>>> to give you (Keith, or other active volunteers who want to take care of > >>>>>> this) the necessary privileges. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Regards, > >>>>>> Andrea. > >>>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>> > >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: doc-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > >> For additional commands, e-mail: doc-h...@openoffice.apache.org > >> > >> > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: doc-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: doc-h...@openoffice.apache.org >
