I will give you a better on. I had a client call me and want me to "edit
and format" a manual he had written. When I got there, there were 1250 pages
of gunge, in PageMaker format, many, many graphics. He wanted me to turn
it into something that could indexed, using Word. I told hime I would take
the job, however, the final document would be in Framemaker, and that
it would be a real book, Table Of Contents, Index, and Glossary that were
linked to the body.
He didn't know what I was telling him. He said that if it weren't a Word
document, then that stuff couldn't be done. That is when I told him I
didn't want the job.
He hired someone else, they worked on it for two months, threw up their hands
(I wonder if that is all they threw up?), and came to me asking me to put it
into Framemaker. I did, took all of two weeks, cost him less than the two months
he had paid the other "Tech Writer" (Aside - she was an secretary working in
a local lawyers office).
It was a bit of a struggle at first, but when I got the hang of it, using
Macro Express to run a bunch of macro's in PageMaker and Framemaker, it came
together very nicely.
It is interesting that I have been hearing about paperless offices for years
but have yet to see one. Its like the people that say books are going away
and being replaced by electronic media. I, as a reader, plan to continue
reading PAPER books. I do not plan to read on a screen, I do that all day.
It is much easier to read a book at the beach, in the tub, in bed etc rather
that a laptop, PDF, etc. I do not listen to books on tape, I READ. I love
the SMELL of a book. I love the feel of a book.
I like FrameMaker. I know FrameMaker. I plan to use it until it no longer
works on ANY of the machines I have. I still use FrameMaker on my MAC. I
have been using FrameMaker since 3.0 back in the early 90's (when it was
Frame Technologies). I use it as it is. Even though I use most of the other
publishing software also, I prefer FrameMaker. I have to use the other
software because my customers do. When I get a FrameMaker project it feels
like I am putting on my favorite and most comfortable outfit, usually sweats
and warm slippers (I work at home so I can!!).
I give my two cents to Adobe reps when I see them. I try to give them ideas
like most of you to continue the development of FrameMaker. I HOPE that
Adobe continues updating FrameMaker. I push FrameMaker to my customers.
In the work that I do I am surprised at the software that some customers use
to create the manuals. I am surprised how little the document designers know
about the software that they use.
OK my two cents for a Friday.
Have a GREAT weekend everyone.
Z
******************************************************************
Ann Zdunczyk
President
a2z Publishing, Inc.
Language Layout & Translation Consulting
Phone: (336)922-1271
Fax: (336)922-4980
Cell: (336)456-4493
http://www.a2z-pub.com
******************************************************************
--
Keith L. Smyth
President
Smyth Consulting
-------------------------------------------------------------
Close only counts in horeshoes, handgrenades, and tactical
nukes.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Technical Documentation Consultant
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