On 7/10/2012 2:57 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Please tell me I'm not going mad or being unreasonable.
Have just come into work to find that the company which acquired us a
few months ago wants me to use Powerpoint for creating datasheets
instead of InDesign (definite) and "a more flexible tool" (Word) instead
of our beloved Framemaker (proposed).
I could cry. I am the only tech author in the company of about 100
people and the marketing department used PP for datasheets which they
say is "adequate" for the job. This all arose on Friday when someone
else needed to edit a version of my ID files when I was on holiday. Now
I come in to find:
"...For more technical documentation (e.g. product manuals) then I
understand the argument for use of a more specialist tool - but even
here we can use more flexible tools."
Such as????? I have long user guides with masses of conditional text.
Just let Word have a shot at that. In fact, they were trying to do just
that before I started this job 4 years ago - and it wasn't working.
DISCLAIMER: I work for WebWorks.
Laura,
Finding ways to make Word a better tool for your needs may not be your
ideal approach, but it may be an easier sale politically.
There are a couple of products that enable more flexible document
handling within Word. One is by ThirtySix Software, called SmartDocs.
It offers extremely advanced conditional text controls (beyond
FrameMaker). It can also integrate with a SharePoint server for content
reuse, etc. It isn't cheap, but it can definitely beef up Word's
capabilities.
Another alternative might be WebWorks ePublisher. It publishes content
from Word sources. Part of the package includes a Word menu to give you
basic conditional text support. Not nearly as advanced as SmartDocs,
but it might do the trick for you. ePublisher is happy to process
either WebWorks conditions or SmartDocs conditions during publishing.
Also, though I know nothing about it, you could check out Doc-to-Help.
They single-source publish from Word documents just like ePublisher.
Ben Allums
[email protected]
512-381-8885
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