Re: printing framemaker documents

[frame user]

Hi Art,

I want to print to a pdf via acrobat.
If I print the files seperately then the orientation is correct but if I
make a book and print it as seperate pdf files then it goes wrong.
I can't find the setting you're talking about.

Thanks for the help!

On 5/10/06, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


If you are printing from FM to a hard copy printer, no, there isn't a way
to automatically orient pages in different directions. I think the
assumption
is that you can rotate the piece of paper or the bound book.

If you're printing from FM to Acrobat, there is an Automatic Rotation
setting that should give you the effect you want.

If you're doing something else, you need to provide more details, please.

Art



On 5/10/06, frame user [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 If I print the framemaker files seperately, then the orientation is
correct.
 If I print all files via a book then everything is portrait, the text is
 correct positioned on the page but I have to rotate the page 90 degrees
in
 acrobat then to be able to read it.


 On 5/9/06, Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
  To clarify:
  Are you saying that you want pages to automatically rotate to match
  their orientation?
  So that a landscape page in an otherwise portrait book/file is rotated
  to print landscape?
 
  Or are you asking about something else?
 
  Art
 
  On 5/9/06, frame user [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   Hi all,
  
   I have a new question about this.
   What if some pages are portrait and some landscape?
   It seem all the pages print the same way, all landscape or all
portrait.
  
 
  --
  Art Campbell
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52
Vincent
 and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson
   No disclaimers apply.
   DoD 358
 
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[EMAIL PROTECTED]
  ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
   and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson
 No disclaimers apply.
 DoD 358


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Japanese xml export/ garbled text

[Noah Evans]

Hey,

I've written a basic conversion table and I've got my documents tentatively
structured. However on the export to xml some(but not all) fonts get garbled
on the way.

The main culprit seems to be FMgothic2 although FMgothic[1,3,4] all work
fine. The output is utf16.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks,

Noah
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resubmit: Equations from FM 7.0 getting warped. Fixed in 7.2?

[Jon Harvey]

Hi All,

 

I thought I would propose this question again in hopes to get additional
responses. Perhaps the FM gurus who knew the answer weren't available
the last time I asked. Here goes:

 

I have a document that includes a large number of equations. When I
produce a pdf from FM 6.0 (windows) it turns out fine. When I produce
the pdf in FM 7.0, they get all messed up (they appear warped, smashed,
squished, whatever you want to call it). Having just upgraded to FM 7.2,
I noticed on the same document that the problem has apparently been
fixed. However, I have only my current document to test it on. Can
someone who is familiar with the problem provide me with some
reassurance that Adobe in fact solved the problem in FM 7.2? Or, did my
document accidentally come out looking right? I'll be creating a lot of
similar documents and would like to move forward with a certain amount
of confidence that this problem won't raise it's ugly head again.

 

ThanksJon

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Pop-ups in PDFs

[Anne Robotti]

I can't be crazy, I know there's a way to do this.

I'm writing docs for inexperienced end users. One of the new things is
that they have to enter times now in military time rather than clock
time. There's some concern that they might need assistance with this.

The first time I mention military time, I have a hyperlink. I want the
link to open a new window, a 4.25 x 4.25 file I created with a little
table of clock time and military time. It works fine if I set both Frame
files to View Only.

I can't get it to translate to the PDF. It opens the file, but not as a
new window and not with the window the size of the file. I've adjusted
the page size in Frame and Acrobat, I've played with the Acrobat file
properties, I can't seem to get this done.

Frame 7.2, Acrobat 6.

Thanks.

 

Anne Robotti
Technical Writer
Journal Register Company
W-Ph:(609) 396-2200 x 166
C-Ph:(609) 902-3676
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 


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Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Andy Kelsall]

Hello everyone,

  I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

 If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

 The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

 I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Mark Levitt]

Hi,

Definitely focus on the position and the work. 

The tools change all the time and learning a particular bit of software
is the easy part.

 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: 11 May 2006 16:40
To: Framers@frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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Re: Pop-ups in PDFs

[Shlomo Perets]

Anne,

You wrote:


I can't be crazy, I know there's a way to do this.

I'm writing docs for inexperienced end users. One of the new things is
that they have to enter times now in military time rather than clock
time. There's some concern that they might need assistance with this.

The first time I mention military time, I have a hyperlink. I want the
link to open a new window, a 4.25 x 4.25 file I created with a little
table of clock time and military time. It works fine if I set both Frame
files to View Only.

I can't get it to translate to the PDF. It opens the file, but not as a
new window and not with the window the size of the file. I've adjusted
the page size in Frame and Acrobat, I've played with the Acrobat file
properties, I can't seem to get this done.

Frame 7.2, Acrobat 6.


The open in new window property in FrameMaker is not carried over to 
Acrobat (regardless of FM/Acrobat versions being used).
The new window link property is available in the Links properties dialog 
box starting with Acrobat 6  (even though the functionality is supported 
with earlier releases of Acrobat/Reader), but you will have to set it 
manually (and redo this when you generate updated PDFs).


See 24 Easy Ways to Improve Your PDFs with TimeSavers/Assistants for more 
info on how this (and many other features) can be automated with my 
FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers add-on:
-- http://www.microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html#8 (Display additional 
information without switching to a different page/file)
-- http://www.microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html#10 (Set specific cross-PDF 
links to open a new window)


Shlomo Perets

MicroType, http://www.microtype.com
Training, consulting  add-ons: FrameMaker, Structured FM and Acrobat



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Re: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[John Posada]

Position, work, and subject matter. Tools are a snap.

 Hello everyone,
 
 I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in
 the technical writing field for more than 3 years. My 
 question is this:

15 years

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

So long and thanks for all the fish.
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Re: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Peter Gold]

Hi, Andy:

I've been training technical writers on FrameMaker over the past ten 
years. I just wanted to respond to the popular idea of FrameMaker as 
having a steep learning curve. It's true that there's a lot the 
product can do, and a lot to learn about using all the features 
necessary to do those tasks. However, if you'd use any other tool for 
the same work, you'd need to learn how to do the same tasks.


In my opinion, it's technical writing itself that has the steep 
learning curve regardless of the tools one uses. The reasons that 
some writers prefer - or are required - to use a particular tool set 
for their projects may be dictated only by personal preference, 
because of tradition, or because the project requires specific 
features or abilities.


Keep in mind that more and more, tools are being used in tool 
chains that not only create content, but manage it for selectively 
retrieving and publishing it for a range of purposes (or 
repurposes.) So you may need to choose a tool because it plays well 
with others, not just for its own qualities.


I'm sure you'll receive many good opinions and suggestions from 
experienced writers in response to your question.


Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices


At 11:39 AM -0400 5/11/06, Andy Kelsall wrote:

Hello everyone,

  I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

 If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

 The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

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Re: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Art Campbell]

You're kind of asking a Catch-22 question, Andy, because you should
obviously focus on
the position and work But most tech writing gigs will specify or
require skills
with whatever tools the shop uses. So you need to focus on both.

I think that you need to have at least a passing familiarty with both
FM and Word in order to be in the running for the largest pool of tech
writing gigs.

Art

On 5/11/06, Andy Kelsall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?



--
Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
  and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson
No disclaimers apply.
DoD 358
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FW: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Owen, Clint]

Andy,

As some others have said, focus on the task rather than the tools. Having
zero FM experience didn't seem to hurt me when I was looking for a job 5
years ago, I was able to convince the interviewers that I could learn any
tool they wanted me to use.

Lack of programming experience, however, did close quite a few positions.
They all wanted technical writers with recent experience in a currently used
programming language. 20 year-old memories of college Fortran didn't help
much. If you can code as well as write, be sure to mention it.

Clint

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
om]On Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 7:40 AM
To: Framers@frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?


Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Jim Light]

 ...would you advise them to seek out positions
 where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
 worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
 the position and the work itself?

Mark,
Position and work and more important, depending on what you mean. The
key thing is that you know how to write clearly. The information should
flow into the reader's brain without them taking any particular notice
of the actual words or format.  

I understand that the tech writers at Microsoft use FrameMaker, which if
true, should be a clue. (Maybe that's an urban legend, but I'd like to
think it's true.) I started with Wang Word Processing, and have used
WordPerfect, vi, XyWrite, Ventura Publisher, and FrameMaker. I like
FrameMaker best, but the tool you use is not what makes you a good
writer, how well you write is.

Jim

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: 11 May 2006 16:40
To: Framers@frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Bureeda Bruner]

Andy wrote:

If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing field
at this time
would you advise them to seek out positions where they would be using
FrameMaker, 
or would you tell them not to worry so much on which application would be
used,
but instead focus on the position and the work itself?

Andy,

Congratulations on the career move.

My immediate reaction is all of the above.

I would try to gain as much FM experience as you can because in my opinion
(purely an opinion) most companies that have a more serious documentation
approach, and better documentation processes, also have a respect for
FrameMaker. Respect for documentation and respect for Frame seem to go
hand-in-hand. Those organizations usually want some solid experience.

That said, it's useful to keep up-to-speed on Word. The blasted software
can do a lot, if you force yourself (as I have to on my current job) to do
so. Beau Cain has a terrific guidebook about this. (I got it from him
somehow from another list, and could probably do so again if I had to!)

However, as you said, neither tool matters as much as core competencies.

Best tips I can give to improve those ...

* Learn business process and project management. That's No. 1. If you don't
already have it, I highly recommend JoAnn Hackos' Managing Your
Documentation Projects. Nothing saddens me more than to see technical
writers arguing over vagaries of punctuation or why don't they take writers
seriously?! while they seem utterly clueless about how they can (or do)
benefit their organization. The greater your business sense, I believe, the
greater will be your job satisfaction, no matter where you go. The
increasing ability of technology to replace repetitive tasks should keep us
all aware of work we do that truly does require a human brain or analysis.

* Membership in the STC and its various groups would be a bargain at several
times over the price. (Every decent job I've ever gotten, I got through one
STC job bank or another; again, an employer who respects technical writing
respects the STC.) I always shudder in embarrassment for them when I hear
somebody whining over negligible dues. When you're talking about an
organization that, if you take advantage of its resources and services, can
make a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in your annual income,
$200 for dues and SIGS is a bargain!

* Write clearly and solidly. Get Elements of Style if you don't already
have it. A good new-writer rule (especially for someone coming to it with an
engineering background) is kick the passive tense. My first boss told me:
You can teach tools, you can teach technical. It's a lot tougher to teach
good writing.


Bureeda Bruner
Paragon Innovations, Inc.
Phone: 972-265-6000
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: www.paragoninnovations.com
Success Stories: www.paragoninnovations.com/ng/success.shtml
Embedded systems design from start to success

  

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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Mark Forseth]

Having been a manual laborer for about 15 years, I've come to
appreciate FM. Word gets better with each new release, but still loses
its mind when the auto-numbering schemes get complex (auto-numbered
chapters and headings, steps, figures, tables, etc.). word is also
limited in the graphics-file-format-import realm. Other Word-related
anomalies push me to the brink of madness. I presently use FM and Word,
the latter for docs the engineers may need to tweak occasionally, and
the former for the big user and service manuals that I own and manage
exclusively. 

Due to past struggles with various DTP and related software as such
programs apply to TW, I have made decisions, in interviews, base upon
the tools available within a company, and a department's apparent
willingness (or lack thereof) to consider modernizing their tools (e.g.,
from Word, PageMaker, Quark, et al., to FM or, back in the day,
Interleaf).

When I worked in a strong, small TW-contract co. about 10 years ago, we
added about 15 percent onto bids that required us to use Word (versus FM
or Interleaf). 

I would advise a TW starter to consider and inquire of the tools
available, and inquire as to whether better-suited tools are in the
near-future budget. The answer may reveal the dogmatic or tenacious
nature of a manager, department, and company.

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:40 AM
To: Framers@frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where
they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much
on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and
the
work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile
than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical
writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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it in error, please advise the sender by reply email and immediately delete the 
message and any attachments without reviewing, copying or disclosing the 
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I Object to sites which demand registration before exposing pricing

[Daniel Emory]

Yeserday, Siberlogic sent to the lists an announcement
of a new CMS product that integrates FrameMaker. I was
acutely interested. The details of the product seemed
a bit light, but I proceeded anyway to look at the
pricing, which, often, gives you a handle on the scope
and breadth of a product. But, to see the pricing, I
was required to fill out a registration form, which I
refused to do for the obvious danger that the
information I provided would be used in ways I would
not countenance

I got an email back from Siberlogic inviting me to
complete the registration form, which means they had
captured my email address. I replied by demanding that
they remove my email address from their database. 

Siberlogic complied, and explained that they require
registration because of experiences in the past with
competitors. That seems pretty lame to me because,
obviously, any competitor could easily disguise a
pricing probe.

Those of you who also object to a requirement for
providing personal and job-related information before
being allowed to look at product pricing might be
interested in joining an effort to stop this practice.







Dan Emory  Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design  Database Publishing
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[HSC Italian]

I've been a technical writer for 15+ years.

To answer your question:
If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical

writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?


I would advise the person to look for both, a job that requires FrameMaker 
(because Frame is the industry standard) and the right position. The tool 
you use is important because it's often a requirement for most tech writing 
jobs, but some places will train you on the tool. The position is just as 
important, if not more.


Here's a good example, my experience had been documenting training manuals 
and user guides for in-house IBM 390 mainframe systems, DOS-based products, 
software products, and some computer station setup. When I realized that I 
REALLY liked documenting software, I began interviewing specifically for 
software tech writing jobs. My first official job at a software company 
required Frame. I didn’t know Frame. They interviewed me and hired me, not 
because I knew the tool, but because I had the skill, experience, and 
attitude they wanted. With that being said, don’t feel like you have to pick 
one or the other, first discover what you think you’ll enjoy documenting the 
most, the tool is always something you can learn.


Good luck.

Heidi




From: Andy Kelsall [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Framers@frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 11:39:34 -0400

Hello everyone,

  I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

 If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical 
writing

field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

 The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

 I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and 
engineer

in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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Re: I Object to sites which demand registration before exposing pricing

[John Posada]

 refused to do for the obvious danger that the
 information I provided would be used in ways I would
 not countenance

They probably feel the same way about those to whom they are giving
the pricing information

 Siberlogic complied, and explained that they require
 registration because of experiences in the past with
 competitors. That seems pretty lame to me because,
 obviously, any competitor could easily disguise a
 pricing probe.

So could you. Wanna know the number of companies that think I live at
123 Main St and with a phone number of 212-555-1212?

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

So long and thanks for all the fish.
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RE: I Object to sites which demand registration before exposingpricing

[Martinek, Carla]

-Original Message-
So could you. Wanna know the number of companies that think I live at
123 Main St and with a phone number of 212-555-1212?


And hence the reason that I have a dozen or more disposable emails.
Yahoo mail has a feature called AddressGuard where I create a separate
email for different required email login sites, all of which start
with the same term.  

Examples of AddressGuard emails
==:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

I set my mail filter to put anything with the common term to go to a
certain folder, and if I start seeing spam addressed to a particular
guarded email, I know which offender passed on my info without my
permission.

Carla
cmartinek'at'zebra.com
 
- CONFIDENTIAL-
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, and may also be 
legally privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient, you may not review, 
use, copy, or distribute this message. If you receive this email in error, 
please notify the sender immediately by reply email and then delete this email.
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RE: I Object to sites which demand registration before exposingpricing

[Jon Harvey]

If you really want to push it, tell them you live in area code 911.

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of John Posada
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 1:27 PM
To: Daniel Emory; Framers List; Framers SGML List; Free Framers List
Subject: Re: I Object to sites which demand registration before
exposingpricing

 refused to do for the obvious danger that the
 information I provided would be used in ways I would
 not countenance

They probably feel the same way about those to whom they are giving
the pricing information

 Siberlogic complied, and explained that they require
 registration because of experiences in the past with
 competitors. That seems pretty lame to me because,
 obviously, any competitor could easily disguise a
 pricing probe.

So could you. Wanna know the number of companies that think I live at
123 Main St and with a phone number of 212-555-1212?

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

So long and thanks for all the fish.
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RE: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Joe Malin]

Hi!

I don't think that this advice is useful only for New Zealand... 

Knowing FM will help you get your foot in the door. In the Silicon
Valley, demand for tech writers is ramping up. My years of experience
suggest to me that tech writing departments will now be *desperate* for
writers. They'll be choosing candidates who can contribute immediately.
That may mean that experienced FM users get first crack at the jobs.

*Learning* FM helped me learn about the book-writing process. Even
unstructured FM will help you learn standards, consistency, and
organization, especially if you have to write your own templates.
Structured FM really helps you learn an organized approach to
information organization. It also helps you learn XML if you're not
familiar with it.

I could *use* Word before I learned FM, but afterwards I knew more about
what Word was all about. Once you learn FM, you can figure out how to do
the same stuff in Word. IMHO, Word is not a great tool for technical
writing; still, you will run into it. If you know Word, you'll be a hero
in your company even if they don't use it for tech writing.

Overall, though, learning *how to organize information* made me a tech
writer. Grammar and rhetoric skills don't do much if you can't put the
information in a place where the reader can find it, and produce an
overall group of topics that make the product clear.


 Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of rebecca officer
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:14 PM
To: Framers@frameusers.com; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

If you were looking for work in New Zealand, you'd be in one of two
situations:

- working in a tech writing team with a company or consultancy. In that
case, the tool is pretty irrelevant. In our company, we take people
who've never seen FM before and get them competent within a week or two.
What matters to us is the ability to write clearly about complex
technical material. If you've got the kind of mind that can cope with
high-end internet switches, learning FM is a breeze!

- working by yourself in a small company. The problem there is that you
don't have anyone to learn the tool from, so lack of tool knowledge can
drive you batty. And the tool is most likely to be Word.

So in NZ, I'd advise someone to focus on the position and work -
especially to look for something with variety and the potential to rise
further - but also to try and come to grips with Word enough that you
can competently produce a template-based book from it.

Cheers, Rebecca 

 Andy Kelsall [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/05/06 03:39 
Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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Re: conditions within variables

[eric . dunn]

 Is it possible to do a condition within a variable (just like you do a
 character format within a variable)? I have a master document which I
 have to save into 4 different customer docs. Each customer has its own
 condition. Each doc has to have a different part number due to document
 control, and the part number has to be on every page so naturally, I
 made the part number a variable.

 I would love to be able to do something in the variable definition box
 like:

 customer1025574customer2025575customer3025576

 with customer# being the condition name.

 Is there a way to do that?

Think outside the box:

Instead, use cross-references.
The document that contains the text (part numbers in this case) can then
be conditionalised.

Personally, I've started using cross-references extensively. Much easier
to maintain a limited number of Xref formats and a document chock full of
referenceable data than it is to manage numerous variables.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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Re: Some Table Questions

[Shlomo Perets]

Eric,

You wrote:


... It used to be that the sort function only sorted text and markers were
lost. When was that oversight corrected? Because when I demonstrated the
function, markers stayed with their paragraphs.


Cross-reference markers present in the table are deleted when the table is 
sorted (so cross-references pointing to paragraphs which reside in a table 
become unresolved after sorting) -- still present in FM7.2.



Also, for table formatting. Is there any way to copy custom shading and
ruling from one cell to another?


The custom cell itself can be copied and pasted. Or the Show Current 
Settings function (Custom Ruling and Shading dialog box) may be used to 
determine what the properties are.



Shlomo Perets

MicroType, http://www.microtype.com
Training, consulting  add-ons: FrameMaker, Structured FM and Acrobat



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Japanese xml export/ garbled text

[Noah Evans]

Hey,

I've written a basic conversion table and I've got my documents tentatively
structured. However on the export to xml some(but not all) fonts get garbled
on the way.

The main culprit seems to be FMgothic2 although FMgothic[1,3,4] all work
fine. The output is utf16.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks,

Noah

"Pop-ups" in PDFs

[Anne Robotti]

I can't be crazy, I know there's a way to do this.

I'm writing docs for inexperienced end users. One of the new things is
that they have to enter times now in military time rather than clock
time. There's some concern that they might need assistance with this.

The first time I mention military time, I have a hyperlink. I want the
link to open a new window, a 4.25" x 4.25" file I created with a little
table of clock time and military time. It works fine if I set both Frame
files to View Only.

I can't get it to translate to the PDF. It opens the file, but not as a
new window and not with the window the size of the file. I've adjusted
the page size in Frame and Acrobat, I've played with the Acrobat file
properties, I can't seem to get this done.

Frame 7.2, Acrobat 6.

Thanks.



Anne Robotti
Technical Writer
Journal Register Company
W-Ph:(609) 396-2200 x 166
C-Ph:(609) 902-3676
arobotti at journalregister.com



The information contained in or attached to this e-mail contains confidential 
or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that 
any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this e-mail is 
PROHIBITED. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender 
and delete the e-mail immediately. Thank you.

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Andy Kelsall]

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Mark Levitt]

Hi,

Definitely focus on the "position and the work". 

The tools change all the time and learning a particular bit of software
is the easy part.



-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+mark.levitt=betfair@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+mark.levitt=betfair.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: 11 May 2006 16:40
To: Framers at frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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"Pop-ups" in PDFs

[Shlomo Perets]

Anne,

You wrote:

>I can't be crazy, I know there's a way to do this.
>
>I'm writing docs for inexperienced end users. One of the new things is
>that they have to enter times now in military time rather than clock
>time. There's some concern that they might need assistance with this.
>
>The first time I mention military time, I have a hyperlink. I want the
>link to open a new window, a 4.25" x 4.25" file I created with a little
>table of clock time and military time. It works fine if I set both Frame
>files to View Only.
>
>I can't get it to translate to the PDF. It opens the file, but not as a
>new window and not with the window the size of the file. I've adjusted
>the page size in Frame and Acrobat, I've played with the Acrobat file
>properties, I can't seem to get this done.
>
>Frame 7.2, Acrobat 6.

The "open in new window" property in FrameMaker is not carried over to 
Acrobat (regardless of FM/Acrobat versions being used).
The "new window" link property is available in the Links properties dialog 
box starting with Acrobat 6  (even though the functionality is supported 
with earlier releases of Acrobat/Reader), but you will have to set it 
manually (and redo this when you generate updated PDFs).

See "24 Easy Ways to Improve Your PDFs with TimeSavers/Assistants" for more 
info on how this (and many other features) can be automated with my 
FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers add-on:
-- http://www.microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html#8 ("Display additional 
information without switching to a different page/file")
-- http://www.microtype.com/ImprovePDF.html#10 ("Set specific cross-PDF 
links to open a new window")

Shlomo Perets

MicroType, http://www.microtype.com
Training, consulting & add-ons: FrameMaker, Structured FM and Acrobat

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[John Posada]

Position, work, and subject matter. Tools are a snap.

> Hello everyone,
> 
> I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in
> the technical writing field for more than 3 years. My 
> question is this:

15 years

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"So long and thanks for all the fish."

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Peter Gold]

Hi, Andy:

I've been training technical writers on FrameMaker over the past ten 
years. I just wanted to respond to the popular idea of FrameMaker as 
having a "steep learning curve." It's true that there's a lot the 
product can do, and a lot to learn about using all the features 
necessary to do those tasks. However, if you'd use any other tool for 
the same work, you'd need to learn how to do the same tasks.

In my opinion, it's technical writing itself that has the "steep 
learning curve" regardless of the tools one uses. The reasons that 
some writers prefer - or are required - to use a particular tool set 
for their projects may be dictated only by personal preference, 
because of tradition, or because the project requires specific 
features or abilities.

Keep in mind that more and more, tools are being used in "tool 
chains" that not only create content, but manage it for selectively 
retrieving and publishing it for a range of purposes (or 
"repurposes.") So you may need to choose a tool because it plays well 
with others, not just for its own qualities.

I'm sure you'll receive many good opinions and suggestions from 
experienced writers in response to your question.

Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices


At 11:39 AM -0400 5/11/06, Andy Kelsall wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
>   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
>technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:
>
>  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
>field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
>would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
>which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
>work itself?
>
>  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
>seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
>I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
>why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
>Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
>than Word.

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Art Campbell]

You're kind of asking a Catch-22 question, Andy, because you should
obviously focus on
the position and work But most tech writing gigs will specify or
require skills
with whatever tools the shop uses. So you need to focus on both.

I think that you need to have at least a passing familiarty with both
FM and Word in order to be in the running for the largest pool of tech
writing gigs.

Art

On 5/11/06, Andy Kelsall  wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
>I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
> technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:
>
>   If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
> field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
> would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
> which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
> work itself?
>

-- 
Art Campbell art.campbell at 
gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
   and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
 No disclaimers apply.
 DoD 358

FW: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Owen, Clint]

Andy,

As some others have said, focus on the task rather than the tools. Having
zero FM experience didn't seem to hurt me when I was looking for a job 5
years ago, I was able to convince the interviewers that I could learn any
tool they wanted me to use.

Lack of programming experience, however, did close quite a few positions.
They all wanted technical writers with recent experience in a currently used
programming language. 20 year-old memories of college Fortran didn't help
much. If you can code as well as write, be sure to mention it.

Clint

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+clint.owen=craneaerospace@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+clint.owen=craneaerospace.com at lists.frameusers.c
om]On Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 7:40 AM
To: Framers at frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?


Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Jim Light]

> ...would you advise them to seek out positions
> where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
> worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
> the position and the work itself?

Mark,
Position and work and more important, depending on what you mean. The
key thing is that you know how to write clearly. The information should
flow into the reader's brain without them taking any particular notice
of the actual words or format.  

I understand that the tech writers at Microsoft use FrameMaker, which if
true, should be a clue. (Maybe that's an urban legend, but I'd like to
think it's true.) I started with Wang Word Processing, and have used
WordPerfect, vi, XyWrite, Ventura Publisher, and FrameMaker. I like
FrameMaker best, but the tool you use is not what makes you a good
writer, how well you write is.

Jim

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+mark.levitt=betfair@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+mark.levitt=betfair.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: 11 May 2006 16:40
To: Framers at frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Bureeda Bruner]

Andy wrote:

>>If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical writing field
at this time
>>would you advise them to seek out positions where they would be using
FrameMaker, 
>>or would you tell them not to worry so much on which application would be
used,
>>but instead focus on the position and the work itself?

Andy,

Congratulations on the career move.

My immediate reaction is "all of the above."

I would try to gain as much FM experience as you can because in my opinion
(purely an opinion) most companies that have a more serious documentation
approach, and better documentation processes, also have a respect for
FrameMaker. Respect for documentation and respect for Frame seem to go
hand-in-hand. Those organizations usually want some solid experience.

"That said," it's useful to keep up-to-speed on Word. The blasted software
can do a lot, if you force yourself (as I have to on my current job) to do
so. Beau Cain has a terrific guidebook about this. (I got it from him
somehow from another list, and could probably do so again if I had to!)

However, as you said, neither tool matters as much as core competencies.

Best tips I can give to improve those ...

* Learn business process and project management. That's No. 1. If you don't
already have it, I highly recommend JoAnn Hackos' "Managing Your
Documentation Projects." Nothing saddens me more than to see technical
writers arguing over vagaries of punctuation or "why don't they take writers
seriously?!" while they seem utterly clueless about how they can (or do)
benefit their organization. The greater your business sense, I believe, the
greater will be your job satisfaction, no matter where you go. The
increasing ability of technology to replace repetitive tasks should keep us
all aware of work we do that truly does require a human brain or analysis.

* Membership in the STC and its various groups would be a bargain at several
times over the price. (Every decent job I've ever gotten, I got through one
STC job bank or another; again, an employer who respects technical writing
respects the STC.) I always shudder in embarrassment for them when I hear
somebody whining over negligible dues. When you're talking about an
organization that, if you take advantage of its resources and services, can
make a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in your annual income,
$200 for dues and SIGS is a bargain!

* Write clearly and solidly. Get "Elements of Style" if you don't already
have it. A good new-writer rule (especially for someone coming to it with an
engineering background) is "kick the passive tense." My first boss told me:
"You can teach tools, you can teach technical. It's a lot tougher to teach
good writing."


Bureeda Bruner
Paragon Innovations, Inc.
Phone: 972-265-6000
email: bureeda at paragoninnovations.com
Website: www.paragoninnovations.com
Success Stories: www.paragoninnovations.com/ng/success.shtml
Embedded systems design from start to success

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Mark Forseth]

Having been a "manual laborer" for about 15 years, I've come to
appreciate FM. Word gets better with each new release, but still loses
its mind when the auto-numbering schemes get complex (auto-numbered
chapters and headings, steps, figures, tables, etc.). word is also
limited in the graphics-file-format-import realm. Other Word-related
anomalies push me to the brink of madness. I presently use FM and Word,
the latter for docs the engineers may need to tweak occasionally, and
the former for the big user and service manuals that I "own" and manage
exclusively. 

Due to past struggles with various DTP and related software as such
programs apply to TW, I have made decisions, in interviews, base upon
the tools available within a company, and a department's apparent
willingness (or lack thereof) to consider modernizing their tools (e.g.,
from Word, PageMaker, Quark, et al., to FM or, back in the day,
Interleaf).

When I worked in a strong, small TW-contract co. about 10 years ago, we
added about 15 percent onto bids that required us to use Word (versus FM
or Interleaf). 

I would advise a TW starter to consider and inquire of the tools
available, and inquire as to whether better-suited tools are in the
near-future budget. The answer may reveal the dogmatic or tenacious
nature of a manager, department, and company.

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+mforseth=imago@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+mforseth=imago.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Andy Kelsall
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:40 AM
To: Framers at frameusers.com
Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing
field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where
they
would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much
on
which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and
the
work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it
seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see
why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile
than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer
in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical
writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical
writing
program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy
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I Object to sites which demand registration before exposing pricing

[Daniel Emory]

Yeserday, Siberlogic sent to the lists an announcement
of a new CMS product that integrates FrameMaker. I was
acutely interested. The details of the product seemed
a bit light, but I proceeded anyway to look at the
pricing, which, often, gives you a handle on the scope
and breadth of a product. But, to see the pricing, I
was required to fill out a registration form, which I
refused to do for the obvious danger that the
information I provided would be used in ways I would
not countenance

I got an email back from Siberlogic inviting me to
complete the registration form, which means they had
captured my email address. I replied by demanding that
they remove my email address from their database. 

Siberlogic complied, and explained that they require
registration because of experiences in the past with
competitors. That seems pretty lame to me because,
obviously, any competitor could easily disguise a
pricing probe.

Those of you who also object to a requirement for
providing personal and job-related information before
being allowed to look at product pricing might be
interested in joining an effort to stop this practice.







Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing

Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[HSC Italian]

I've been a technical writer for 15+ years.

To answer your question:
If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
>writing
>field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
>would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
>which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
>work itself?

I would advise the person to look for both, a job that requires FrameMaker 
(because Frame is the industry standard) and the right position. The tool 
you use is important because it's often a requirement for most tech writing 
jobs, but some places will train you on the tool. The position is just as 
important, if not more.

Here's a good example, my experience had been documenting training manuals 
and user guides for in-house IBM 390 mainframe systems, DOS-based products, 
software products, and some computer station setup. When I realized that I 
REALLY liked documenting software, I began interviewing specifically for 
software tech writing jobs. My first official job at a software company 
required Frame. I didn?t know Frame. They interviewed me and hired me, not 
because I knew the tool, but because I had the skill, experience, and 
attitude they wanted. With that being said, don?t feel like you have to pick 
one or the other, first discover what you think you?ll enjoy documenting the 
most, the tool is always something you can learn.

Good luck.

Heidi



>From: "Andy Kelsall" 
>To: Framers at frameusers.com
>Subject: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?
>Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 11:39:34 -0400
>
>Hello everyone,
>
>   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
>technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:
>
>  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical 
>writing
>field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions where they
>would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to worry so much on
>which application would be used, but instead focus on the position and the
>work itself?
>
>  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to, it
>seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of Word.
>I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can see
>why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical writing.
>Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more versatile
>than Word.
>
>  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and 
>engineer
>in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into technical
>writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the career change
>quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a technical writing
>program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Andy
>___
>
>
>You are currently subscribed to Framers as twins398 at hotmail.com.
>
>Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com.
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com
>or visit 
>http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/twins398%40hotmail.com
>
>Send administrative questions to lisa at frameusers.com. Visit
>http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.

I Object to sites which demand registration before exposing pricing

[John Posada]

> refused to do for the obvious danger that the
> information I provided would be used in ways I would
> not countenance

They probably feel the same way about those to whom they are giving
the pricing information

> Siberlogic complied, and explained that they require
> registration because of experiences in the past with
> competitors. That seems pretty lame to me because,
> obviously, any competitor could easily disguise a
> pricing probe.

So could you. Wanna know the number of companies that think I live at
123 Main St and with a phone number of 212-555-1212?

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer

"So long and thanks for all the fish."

I Object to sites which demand registration before exposingpricing

[Martinek, Carla]

-Original Message-
So could you. Wanna know the number of companies that think I live at
123 Main St and with a phone number of 212-555-1212?


And hence the reason that I have a dozen or more disposable emails.
Yahoo mail has a feature called AddressGuard where I create a separate
email for different "required email" login sites, all of which start
with the same term.  

Examples of AddressGuard emails
==:
addressguard-siberlogic at yahoo.com
addressguard-amazon at yahoo.com
addressguard-tickets at yahoo.com
addressguard-whitesoxsuck at yahoo.com
addressguard-gocubs at yahoo.com

I set my mail filter to put anything with the common term to go to a
certain folder, and if I start seeing spam addressed to a particular
"guarded" email, I know which offender passed on my info without my
permission.

Carla
cmartinek'at'zebra.com

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please notify the sender immediately by reply email and then delete this email.

Some Table Questions

[eric.d...@ca.transport.bombardier.com]

Well, wouldn't you know it. I have to teach tables in FrameMaker and I end
up looking foolish.

It used to be that the sort function only sorted text and markers were
lost. When was that oversight corrected? Because when I demonstrated the
function, markers stayed with their paragraphs.

Also, for table formatting. Is there any way to copy custom shading and
ruling from one cell to another?

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

[Joe Malin]

Hi!

I don't think that this advice is useful only for New Zealand... 

Knowing FM will help you get your foot in the door. In the Silicon
Valley, demand for tech writers is ramping up. My years of experience
suggest to me that tech writing departments will now be *desperate* for
writers. They'll be choosing candidates who can contribute immediately.
That may mean that experienced FM users get first crack at the jobs.

*Learning* FM helped me learn about the book-writing process. Even
unstructured FM will help you learn standards, consistency, and
organization, especially if you have to write your own templates.
Structured FM really helps you learn an organized approach to
information organization. It also helps you learn XML if you're not
familiar with it.

I could *use* Word before I learned FM, but afterwards I knew more about
what Word was all about. Once you learn FM, you can figure out how to do
the same stuff in Word. IMHO, Word is not a great tool for technical
writing; still, you will run into it. If you know Word, you'll be a hero
in your company even if they don't use it for tech writing.

Overall, though, learning *how to organize information* made me a tech
writer. Grammar and rhetoric skills don't do much if you can't put the
information in a place where the reader can find it, and produce an
overall group of topics that make the product clear.


 Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin at tuvox.com 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf
Of rebecca officer
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 3:14 PM
To: Framers at frameusers.com; andy.kelsall at gmail.com
Subject: Re: Career advice--which application to focus on: FM or Word?

If you were looking for work in New Zealand, you'd be in one of two
situations:

- working in a tech writing team with a company or consultancy. In that
case, the tool is pretty irrelevant. In our company, we take people
who've never seen FM before and get them competent within a week or two.
What matters to us is the ability to write clearly about complex
technical material. If you've got the kind of mind that can cope with
high-end internet switches, learning FM is a breeze!

- working by yourself in a small company. The problem there is that you
don't have anyone to learn the tool from, so lack of tool knowledge can
drive you batty. And the tool is most likely to be Word.

So in NZ, I'd advise someone to focus on the position and work -
especially to look for something with variety and the potential to rise
further - but also to try and come to grips with Word enough that you
can competently produce a template-based book from it.

Cheers, Rebecca 

>>> "Andy Kelsall"  12/05/06 03:39 >>>
Hello everyone,

   I would like some advice from anyone who has worked in the
technical writing field for more than 3 years. My question is this:

  If you knew someone who was looking to enter the technical
writing field at this time, would you advise them to seek out positions
where they would be using FrameMaker, or would you tell them not to
worry so much on which application would be used, but instead focus on
the position and the work itself?

  The reason I ask is that on various listservs I subscribe to,
it seems that most people are big FM advocates and are not too fond of
Word.
I've spent the last month trying to learn the basics of FM, and I can
see why people choose FM over Word when it comes to serious technical
writing.
Granted, there is a steep learning curve, but it *is* a lot more
versatile than Word.

  I'm moving away from a 17 year career as a technician and
engineer in the telecom field and I want to make sure my first step into
technical writing isn't a misstep. As a quick note, I have given the
career change quite a bit of thought, and went as far as completing a
technical writing program at Duke. Any and all advice is appreciated.


Thanks,

Andy

conditions within variables

[Gillian Flato]

Hola people!

Is it possible to do a condition within a variable (just like you do a
character format within a variable)? I have a master document which I
have to save into 4 different customer docs. Each customer has its own
condition. Each doc has to have a different part number due to document
control, and the part number has to be on every page so naturally, I
made the part number a variable. 

I would love to be able to do something in the variable definition box
like:

025574025575025576

with  being the condition name.

Is there a way to do that?




Thanks,

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

NANOmetrics, Inc.

1550 Buckeye Dr.

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* gflato at nanometrics.com  




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is strictly prohibited.

conditions within variables

[eric.d...@ca.transport.bombardier.com]

> Is it possible to do a condition within a variable (just like you do a
> character format within a variable)? I have a master document which I
> have to save into 4 different customer docs. Each customer has its own
> condition. Each doc has to have a different part number due to document
> control, and the part number has to be on every page so naturally, I
> made the part number a variable.

> I would love to be able to do something in the variable definition box
> like:

> 025574025575025576

> with  being the condition name.

> Is there a way to do that?

Think outside the box:

Instead, use cross-references.
The document that contains the text (part numbers in this case) can then
be conditionalised.

Personally, I've started using cross-references extensively. Much easier
to maintain a limited number of Xref formats and a document chock full of
referenceable data than it is to manage numerous variables.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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conditions within variables

[Scott Prentice]

Hi Gillian...

Check out our BookVars plugin. It doesn't give you conditions within 
variables, but does let you define multiple variable groups that you can 
switch between as needed.

http://leximation.com/tools/info/bookvars.php

Let me know if you have any questions.

...scott

Scott Prentice
Leximation, Inc.
www.leximation.com
+1.415.485.1892



Gillian Flato wrote:
> Hola people!
>  
> Is it possible to do a condition within a variable (just like you do a
> character format within a variable)? I have a master document which I
> have to save into 4 different customer docs. Each customer has its own
> condition. Each doc has to have a different part number due to document
> control, and the part number has to be on every page so naturally, I
> made the part number a variable. 
>  
> I would love to be able to do something in the variable definition box
> like:
>  
> 025574025575025576
>  
> with  being the condition name.
>  
> Is there a way to do that?
>  
>  
>  
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gillian Flato
>
> Technical Writer (Software)
>
> NANOmetrics, Inc.
>
> 1550 Buckeye Dr.
>
> Milpitas, CA. 95035
>
> (408.435.9600 x 316
>
> 7  408.232.5911
>
> * gflato at nanometrics.com  
>
>  
>
>
> This message (including any attachments) may contain confidential information 
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> recipient, delete this message. If you are not the intended recipient, 
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> is strictly prohibited.
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