TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Software For Students From:Tothscribe -at- aol -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 23 Feb 2001 10:39:10 EST
>My list:
I'm starting to feel like a fraud - I don't know several
of the tools listed! And I somehow have muddled through
without knowing programming or HATs (although I need to
learn the HATs sooner or later.)
So, two more of my cents:
1) MS Word
(it's everywhere, and you can fake a lot using it)
2) HTML
(both raw code and a program; I like Dreamweaver)
3) Photoshop
(like Word, it's ubiquitous and works on most OSes)
4) the DTP program du jour, either Quark or Pagemaker
5) Visio or Inspiration
6) The rest of the MS Office suite
(bosses being what they are, I've done many a Power
Point presentation because "You write good.")
7) Some database program (I like Filemaker Pro)
(because she who writes it ends up tracking it)
I'm trying to wrack my brains to get 3 more programs,
but to tell the truth the only other programs I've
needed were job-specific. The ones listed above have
been enough to get my foot in the door long enough to
learn anything else required.
As for the other question:
I don't know anything about InDesign and can't therefore
judge if you need it - but in a choice between anything
and Word, see comment under Word above. No, it's not
a DTP program, yes, it's squirrelier than the oak tree
outside my bedroom. But a lot of the littler companies
have it and only it and still want you to be able to
produce works of beauty on it. The sooner you learn to
bludgeon it into submission, the better.
Nea Dodson
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-Based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 ($100 STC Discount)
**WEST COAST LOCATIONS** San Jose (Mar 1-2), San Francisco (Apr 16-17) http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Sponsored by ForeFront, Inc., maker of ForeHelp Help authoring tools
for print, WinHelp, HTML Help, JavaHelp, and cross-platform InterHelp
See www.forehelp.com for more information and free evaluation downloads
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
