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.
RE: Wanted: Any available doc comparing Word XP and FrameMaker 7.2
Subject:RE: Wanted: Any available doc comparing Word XP and FrameMaker 7.2 From:"Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:04:29 -0000
>
> NEVER, under ANY circumstances, EVER use MS Word if there is even the
> SLIGHTEST chance that any document you create will be printed outside
> your shop. In other words, if you create your documents and send them
> off to a printer for printing, binding, publishing, etc., then don't use
> Word. Word has some flaky and inexcusable problems related to the
> "normal.dot" template that can screw up the formatting of a document
> just by taking it from one computer to another (let alone from one
> network to another).
Provided that you take reasonable precautions, this is by no means the
universal requirement that you claim. However, there are occasions when it
does apply. In any of the following cases, a document may not be portable
outside your organisation.
1. If your document is saved with the "Automatically update styles" checkbox
checked in the Templates and Addins dialog.
2. If any of your styles are defined with the "Automatically update" box
checked in the Format Style dialog.
3. If you have manually applied automatic numbering using the Format,
Bullets and Numbering dialog.
4. If your document is based on normal.dot or on a template stored on a
shared network drive.
5. If you have used any fonts not supplied as part of Windows &/or Office,
unless you know the recipient has the same fonts installed.
6. If you require absolute fidelity regarding wordwrap and page flow when
the document is printed.
7. If you have floating graphics anchored to paragraphs within a table,
especially if the recipient of the document may be using a different version
of Word from you.
>
> And having worked for a commercial printer for about two years, it also
> does very odd things with colors. Most commercial printers use a Pantone
> color matching system, and no matter how many times we asked and how
> sophisticated and saavy a customer was, we could never get anyone with
> Word to provide us files that were set in true Pantone color matching. I
> think that's just because Word is incapable of supporting it (or maybe
> because Microsoft's version of Pantone is different from everyone
> else's, just like their version of JAVA).
Word makes no claim regarding Pantone compatibility and makes no attempt at
it. All Word colors are defined in the RGB color space, and the conversion
to CMYK or Pantone is in the hands of the printer.
I'll go along with those who suggest that if you use Word, the final
in-house production stage should be conversion to PDF followed if necessary
by tweaking the colors in the PDF file if you need exact Pantone or CMYK
colors.
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
