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Subject:Re: Any suggestions for replacing Word From:"Edwin Skau" <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 29 Mar 2006 10:08:17 +0530
Beth,
My suggestion would be to first learn how to use Word properly before you
rule it out.
Your problems with Word seem to suggest that a little information on how to
use styles, templates, and numbering would help.
If you migrate to another tool, you're going to have to invest a lot more
time learning how to use the tool, than you would in learning how to use
Word properly.
Word has some very useful functions that you don't find in other text
editors. There are also some very useful and interesting plugins/macros that
you could purchase that are inexpensive, and provide functionality other
tools do not provide.
More companies worldwide use MS Word for technical documentation than any
other tool (I suspect, more than all other tools combined) and this is
despite TW urban legends that abound about Word's instability and the
robustness of other tools.
For starters, I suggest you focus on three basic concepts in Word:
- Templates
- Styles
- Numbering
There's a wealth of information on the Net on how to use Word efficiently.
P.S. The last time I checked, DocBook was a DTD. The way Docbook has been
recommended every now and then as an alternative t existing text editors
makes mw wonder if there's a tool by that name of which I'm unaware.
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