Functional Replacement for Word for Long Documents?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Missed the original attribution, but the question seems to have been: 
<<For extremely long projects (500+ pages), is there any other viable 
option besides FrameMaker?  Can InDesign handle something that big?>>

My personal opinion is that it's nuts to trust any project that large 
to a single file. Sure, the software may be claimed to handle it 
reliably (e.g., Frame rather than Word), but by and large, you'll have 
more problems with a single huge file than you will with half a dozen 
smaller files.

That being the case, the answer is not necessarily to change the 
software, but rather to use the software judiciously. Break up large 
projects into a series of smaller documents at logical places (e.g., 
sections or chapters), then stitch them together with whatever features 
your software provides to do the stitching; we've discussed this often 
enough for Word that I don't feel any need to repeat the discussion, so 
check the archives. In PageMaker, this was done using the "book" 
feature. Frame and InDesign users can provide their own descriptions of 
the best way to handle this.

This "divide and conquer" approach has another advantage you might not 
have thought of: it allows multiple people to work on a project at the 
same time, which you generally can't do or can do only with some 
difficulty if you use a single large document.* For example, if you 
divide a large project into chapter-based files, you can send one file 
for review and keep working on another file while the former file is 
out for review. That's much harder to do with a single monolithic file.

* You can do something similar in InDesign if you use InCopy. Haven't 
used this software, so I can't provide details, other than a vague 
memory from reading a review that it only works if the file is divided 
into independently placed "stories". Confirmation welcomed!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
www.geoff-hart.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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 

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.