Re: Changing progams to accommodate reviewers

[<neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>]

Carla Martinek wrote...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rebecca Fleischer
> 
> >> At my last job, I used FrameMaker for years, but then the developers 
> >> wanted our documentation converted to word to make it easier for them
> >> to do reviews.
> 
> 
> Oh, this is *such* a pet peeve of mine!  I've run into this in the past
> where reviewers complain, "Why can't you write in Word like everyone
> else?" 

One of the problems in writing in Word is that the reviewers feel they should create the revised document for me. Instead of writing a note, "Change fooby to Fooby throughout, and mark Foobymu as a trademark," they'll put a lot of effort into trying to *do* all that. Or sometimes they'll have a 3 MB file of XML and stuff that contains 17 lines of info that I'll actually need for the document. I'll get the doc e-mailed back to me with the 3 MB inserted as an appendix, and my Outlook mailbox overflows. 

Multiply that by eight or ten reviewers for a document and four simultaneous projects, and it's kind of obvious why I prefer the comments not be included in the document file, especially if it's MS Word and I'm working in a MS-only environment. "Merge" eight reviews? No thank you, I'll *read* them and put the changes into my own unruined copy of the document.

--Peter Neilson, wearing his brilliantly-colored Curmudgeon Hat

PS: I'm tempted to use the phrase "MS Word Considered Harmful" but I notice that someone in Norway has already said it. Read http://grendel.no/misc/ms-word-considered-harmful.pdf if you don't mind plowing through some Norwegian. His point of view seems to be that LaTex produces better-looking Norwegian output, while mine (and a lot of youse guys') is that it just ain't suited for tech writing. 

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