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: A doozy even for Word From:Paul Hanson <phanson -at- Quintrex -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 30 Oct 2008 07:48:48 -0500
Michael,
I thought the same thing about the goofy new menu layout. My opinion changed when I started using it daily. These are three things that impacted my shift to not really minding the new layout:
1) There is a free add-in that creates the 'typical' File, Edit, etc. options so you can still find a way around the new layout. I actually don't find myself using it but I have it just in case.
2) This site http://tinyurl.com/y85r6y has an interactive way to locate any menu option in Word 2003 and shows you where it is in Word 2007.
3) More and more products - SnagIT comes to mind - are going to this type of menu structure so it seems to be hip, cool, and hot.
None of the above are compelling business reasons to go to Word 2007 - and I'm not suggesting anyone do so just to use the 'latest and greatest' version. All I'm saying is that I thought like Michael until I started using Word 2007 on a daily basis and, when I did, the first two items above helped me out.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+phanson=quintrex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+phanson=quintrex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Michael West
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:00 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: A doozy even for Word
> This is an example of why Word isn't a good tool for documentation.
No, it isn't. It may or may not be a good example of why Word 20007/Vista
isn't a good tool. I've avoided Word 2007 because they've made an absolute
mess of the menus.
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
