RE: in search for better tools

["Jon Leer" <jleer -at- leertech -dot- net>]

Authoring tool, authoring tool. You can "author" in about any tool, if you
are in a bad economy with the threat of being layed off at anytime. (Notepad
anyone?) Egad, I've certainly had to over the years. For a lot of companies
with limited budget for documentation the tool du jour is based on who was
last writing the documentation, or when a road block occurs and nobody
(upper management) knows what to do. "Just solve it" mentality.

We had one of these about 2 years ago. A long entrenched process with a
Framemaker environment. Output was being funneled through a crazy maze of
tools to end up with multiple brands of the same documentation for PDF and
online Help. One of the key post-Frame tools was no longer supported, and an
upgrade was going to cost more than the combined salaries of everybody in
the department. In comes a contractor and asks, "Hey why aren't you guys
using Flare? Lot easier." For comparible peanuts for the license, that
became the new solution. Of course, along with a few other unknown issues.
Like the learning curve.

Jon Leer
Leer Technical Communications
Bedford, NH
603-315-4029
jleer -at- leertech -dot- net
http://www.leertech.net
 
Technical and Business Communication Consulting:
Technical - Manuals to Online Help
Business - Marketing Communication
Content Management - Knowledge Base Development and User Experience
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+jleer=leertech -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jleer=leertech -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
] On Behalf Of beelia
> Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 3:08 PM
> To: Robert Lauriston
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: in search for better tools
> 
> It's curious to me that people actually get emotional about 
> what Flare does or doesn't do. The controversy must be 
> positive - Madcap just keeps increasing their market share. Go figure.
> 
> BTW, yes, Frame is an authoring tool. I failed to make clear 
> that Flare is specifically a HELP authoring tool.
> 
> Bee
> 
> On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Robert Lauriston 
> <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>wrote:
> 
> > We're going through it again because you, in your capacity as an 
> > employee of MadCap, keep misrepresenting and dismissing the problem.
> >
> > It's not about personal ethics.
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Sharon Burton 
> > <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>
> > wrote:
> > > Oh, Christ yes. Yes, we did.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I'm showering and doing other stuff. I can't get drawn into this 
> > > again. I just wanted to clarify that Flare created help 
> systems do 
> > > not do any reporting to anyone about anything. You need a 
> separate 
> > > product and to enable this in Flare *before* this may happen.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > If you find this activity unethical, then you probably shouldn't 
> > > purchase and implement Feedback. However, for many 
> companies, this 
> > > elegantly
> > solves
> > > problems they face.
> >  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it 
> all? Author, 
> > build, test, and publish your Help files with just one 
> easy-to-use tool.
> > Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> > http://www.doctohelp.com/
> >
> > Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- 
> > sourcing
> > --
> > generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you 
> > need from just one project. Fast and intuitive.  
> > http://www.helpandmanual.com/
> >
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> >
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? 
> Author, build, test, and publish your Help files with just 
> one easy-to-use tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> http://www.doctohelp.com/ 
> 
> Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True 
> single- sourcing -- generate 8 different formats and as many 
> different versions as you need from just one project. Fast 
> and intuitive.  http://www.helpandmanual.com/
> 
> ---
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rtech.net
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> 

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

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing -- 
generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need 
from just one project. Fast and intuitive.  http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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