RE: InDesign versus FrameMaker (versus Word)

["Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>]

The caveat regarding "multiple authors" is a big clue here. A contractor
might *think* s/he's the sole author for a deliverable -- but if the
customer wants to revise it in the future, then the contractor's only
one of multiple authors.

With a PDF file, the tool and the deliverable can be separate entities;
in that case, InDesign and FM are great. When the deliverable has to be
editable in the future by the recipient, the contractor's probably stuck
with a commonly known tool -- i.e., MS Office.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donna McManus
> Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 12:16 PM
> To: Pinkham, Jim
> Cc: Dan Goldstein; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: InDesign versus FrameMaker (versus Word)
> 
> Again, the answer is "it depends." I do believe it will vary 
> from agency to agency. I believe others may have another 
> situation, so there is no "one size fits all" answer to this. 
> 
> Deliverables for me to the military can be Word, PDF, or 
> occasionally Excel or PowerPoint.
> 
> However, for product internally it can be done any way (I 
> work for a contractor, and have several times prior to this 
> job for military contractors or directly for the state of Ohio).
> 
> In these instances, I may have multiple authors. So in this 
> capacity, I am primarily editor and coordinator/project 
> manager. This requires compatibility, and there would be no 
> way I could get an international team all to use anything 
> other than Word. The training and purchase costs would be prohibitive.
> 
> If I produce documentation for product that goes to multiple 
> customers/clients, I typically use Robo and generate to 
> either HTML or PDF. I can likewise produce in FrameMaker to 
> produce PDF/print. But in these instances, I am the only author.
> 


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