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In addition, I sometimes see writers get too focused on is how [a section of] a document looks before they even write the content!
Yes, I understand that look and feel can influence the content a bit (depends on the document ... "fitting" text into a section of a brochure for example), but I also see people write a sentence or two, or paragraph, and then spend too much time "fixing" the font or format of their short text.
Far better to focus on the writing and add the formats (templates!) only as needed periodically. Of course, basic stuff like using a section title template is easy enough to do on the fly, etc.
A pet peeve of mine: people who use manual overrides for italics and bold using key strokes rather than character templates! If the paragraph template is applied later, all the manual overrides disappear.
Finally, as you note, using paragraph and character templates and automated work-flow processes (like the TOC!) is vital. Particularly when edits and changes occur - and especially when other people work on a given document - much later.
For example, if added/edited text breaks a manually entered TOC numbering, or section name, etc., this is a highly inefficient work-flow issue to fix each and every time!
I find it amazing that this person you mention added leader dots manually too! Yikes.
Z
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From: techwr-l-bounces+syed -dot- hosain=aeris -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com <techwr-l-bounces+syed -dot- hosain=aeris -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> on behalf of Paul Hanson <twer_lists_all -at- hotmail -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 1, 2017 7:15:03 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Using "Fences" as File Management Tool?
I get the points about being new, etc, but there's also the other side of the coin where 'existing people' (I didn't say 'old' on purpose <grin>) should also be open to a fresh perspective. It goes both ways.
For example, I worked at a hellhole for a short period of time with a senior department member who insisted on using InDesign with no application of styles - as in manually typing the TOC and the leader dots and the page numbers - for a 150ish page user guide. She would print the entire user guide and manually verify the heading in the body matched the TOC. If there was a discrepancy, she would make changes, reprint, and start over. She bragged about staying past midnight to get the user guide done because of that process. Being the problem-solver type I am, I showed her a small InDesign document with headings and a auto-generated TOC. How many hours could be spent on other tasks if the TOCs were auto-generated? I have no idea because she wasn't even open to a fresh perspective. I believe her exact phrase was styles were "too complicated" to implement. I still shake my head in disagreement. You can't convince me that in an InDesign file it is "too complicated" to apply Headings 1 -4 styles to text that is already manually formatted to look like a heading. I call that ignorance.
FWIW, I downloaded the 30 day trial of Fences and am giving it a test drive. So far, so good. Think of it as creating a folder on your desktop, putting files into that folder and being able to see the files in that folder without double-clicking. You can also make the folders roll up, which has already decluttered my Desktop. That's just my observation after a couple of hours of playing with it.
Paul Hanson
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