Re: Using Word as an Authoring System

[Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>]

RE: Doc-To-Help

Interesting. Many years ago I went to a M$ developers' conference in
Seattle. The kingpins of that conference were Woody Leonhard and a number
of the Doc-To-Help folks. So that alone attests to the nature of the
product.

I didn't know that Madcap had acquired Doc-To-Help.... good to know.

Chris Morton
(click logo â for details)

<https://www.the-efa.org/memberinfo/chris-morton-10670/>
      â Substantive Editing â Technical Writing â Proofreading
                   â B2B/B2C â Marketing Expertise â Mentoring



On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 9:38 AM, Paul Neshamkin <pauln -at- helpauthors -dot- com>
wrote:

> I've been saying this since 1991, switch to Doc-To-Help (www.doctohelp.com
> ).
> Regards,
> Paul Neshamkin
>
>
> Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
> -------- Original message --------From: "Cardimon, Craig"
> <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com> Date: 11/29/17  8:09 AM  (GMT-05:00) To: "'
> swiseman -at- contextengage -dot- com'" <swiseman -at- contextengage -dot- com>, 'Nathaniel
>     Wilson' <nwilson120 -dot- nw -at- gmail -dot- com>, 'Gene Kim-Eng' <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
> Cc: 'TechWhirl' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Subject: RE: Using Word as
> an Authoring System
> Some upper management sees no reason to use Flare. You know the argument,
> "Just use Word."
>
> While I could gather my resources and arrange a meeting and maybe persuade
> The Powers That Be to keep Flare, this is not where I want to concentrate
> my energy.
>
> This is not the hill I want to die on. There are other battles to be
> fought. Shrug.
>
> Besides, I use Word only as a building block. Then I copy and paste into
> our online knowledge base.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Steve Wiseman (ContextEngage)
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2017 2:56 AM
> To: 'Nathaniel Wilson' <nwilson120 -dot- nw -at- gmail -dot- com>; 'Gene Kim-Eng' <
> techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
> Cc: 'TechWhirl' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Subject: RE: Using Word as an Authoring System
>
> Well, I didn't think I would see a discussion like this :)
>
> It's all a question of horses for courses. If you need only PDFs, no
> variables, no conditional text, no content reuse, a non topic-based
> solution (instead your docs run from start to end) - then Word is
> applicable. That use case is becoming less and less popular but it exists.
> I have customers that have massive pieces of hardware and send books to
> their customers and Word works fine for them.
>
> But once a customer needs online, reuse or any of the features above, you
> are going to need a more professional and focused tool for technical
> writers. Which tool again depends on what you need.
>
> I am against overkill and just taking tools because of their name and
> reputation. You should ideally have a matrix of needs and tick which tools
> hit the most features you need, in relation to price.
>
> But I would recommend against using Word with some plugin or conversion
> tool for the added functionality. Always a tool with addons will be less
> integrated and effective that a tool with the features you need built in.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Best regards,
> Steve Wiseman, CEO, ContextEngage | http://www.contextengage.com Isr
> +972-522-341-957 Official Paligo Resellers To arrange a quick 15 minute
> intro call with me, Click here
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+swiseman=contextengage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+swiseman=contextengage -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> On Behalf Of Nathaniel Wilson
> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2017 11:02 PM
> To: Gene Kim-Eng
> Cc: TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
> Subject: Re: Using Word as an Authoring System
>
> Hi Craig,
>
> I have been using Microsoft Word to create documentation for a few months,
> since I landed my new gig creating SOPs for a telecommunications company.
> Microsoft Word isnât the best thing to use, but not bad either. I think it
> all depends on what type of documentation you need it for. The
> straightforward instructional guides that I create and that are shared on
> the Intranet really donât need anything more than Microsoft Word, so itâs
> fine.
>
> Here are some of my best tips:
>
>    -
>
>    Screenshots are fairly easy to capture- I recommend saving the images on
>    PowerPoint (if you have it) before copying and pasting them into your
>    document. This way, you can add arrows or circles to highlight certain
>    areas in the screenshot.
>    -
>
>    To move a screenshot around on a page, right click on it and select
>    Format Picture. Then click on the Layout tab. Selecting Behind or In
> Front
>    Of Text will allow you to move an image around as you like. Clicking on
> the
>    Advanced button and then choosing to place the image in line with the
> text
>    or placing your text above and below the image will cause the
> screenshot to
>    be fixed in a given location.
>    -
>
>    If youâre creating steps, I recommend using the number formats and
>    bullets at the top of the screen. I number all of the steps in my
> documents
>    and use bullets for all information that is not a step for the user to
>    take. Also, I make use of indentation to differentiate things in my
>    documents.
>
> Thereâs more that I could share, but this is good for a start. Hope it
> helps.
>
> -Nathaniel
>
> On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 3:58 PM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > Consistency is essential. The DTP tools that are the most popular with
> > tech writers tend to impose consistency through their structure. Word
> > doesn't do that, so you have to do it yourself. Not just yourself, but
> > across your entire organization. And make sure that nobody outside the
> > documentation group ever gets to edit or even open any of your Word
> files.
> >
> > Gene Kim-Eng
> >
> >
> > On 11/28/2017 12:05 PM, Cardimon, Craig wrote:
> >
> >> At my company, we are drifting away from our old authoring system and
> >> moving toward using Microsoft Word.
> >>
> >> Do you knowledgeable folks have any advice, suggestions, tips, or
> >> tricks for me about using Word for product documentation?
> >>
> >
> >
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