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Annalee, there's no simple, or single, answer to your question. How
much control or influence TWs have over design and production depends
on:
1) How established the company is--Long-established companies
(especially large ones), with long established technical
publication groups, are less open to new formats or changes
of any kind. There are exceptions, however. Very large
companies have let me take entirely new tacks when new
developments forced companies to become interested in a
documentation facelift.
2) How creative the writing is--the more creative the writing,
end-user, marketing, articles, P/R, advertising--the more
control the writer has. Generally, when I do this sort of
writing, I develop the concepts, do dummies of layout for
artists to start with and improve upon, and I often have a
hand in specifying type faces and color, both of which play
key roles in the communication process.
3) What type of documenation you're producing, for whom, and
under what controls. For example, if your producing military
manuals for the Air Force using SGML, you will probably have
zero say in format, structure, content, or design, Production
is then entirely out of your baliwick.
My answer is very incomplete, but it's all the time I have. For sure,
the more talent, intelligence, experience, and breath of knowledge you
have, the more that others in any company will want to have your
input.
