15 Apr
2021
15 Apr
'21
10:28 a.m.
On Thu, 15 Apr 2021 at 18:57, Guy Sotomayor via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I've used FrameMaker a lot...it's great for
handling large documents and
collections of documents. Used it quite a bit at IBM and handled 1000+
page documents (of course that wasn't all one "source" file).
ISTM that for DTP, there were 2 competing layout metaphors. One was
ideal for single-handed, ad-hoc layouts, and was friendly for
unskilled or untrained operators. The other was better for longer
documents, for structured docs where everything should look uniform --
long runs of documentation, or long series of magazine issues.
The former, the "pasteboard" model, includes PageMaker, MS Publisher,
Serif Page+ et al. The other, based on "frames" and "pouring" content
into them, includes Ventura Publisher, FrameMaker, Quark Xpress, and I
believe Adobe InDesign although I've never seen or tried it, although
I've supported all the otghers.
I could never get my head around Word for anything
more than 10 pages or
so. Just too hard to deal with everything in massive documents.
Outline mode is the key. I did a 220-page illustrated manual in one
big document in my last solo tech-writing contract, entirely as a Word
outline. From blank page to finished manual in 8 weeks, and 2nd
edition in 6 more weeks.
Without Outline mode, it would have been next to impossible and would
have required elaborate professional tooling that they didn't have.
Using a mark-up language also means I generally have
more control
on how things appear in the document (something that continually
frustrated me with Word especially when dealing with cross references
and figures).
Fair. Never used LaTeX but in the dayjob I use DocBook XML and
AsciiDoctor to the same ends. I don't like them much but they do the
job and do it well. It makes all the layout and formatting Somebody
Else's Problem -- and even that SEP is 99.9% automated.
--
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