Support needed!

[Ben Allums]

On 7/10/2012 2:57 AM, laura at lavadome.net wrote:
> Please tell me I'm not going mad or being unreasonable.
>
> Have just come into work to find that the company which acquired us a
> few months ago wants me to use Powerpoint for creating datasheets
> instead of InDesign (definite) and "a more flexible tool" (Word) instead
> of our beloved Framemaker (proposed).
>
> I could cry. I am the only tech author in the company of about 100
> people and the marketing department used PP for datasheets which they
> say is "adequate" for the job. This all arose on Friday when someone
> else needed to edit a version of my ID files when I was on holiday.  Now
> I come in to find:
>
> "...For more technical documentation (e.g. product manuals) then I
> understand the argument for use of a more specialist tool - but even
> here we can use more flexible tools."
>
> Such as????? I have long user guides with masses of conditional text.
> Just let Word have a shot at that. In fact, they were trying to do just
> that before I started this job 4 years ago - and it wasn't working.

DISCLAIMER: I work for WebWorks.

Laura,

Finding ways to make Word a better tool for your needs may not be your 
ideal approach, but it may be an easier sale politically.

There are a couple of products that enable more flexible document 
handling within Word.  One is by ThirtySix Software, called SmartDocs. 
It offers extremely advanced conditional text controls (beyond 
FrameMaker).  It can also integrate with a SharePoint server for content 
reuse, etc.  It isn't cheap, but it can definitely beef up Word's 
capabilities.

Another alternative might be WebWorks ePublisher.  It publishes content 
from Word sources.  Part of the package includes a Word menu to give you 
basic conditional text support.  Not nearly as advanced as SmartDocs, 
but it might do the trick for you.  ePublisher is happy to process 
either WebWorks conditions or SmartDocs conditions during publishing.

Also, though I know nothing about it, you could check out Doc-to-Help. 
They single-source publish from Word documents just like ePublisher.


Ben Allums
allums at webworks.com
512-381-8885