atw: Re: Master/sub-documents and corruptions.
- From: "Chris lofting" <lofting@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:57:31 +1000
As professionals we are required to adapt to any environment and that
includes Microsoft 'shops' where telling them they have to go to Framemaker
is not helpful. To be efficient requires good working knowledge of the tools
available and the necessity at times to move into formal methods rather than
the easier, ad-hoc, manner often adopted. Thus imposing a regime on document
development, although considered a 'pain in the arse' at first can be show
to be of huge benefit later on.
Being Technical Writers is different from being Writers of technical stuff -
e.g. we are expected to understand the SGML background of HTML/XML etc and
so understand complexity and the application of such when necessary - we
don't run from complexity because it can stretch our minds and give us
headaches! ;-) The requirement is to face the challenge, deal with the
problems, work within the constraints presented, not come up with some wish
list that is inappropriate for the conditions.
I have used the master document feature and it works BUT it does require
effort to ensure such. SO what? If the result overcomes inefficiencies then
the effort is worth it. If people are not prepared to put the effort in to
RTFM or track down material on the 'net etc., then how can they be
considered professional in their focus?
The original email I responded to covered a dynamic that was obviously
lacking in efficiency and demanding of knowledge of the master document
concept. Simple. One could ignore all proprietary material and focus on
ASCII documents with tags that are then processed through CSS to give us a
web page document! BUT given the domination of MS-Windows etc and MS-Office
so understanding the *careful* use of master documents is part of the job -
not something to run from because it is all too 'complicated' or some other
program does it 'better'.
Chris.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Lewis
> Sent: Monday, 29 June 2009 3:23 PM
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: atw: Re: Master/sub-documents and corruptions.
>
> Warren Lewington (heavily snipped [OUCH!]):
>
> Just, when you do, do it properly, and do it well. Like,
> isn't that what we are supposed to be doing as professionals???
>
> Remember; keep your mind open to all possibilities.
> ===
>
> Ah, yes. Let's just forget that the Master Document facility
> _could_ work as well as the book feature in FrameMaker, or
> that bullets and numbering could work as well as
> auto-numbering in Fra -
>
> Oops.
>
> Michael Lewis
> Lecturer
> Department of Linguistics
> MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109
>
> Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7856
> Mobile: +61 (0)414 887782
> Fax: +61 (0)2 9850 9199
> www.ling.mq.edu.au
>
> CRICOS Provider No 00002J
>
> This message is intended for the addressee named and may
> contain confidential information. If you are not the
> intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender.
> Views expressed in this message are those of the individual
> sender, and are not necessarily the views of Department of
> Linguistics or Macquarie University.
>
>
> **************************************************
> To view the austechwriter archives, go to
> www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to
> austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the
> Subject field (without quotes).
>
> To manage your subscription (e.g., set and unset DIGEST and
> VACATION modes) go to www.freelists.org/list/austechwriter
>
> To contact the list administrator, send a message to
> austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> **************************************************
>
**************************************************
To view the austechwriter archives, go to
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter
To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field (without quotes).
To manage your subscription (e.g., set and unset DIGEST and VACATION modes) go
to www.freelists.org/list/austechwriter
To contact the list administrator, send a message to
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************
Other related posts:
