Adding to Peter Fagan's comments on Christine (Birtley-Kent)'s comments on = Frame... Where FrameMaker excels is not just as a replacement word processor, but in= its management of structure documentation using the full powers of SGML or= XML - something Word can't touch. If you are responsible for large volumes of complex, repetitive documentati= on and need to employ people who are not tool experts but know their subjec= ts; or benefit from document automation, FrameMaker provides an excellent e= nvironment. We have been using it for authoring and maintaining Defence tec= hnical documentation since 1994/5 with essentially zero problems, and achie= ve essentially double the productivity over using Word to produce similar d= ocuments. (In some cases the client still wants the work done in Word - so = long as they pay for it, we are happy to do so). Yes, the learning curve fo= r this kind of application is long and steep, but if you do large volumes o= f repetitive/complex/long documentation, your ROI should well justify the u= p-front investment to learn to use and manage the structured environment. T= here are also several training organisations such as Absolute Data Group an= d Allette Systems who can help bring you up to speed. We've used both at va= rious times, and they are still around. Regards, Bill Hall Documentation Systems Analyst Head Office, Engineering Tenix Defence Nelson House Annex, Nelson Place Williamstown, Vic. 3016 Australia Tel: +61 3 9244 4820 (Direct) URL: http://www.tenix.com Mailto:bill.hall@xxxxxxxxx ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************