- Editing and the Interface.
- Word interaction - import, export, and trying a round trip.
- CSS, Skins, and dynamic HTML.
- Templates and project set-up.
- Targets, TOCs, Destinations, compiling it all and getting reports.
- Indexing, Browse sequences, Glossaries and Search.
- CSH - context sensitive help.
- Snippets, Variables, and Conditions.
- Images and Sound.
- Source control.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Top 10 Flare issues
I use Madcap's Flare to generate online help and other documentation (in conjunction with Word). This list of issues is not really a top 10 best or worst, they are just things you probably need to know about in order to use the product. It's a bit arbitrary - I've loaded several things in some points just so that I can fit it into a top ten.
A bit of Word history
I began using Word at version 1 way back in the 1980s when the Macintosh was released. I don't think it made it to Australian shores until late 1984, but we must have been the first kids on the block with the new toy.
I have used just about every version since. I rarely use a Mac now - work environments dictate PCs and Windows, so there are a few releases missing from my repertoire.
During the great battle between Word and Word Perfect (WP), I was firmly on the side of Word. I loved wysiwyg and I hated remembering commands. WP seemed to encourage inline formatting where Word encouraged the use of styles, but this is hard to prove.
The wikipedia has an interesting article on MS Word versions.
I have used just about every version since. I rarely use a Mac now - work environments dictate PCs and Windows, so there are a few releases missing from my repertoire.
During the great battle between Word and Word Perfect (WP), I was firmly on the side of Word. I loved wysiwyg and I hated remembering commands. WP seemed to encourage inline formatting where Word encouraged the use of styles, but this is hard to prove.
The wikipedia has an interesting article on MS Word versions.
Top 10 Word issues
There are zillions of "issues" with Word - this list is just a starting point for a discussion on things that a technical writer should probably understand.
- Layout, sections, headers, footers.
- Styles, and tables.
- Numbering.
- Search and Replace, and Goto.
- Document properties, and bookmarks.
- Templates, and security, access, and macros/VBA.
- Fields, TOCs, Indexes, Captions.
- Images.
- Mail merge.
- Office 2007 ribbon, and other new features.
Introduction
I am a long-time technical writer who has finally decided to get into this blogging caper. I read a lot of blogs, and participate in other blogs in a bit of a random fashion. It's a great way to maintain the writing habit and get published!
Over the years I've got to know quite a bit about help authoring tools, and Word and the other Office modules, so these issues will be my main topics. And blogs seem to be a great place to keep up to date with new technology trends and tools, so there'll be plenty to have an opinion on.
But what is a technical writer, I hear you ask? We're a bit like used help salesmen - we take the existing information out of specifications, out of people's heads, or out of the air (trial and error), then polish it up so that it works, it's useful, it's nice and shiny, and "sell" it to the users.
Over the years I've got to know quite a bit about help authoring tools, and Word and the other Office modules, so these issues will be my main topics. And blogs seem to be a great place to keep up to date with new technology trends and tools, so there'll be plenty to have an opinion on.
But what is a technical writer, I hear you ask? We're a bit like used help salesmen - we take the existing information out of specifications, out of people's heads, or out of the air (trial and error), then polish it up so that it works, it's useful, it's nice and shiny, and "sell" it to the users.
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