PUBLISHING DOCUMENTATION IN MICROSOFT WORD - DON'T DO IT!
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- cherylkirk
- VMTWriter
- salmaahmed
- salmaahmed
- taliushee
- H2O
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» cherylkirk - Totally inaccurate - Here's the real truth
Although there are other reasons why someone may not use Word as their editing/writing tool, you are really uninformed about Word and its features. Let me address the misinformation in your article point by point:** SECURITY ISSUE #1: THERE IS NO "DOCUMENT SECURITY"
Word does in fact offer password protection at several levels. One is for read-only options which is found in the Save As/Options section. The other is for revisions found under the tool menu. In addition, anyone with a basic knowledge of Visual Basic can easily create password protection features specific to their particular documents.
** SECURITY ISSUE #2: CAN'T HIDE THE META DATA
Again, totally inaccurate. When you choose Save As/options you can specify to have the document prompt for document properties and if used in a corporate environment document templates can be created to do just that for every user.
In addition this Knowledge base article outlines how to change other properties in the document property sheet. Templates can be set up to include only the information you want, and again, with visual basic, the property sheet can be populated automatically.
Q244086 WD2000: How to Change the Company Property Information and this KB article outlines how to minimize meta data information:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/...
** COVER YOUR TRACKS (TRACKED CHANGES, THAT IS)
The above link addresses this. The Alcatel problem is related to users who do not know how to use the product. Do you blame car accidents on autos when the driver is to blame?
** THE INCREDIBLE SELF-INFLATING DOCUMENT
Depending upon the graphics stored, it wouldn't matter what product you use, a document can become very large due to the type of graphics.
Also a fast save appends the changes to the end of your document, which increases the size of the document. By contrast, when you turn off the Allow Fast Saves option and save the document, Word performs a full save, which incorporates all your revisions (instead of appending them). If you perform a full save after a file was fast saved, Word reduces the size of the file.
** NOT EVERYONE OWNS A COPY OF WORD
Microsoft offers a viewer for both browsers, plus Word had some of the most extensive save filters available, more than any other word processor. if you are providing information to a client, you can easily use Word, then save to their specified format.
** SO WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?
Adobe PDF format - doesn't allow for changes. Also not everyone has the version of the PDF viewer that will be required. oftentimes users are forced to download a new version to view a PDF document.
HTML web pages - doesn't format with embedded fonts so layout looks different in different browsers/computers
>>HTML files are also small and load quickly, provided they are not too graphics-intensive.
totally inaccurate. HTML files are text only files. Graphics are simply file locations, not embedded in the document.
>>your Webmaster can make you a template to ensure the document style integrates with your overall website design.
Anyone who has been a webmaster knows, if the person creating the document does not know basics of HTML, this statement is totally inaccurate.
>>Embedded help (commonly called "online help") are those screens that magically pop up when you click the 'Help' button in a program.
Wrong again. These help systems create Java-based help files for mac or Linux users. The problem with this is that many may have Java turned off for security reasons, and because the Java Virtual machine has to load, this increases memory needs and slows down the system.
I'm in no way a real supporter of Microsoft products, but I am a supporter of giving users, particularly those who are NOT experienced users the CORRECT information, not just my "opinion" based on supposition or what I "think". This article is poorly researched.
-- posted by cherylkirk
» salmaahmed - Re: Totally inaccurate ...(are u bill gates or something)
In response to message posted by cherylkirk:First of all i would like to point out that I am a technical writer for a reasonable time now and i should know about publishing tools. I happen to know lots of technical writers (People who have been working in the career more than 20 years now). I also happen to have read and EXPERINCE problems with different publishing tools.
Second, i want to say that discussion should be based on neutral objective debate, not with the purpose of making the other party appear totally ignorant and drastically wrong.
Third, i used Microsoft Word for most of my career and I insisted on using it in spite of the huge misfortunes i encountered with it, and the reason behind this insistence was my assumption that i was not really experienced enough in MS Word and that is why i happen to encounter these misfortunes.
Forth, as a technical writer who already used many tools, MS Word, FrontPage, Dream Weaver, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Frame maker, Adobe Distiller, Robohelp and lots of other HTML help and Win help authoring tools, i can say that using MS Word to publish your documentation is not a very good choice. And my advice here goes to people who are really willing to implement tools that would help them enhance their work quality and save them time and accordingly money. (and people who want to work as technical writers and not as Microsoft Visual Basic developers).
MS Word has many problems and if you are publishing long documents with lots of complex references and structure you better use some other publishing tool, like for example Adobe Frame Maker.
As they say, experience is the best teacher, for those who would like to make sure that MS Word is not the best choice i advise that they use MS Word to publish a long multi chapters, graphics extensive, complicated structure documents. They should know better what to use next time.
PS: Using MS Word has one very good advantage, it allows any body to edit your work. (Which is an advantage for the others).
More Information about technical writing tools, go to the www.scriptorium.com and also read the book Technical Writing 101.
-- posted by salmaahmed
» salmaahmed - Are You Bill Gates or something?
I hope people wouldn’t take things personally like this and respect each other's openions and commit to the talking etiquette rules.-- posted by salmaahmed
» H2O - Clearing up some misconceptions
Microsoft Word is an expensive program, and it's unfair to require customers to own a copy just to be able to read your user manual.Compared to other word processing programs, MS Word is relatively inexpensive. Most companies prefer MS Word for bottom-line reasons--it comes on most machines purchased so the additional cost is nil to minimal. Unfortunately, companies that dictate using MS Word do so without consulting the people actually needing to supply documentation. They see it as adequate for memos and letters, which it is good for. But it is not a desktop publishing tool like FrameMaker and Quark Express and PageMaker and the other page layout software out there.
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files are like a "picture" of your original document, which means the text and layout cannot be easily changed. PDF's have a built-in navigation system called "bookmarks", offer excellent security, and are small in size. And best of all, you can still use Word to develop your document - simply convert it to a PDF file via a button in your Word toolbar!
This is only true if Adobe Distiller is installed on the machine. If Distiller is not installed, the MS Word application will not display a .pdf button, nor will it allow you to save it as a .pdf file.
I didn't write this article, but felt the need to clarify some points. The selection of a word processing/desktop publishing software should be a grave decision. The improper tools leads to increased documentation time and frustration on the part of technical writers. By the same token adequate software without adequate training will also cost time and create frustration. In purchasing such software, try to negotiate a training package with the purchase. You and your company will be glad you did.
John
-- posted by H2O
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