RE: FrameMaker 2005 Chautauqua -- November 7-9, Raleigh NC USA

[David Crowe <David.Crowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is a learning curve with Frame. I learned it by myself with 
only the manual as my friend.

However, the story that there isn't a learning curve with Word is false.

It is true that there is a shallow layer of Word that can be learned 
without a manual. But many things are actually far more difficult in 
Word (the equivalent of variables, for example). Some things in Word 
are impossible (such as anything like conditional text) and, worst of 
all, some things just don't work (like mixing paragraph indentation 
and auto-numbering in the same document).

The myth exists because most people who use Word only use the 
shallowest layer. They don't use styles, they don't know what a 
hanging indent is and their documents are full of tabs to get text to 
the right place on their screen (which, of course, is not always the 
right place on your screen). So creating a document is easy. Updating 
it, well, that's a whole other question.

So a manager who writes 1 to 10 page document using the most basic 
capabilities of Word then believes that it's possible to write 
multi-hundred page manuals with the same tool.

These people complain about the complexity of Frame. And, indeed, a 
document making full use of conditional text, variables and with a 
full set of styles for paragraphs, tables and characters is complex! 
But, they don't do anything about the fact that Word crashes several 
times a day, losing a considerable amount of work each time. Tools 
that should work don't, forcing people to manually apply style 
changes even when they'd rather not. Sure they complain, but heck, 
unstable software from Microsoft is a fact of life, how can they 
possibly change it? (and if you point out that Frame is a good 
solution, they'll explain that it was just a rhetorical question).

- David Crowe



At 11:27 AM +0200 6/7/05, David Schor wrote:
> I also don't understand the complaints - perhaps they arise because FM
> doesn't have drag-and-drop or AutoCorrect like Word, which are neat
> bells and whistles.
> Just last week, a TC at another company told me that her boss didn't
> agree to let her purchase FM. One of the main reasons was that he was
> afraid of FM's learning curve.
> What "learning curve"? What "odd GUI?" These have to rank among the
> biggest myths in Technical Communication. I first worked with FM about
> 12 years ago (it had a tutorial bundled in the application then) but was
> up and running in a day.
> Whenever someone complains that they are concerned about "learning
> curve" and "weird GUI" (as if MS-DOS and UNIX were amazingly intuitive),
> I reply that we TCs earn our living by learning products and
> applications all the time in order to document them - why should
> learning FM be any more intimidating?
>
> David Schor
> Technical Publications Manager
> VCON Ltd.
> Tel: (+972) 9 9590006
> Mobile: 054 4788253
> davids@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:davids@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Visit us at InfoComm, Las Vegas NV
> Booth 2867, June 8-10, 2005
>
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> <http://www.vcon.com> 
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-framers@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-framers@xxxxxxxxx]On Behalf
> Of Martha J Davidson
> Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 10:07 PM
> To: framers@xxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: FrameMaker 2005 Chautauqua -- November 7-9, Raleigh NC USA
>
>
>
> > It still has one of the most odd UI of any of the major applications I
> use
> > on a daily basis
>
> You know, I've been hearing people say this for years, and I still don't
>
> know what they mean. Maybe it's because I've been a Frame user since
> version 1.11b, in early 1986; I don't know. I use lots of other
> applications and I am really curious what people mean when they say that
>
> the Frame UI is "odd," or outdated.
>
> Any takers?
>
> martha, genuinely curious
> --
> Martha Jane {Kolman | Davidson}
> Dances With Words
> editrix@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Too many words bring about exhaustion."
>       --Tao Te Ching, Chapter 5 (translated by Sheets/Tovey)
>
>
>
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