Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!higgin
From: higgin@cbmvax.UUCP (Paul Higginbottom)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Tools for writing manuals...
Message-ID: <7271@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jul 89 13:03:02 GMT
References: <8155@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
Reply-To: higgin@cbmvax.UUCP (Paul Higginbottom)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 44

In article <8155@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> jbwaters@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (J. Brian Waters) writes:
$I have recently been asked to write some manuals for some internally used
$software.  They will run about 50-150 pages.  I currenly have WordPerfect
$and some programming editors.  Ideally,  I would be able to use a format that
$could be sent to one of the printers that advertises 'telecommuncations' and
$computer typesetting.
$
$I am looking for suggestions for programs and methods to look into that would
$help produce a 'professional' looking document quickly.
$I would like a program that can help produce index, and table of contents etc.
$-- 
$Brian Waters              <backbone>!{iuvax|pur-ee}!bsu-cs!jbwaters

I do a LOT of writing in my job here at Commodore (training manuals, reference
guides, etc.) and I use a lot of different Amiga tools.  Desktop publishing
packages can do nice fancy layout work, but for relatively normal book style layout
it might be overkill, plus they can be a bit cumbersome for long documents (I consider
50-150 pages long).  A wordprocessor is ok, and offers some nice features that
desktop publishing doesn't (simpler global changes, spell checking, etc.) but
again, for long documents they can get cumbersome.  For example, if you wanted
to change the style of the book, you'd have to do so in each file since
wordprocessors don't usually allow nesting of files.  [An aside -- it's funny,
that feature must not have been popular because it used to be common on word
processing packages for PETs.]

For manuals of that length, I definitely recommend AmigaTeX from Radical Eye Software.
There's a lot to learn, although there is a macro package (LaTeX) that allows you to
make really nice output without having to learn much.  I'm using a macro package called
TeXSIS which seems just right for my needs.

I am not recommending TeX for everything, but for the work that you need to do,
it sounds ideal [yes, I do use it].  Since the input files you send AmigaTeX are
straight ASCII, you can use any editor or wordprocessor you like to prepare the files.

Regarding typeset quality output - AmigaTeX IS a typesetting system, so you would be
saving the money and time required to get the manual typeset by just using the package.
If you really need to you could send the PostScript output from TeX to a Linotronic
typesetting machine, but I think you'll be impressed with regular laser printer output,
especially if the manuals are only for internal use.

I might take some flames over this... but I've used practically every system
there is so I'm armed for replies :-)

	Paul.