Three Different Documents - InDesign, Framemaker, or Both?
BobS71 Mar 4, 2010 6:59 AMFolks,
I really need some advice on a publishing tool decision my department needs to make.
We produce a combination of document styles that seem to cry out for different publishing tools. They are:
1. One-page Quick Start Guide: Contains installation/connection information for telephony/cable modems using mostly grahpics, very few words. Printed output, goes in box with product to end user.
2. 50- to 80-page User Guides: Contains installation, operation, setup, configuration information for same product. Lots of text and some associated graphics, illustrations, and screen captures. Not printed. Provided to end user on CD as PDF file, intended to be viewed on screen.
3. Firmware Manuals: Typically 500- to 1000-page documents. Contain tons of technical information, mostly text, but many associated items like system diagrams, flow diagrams, logic diagrams, MIBs, etc. Not an end user document.
We are currently using a page layout publishing tool (Quark) for producing the first two documents. A page layout program seems to be the proper publishing tool for these documents.
The long firmware manuals are being produced in an old proprietary Unix-based publishing tool which MUST be replaced for obvious reasons. These manuals are constantly being revised/added to, and also have to be produced in slightly different versions for different customers requiring the use of conditional text.
The Question is this:
We'd like to standardize on one publishing tool. Can we produce all three of these documents effectively in InDesign?
I think the first two document types will work quite nicely in InDesign. My concern is the huge firmware manuals. These are constantly in revision and changes/additions need to be made on a regular basis and quickly. My experience with using page-layout programs is that they are not terribly happy about having additional text added anywhere in the document without much extra effort to keep things where they belong. We need to be able to add a paragraph of text in the middle of these firmware manuals and have the rest of the entire document flow as necessary without much, if any, extra effort.
I'm thinking that the firmware manuals need to be done in Framemaker. I've used Frame before for long technical manuals, and it seems much more suited to that task than a page layout program.
Any and all ideas and experience on this issue would be appreciated. We need to make a decision and get on with the task.
Thanks,
Bob



