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- From: steveh@grafex.cupertino.ca.us (Steve Harding KA6ETB)
- Newsgroups: comp.text.frame
- Subject: Re: Troff vs FrameMaker Productivity
- Message-ID: <ss0BoB5w164w@grafex.cupertino.ca.us>
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 17:27:39 PDT
- References: <HAMM.92Jul22094612@toto.austoto.sps.mot.com>
- Distribution: world
- Organization: The GRAFex Company
- Lines: 42
-
- hamm@austoto.sps.mot.com (Steve Hamm) writes:
- ]...[
-
- > The question, then, is, "How much *less* productive is FrameMaker than
- > troff?" (Or any other markup language, for that matter, for the purpose
- > of producing documentation.)
-
- I have done document design and writing using both. I find that the REALLY
- nice thing about troff is that it is so easy to forget. I did a mental
- core dump in about two days.
-
- ]...[
- > From: npn@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (nils-peter.nelson)
- > Newsgroups: comp.text
- > Subject: Why We Didn't Give You WYSIWYG troff
- > Date: 2 Aug 91 21:34:30 GMT
- > Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
- ]...[
- > But our conclusion for text
- > was: let the software determine the layout, not the
- > author. An intentional result of this is a very
- > consistent document appearance across geographically
- > disparate groups. (Style is not as easy to enforce with
- > WYSIWYG systems.)
-
- Style is not easy to enforce with ANY system. Any writer who thinks he is
- a troff guru can mess with the macros. Trust me, I know.
-
- > I'd enjoy seeing responses, since this is an important
- > issue to all of us. Lest I be misconstrued, there is
- > no doubt that WYSIWYG is more productive for advertising
- > layout, for pictures, and anytime form is more important
- > than content. But for the sort of industrial-strength
- > documentation we do at AT&T, batch markup languages
- > appear to have an advantage.
-
- I fail to see the advantage. The bulk of the work gets done by those who
- are comfortable in their environment. Personally, I am more at home with
- FM. The relearning curve (and the pain) of going back to troff is more
- than I am ready for.
-
- steve
-