Technical Writing Softwares 2

[cuhead]

I have been writing a ton of reports using old fashion MSWord. It gets the job done but I was wondering if there is something that is more efficient for creating technical reports?
Thank you.

 

[danw2]

I find

- repetitive "undo"ing automatic formatting and the inability to turn off automatic formatting.
- difficulties in graphic image placement

inefficient time wasters in MS-Word.

What do you find inefficient in MS-Word?

 

[cuhead]

Exactly what you said and…

I would like an automatic index feature, software that recognizes the outline headings and adjusts the page numbers of the index as the document changes.

A better technical dictionary

If I were to discover all of the features that MSWord offers I could get closer, but who has the time. I have 15 other technical software suites that I must master, EasyPower, Etap, SKM, Accubid, DranView, Flukeware, etc…..

I was hoping that I could cut my report writing time with software that is specifically for technical writing.

 

[redfurry]

danw2 - "automatic index feature, software that recognizes the outline headings and adjusts the page numbers of the index as the document changes"

MS Word already has this functionality and there's a ton of books, training and websites available which will tell you how to use it.

I'm afraid that if you want to do advanced authoring, any technical-specific authoring tools (LaTex related) are going to be MORE difficult to use than MSWord.

You should be able to pick up the features you've asked about in MSWord in 2-3 hours, so it's still probably your best best in terms of time efficiency.

 

[redfurry]

Oh - and any automatic formatting/capitalizing, etc can be turned off in Word.

When I use Word I generally add my electrical terms to the dictionary whenever I run across them (there are usually < 50 electrical specific terms I use frequently) and often turn off auto-capitals, etc.

 

[jghrist]

And there are several MSWord report templates that you can choose from to get styles set up automatically. Start with File New to access templates.

 

[LionelHutz]

I don't know of anything specific for technical writing and certainly any software that is "automatic" like Word would be as much of a pain as Word as it does what you don't want.

I find with Word, even one "wrong" backspace or delete and the formatting of that section gets hosed.

Any writing software will require learning though.

If these reports are long and have lots of different page stypes then something like Adobe Indesign might be a better option. Once you have created your document templates then you should be able to take plain text and end up with a 150 to 200 page formatted document in an afternoon. It'll take some up front learning but I'd believe that once you got the hang of it you'd find it much easier to bang out reports in the future.

I believe Corel Wordperfect still has the ability to see the "codes", which are the tags that define the formatting. Maybe you'd find that easier to work in. Create your styles then you just use the code editing view to make sure the formatting is correct. I used Corel Ventura in the past when I was writing manuals and would write in the code or tag view. Just write the plain text and put the codes in the right spots and you get a formatted document.

 

[DTR2011]

I really do miss WordPerfect. I used to be able to "bang out" 100-200 page docs effortlessly. The ability to see the field codes and very good control over tables, picture placement, etc were a plus.

 

[alehman]

I second smallgreek's comment.

Alan
“The engineer's first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is.” Unk.

 

[ScottyUK]

The most useful option in Word is to disable all the automatic document-mangling 'correction' fucntions. The experience improves once that is done.

WordPerfect? Amipro was far friendlier!


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[PHovnanian]

So, nobody is going to recommend LaTeX?

(Ducking and running).

 

[m68hc11e]

PHovnanian (Electrical)
5 Jul 10 16:32
So, nobody is going to recommend LaTeX?

I do recommend LaTex. It takes a little time to get used to it, but when you do, you will never go back to another writing program.