A question for Tech Writers!

[pyat]

I have a question for all the tech writers on my friend's list, or all the folks in software/process documentation, and related fields.

The set-up is this. I've been a tech writer for about 7 years, but I have absolutely no specific training in the field. I have a generic journalism degree. I sort of drifted into tech writer from general corporate writing. I'm finding myself at a loss because I've had almost no exposure to the software tools used for authoring and documentation.

If I were to enroll in some night classes or continuing education, what software training should I be looking for?

Comments

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

FrameMaker can be best learned by buying it (hideously expensive) along with a hard copy of the user guide, and then using it for a serious project. If you're a tutorial oriented person, then a Peachpit book or similar might be useful, but I'm not sure that a class is going to really give you value for money if it's just focussed on using a tool: really, you're better off in the long run to learn how to use writing tools on your own, but doing something with them. The down-side to Frame is, as I said, the hideous cost. However: Adobe does tend to offer decent educational pricing, so Erin might be able to get your household a copy on reasonably steep discount.

I would also comment, though, that Frame's market share is dwindling as more and more houses that have used it in the past are moving on to XML and Content Management Systems and multi-output-format publishing systems.

Robohelp is (I believe) the software of choice for Windows Help, but I'm not sure how much it flies for other online help systems.