[Sigia-l] multidoctype publishing: from Visio and Word: sugg estions?

[robert.dornbush at ps.ge.com]

Ziya Asked "How come folks don't use layout programs like QuarkXPress or
inDesign to
handle disparate vector/raster formats (not Visio, of course) with PDF, XML,
TOC, indexing, page numbering, robust printing, etc., functionalities?"

to which I say, I used to use Quark for sitemap and especially
wireframes...it's much better than Visio for handling text box creation,
layout, & text formatting.  The problem arises in sharing the document with
others [who often want to send back a redlined, edited version]...I still
save alternate copies in PDF...so don't even throw that in the mix [it's low
file size and lack of edit ability are often advantageous].

I tried InDesign for a while, but never spent enough time with it to get
over wanting it to behave more like Quark...it's probably a better tool for
going directly from documentation to electronic Prototype...but I just
didn't get into it.

and then my final input to this discussion is "Why do you folks import gifs
into Word when the MS OS Native / Word Preferable format is (gasp!) BMP"
...I just include Visio in word as "Paste Special: enhanced metafile"...but
if I need to include screenshots of existing stuff to be enhanced or
redesigned...I alt printscreen, paste into photoshop, convert to black &
white, reduce to 8, 6, 0r 4 bit color, and then save as BMP to put those b/w
screenshots into Visio.  It keeps the file size of bitmaps down, but still
allows for the option of not having to "draw" Visio mock-ups of screens that
already exist on-line.

Call me crazy,
Robert

robert.dornbush at ps.ge.com