I just finished my 103-page Studio Manager 7 user manual. With a good piece of software, all it takes is time and elbow grease to get a user manual written. I loved doing it in Pages (1/2 of iWork). It's simple yet deep. Clean. Powerful. Excellent for the task of writing a detailed software manual.
I did the manual for the first time in 2-columns (8-1/2 by 11") and found it really easy to put graphics anywhere I wanted on the page - crossing columns at will having the text wrap logically around my graphics.
By the way, I started with my old version of the manual in Word. Opened right up with styles. An almost transparent move between the two formats.
Two things I couldn't find in Pages that would have helped: (1) outlining and (2) the ability to open a second view of the same document. Both of these two features are very helpful when you have a long document. And their absence was easily forgiven in a 1.0 release.
Overall, it was a great experience. I mentioned Pages recently but wanted to say a bit more about why I think it is the right word processor at the right time.
Considering that Pages is a cheap program ($79 with Keynote 2) and is a 1.0 release that I hadn't used before, one might think it a bad idea to try to use it for something time-critical and important like my user manual project. Here's why I went ahead with it in spite of these concerns:
Word of mouth was quite positive.
Pages is a Cocoa App from Apple. I counted on liking the look and feel.
Apple isn't getting along with Microsoft as well anymore. Apple needs a solid entry in this category so if Microsoft pulls the plug on the Mac version of Office, Macs keep selling.
I don't like and rarely use Microsoft word due to its bulk and complexity. I meet a lot of my needs with Mail, Textedit and Marsedit.
Early reviews of pages emphasized that it leans towards the page layout end of the word processing spectrum which I thought would come in handy in laying out the manual.
Word processing programs, as they've existed traditionally, are becoming obsolete. We don't use Word as a routine communications tool anymore. We are much more likely to email someone or call them. What about non-routine communications? That's where you need something to look good. Enter Pages - the word processor with digital media integration and style!
With all these reasons going for it, I wanted to use my user manual project as an opportunity to learn this new tool. Worked great.
Technorati Tags: Macintosh, iWork, Pages, Studio Manager 7, word processing, Apple