Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Write Your Own Utilities to Automate Writing and Editing Tasks
Presenter: Fred Wersan

Eliassen Group is proud to sponsor the STC November meeting.

A national technology consulting and staffing solutions company, Eliassen Group introduces high quality and committed professionals for project, supplemental and permanent opportunities to premier companies in industry verticals including financial services, bio-pharmaceutical/healthcare, and government. Eliassen is the leading source for today's in-demand specialists in the field of technical communications. Eliassen invests in its people through relationship-building strategies that result in long-term associations and goodwill among candidates and clients.

To learn more about Eliassen Group, please go to www.eliassen.com or contact careers@eliassen.com.

Learn how you can use macro and scripting programs to write utilities that automate common indexing, editing, formatting, and production work processes. You can create scripts and button bars to compensate for the annoyances of your writing tools and handle your unique processes. Use these tools with any of the major commercial word processing and publishing programs.

Fred will:

• Demonstrate home-grown utilities he uses for formatting, indexing, managing structured FrameMaker documents, editing PDF files, and running applications.
• Describe the software used to create the utilities.
• Look at underlying syntax, but not in great detail. (The presentation is not a programming course.)
• Discuss pros and cons of macros versus scripting languages.
• Identify features to look for.
• Encourage participants to think about the tools they would write.

Fred Wersan is the sole writer at MAK Technologies (www.mak.com), responsible for all aspects of product documentation (printed and online manuals, online help, and online class documentation). For Fred, tools to automate the task are vital.

Fred presented at two STC Boston Chapter Interchange Conferences and at the STC 49th Annual Conference. His article "Do-It-Yourself Single Sourcing" was published in the July/Aug 2003 issue of Intercom.

5:45 - 9:00 PM - Dinner meeting
(6:45 - Dinner, 7:30 - Presentation)

Hilton Garden Inn
5 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803
Phone: 781-272-8800
Map and Directions

Payment received by November 11:
     $25 for STC Boston and Northern New England chapter members
     $15 for full-time registered students*
     $35 for other STC members and non-members

Payment received after November 11 (space permitting):
     $35 for STC Boston and Northern New England chapter members
     $25 for full-time registered students*
     $45 for other STC members and non-members

* Student ID from an accredited college is required and must be shown at the registration desk prior to admittance.

Cancellations must be made by November 11 to receive a refund.

Registration and Payment Instructions

Contact Cindy Cookson, Accountant for the Boston Chapter, by e-mail or phone at 978-409-6112.