The project I'm contracting for is moving to Flare this year. I'm with the Tech Writing team, and I apparently will be editing and reviewing the docs in Contributor; I'm also responsible for knowing it enough to troubleshoot for the SMEs. None of us know Flare, and we previously worked in Word on Sharepoint.
My research so far seems to say that Contributor is a bit cranky to use. As a contractor, I can't exactly influence the client to not use Contributor, but I may be able to talk her into letting me learn Flare if it would help. Arguments pro/con working in Contributor without knowing Flare?
Thanks,
Shawn
Do you need to know Flare in order to learn Contributor?
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abaldwin11
- Propeller Head
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:29 pm
- Location: Lebanon, Indiana
Re: Do you need to know Flare in order to learn Contributor?
If you had previous experience with Flare, Contributor would be pretty simple to learn, with that said you don't so you will have about the same learning curve with Flare as you do with Contributor. I don't use Contributor but my coworker does, I use Flare. He was able to figure out Contributor by just testing. You will want to leave some room for getting in there and testing. You have a lot of abilities in Contributor and if the client makes the Contribution Template you can create topics and send them back to them. They will have to accept the changes and even import it into the project but that is always an option. I'm not sure how much they want you to have access to the project so they may not let you have access to Flare. The bad thing with the whole "You work in Flare and I work in Contributor" is that the "Return to Sender" is supported by Outlook and Exchange. We use Lotus Notes so we have to use the external location feature, but I am still able to email him the topics that I need his help on. Just remember all of this is just my opinion, others may think differently about the whole thing. I'm fairly new to all of this so this isn't coming from a Senior Propellus Maximus or anything. I hope this helps you out a little bit.
KathAama wrote:The project I'm contracting for is moving to Flare this year. I'm with the Tech Writing team, and I apparently will be editing and reviewing the docs in Contributor; I'm also responsible for knowing it enough to troubleshoot for the SMEs. None of us know Flare, and we previously worked in Word on Sharepoint.
My research so far seems to say that Contributor is a bit cranky to use. As a contractor, I can't exactly influence the client to not use Contributor, but I may be able to talk her into letting me learn Flare if it would help. Arguments pro/con working in Contributor without knowing Flare?
Thanks,
Shawn
Alex
Oh just try it.... A little pain never hurt anyone.
Oh just try it.... A little pain never hurt anyone.
Re: Do you need to know Flare in order to learn Contributor?
There's a limit to how much you can troubleshoot for your employer. In Contributor, you can only edit topics, not TOC etc.
We are in the process of implementing both Flare and Contributor in my company. In my opinion, Contributor is easier to learn, simply because it has very limited functionality compared to Flare. My collegaues have started writing in Contributor right away with no introduction. But I would recommend reading up, testing, or asking your employer for and introduction in order to benefit from the functions it does have.
We are in the process of implementing both Flare and Contributor in my company. In my opinion, Contributor is easier to learn, simply because it has very limited functionality compared to Flare. My collegaues have started writing in Contributor right away with no introduction. But I would recommend reading up, testing, or asking your employer for and introduction in order to benefit from the functions it does have.