For both the Corel Ventura and the FrameMaker desktop publishing packages, this book is an extended user’s manual, whether the user specializes in software development, engineering, quality assurance, or technical writing. Anyone writing any kind of software manual should read it. The author is especially authoritative regarding FrameMaker; here his experience is combined with real conviction, as he is on Frame Technology’s advisory board.

If you have not yet been using desktop publishing software for manual production, this book is still useful, up to chapter2. If you have decided to procure either Corel Ventura version 5 or 6 or FrameMaker version 5, proceed to chapter 3 and onwards.

The book’s seven chapters and one short appendix can be divided into three broad parts. Chapters 1 and 2 highlight the role and importance of documentation management; discuss the process, tasks, and tools of documentation work; and provide style guidelines. No reference is made to any specific desktop publishing software. These two chapters provide guidance to good manual writing, even for those with little or no desktop publishing experience. The “Top 10 Guidelines” (11, actually) in chapter 1 are an excellent initiation for novice writers.

Chapters 3 through 7 lead the reader through the creation of a user manual in a Windows-based desktop publishing environment, using FrameMaker and Corel Ventura, from page layout fundamentals to the final book. Many practical tips are given along the way for using these desktop publishing programs effectively.

The appendix gives source references for desktop publishing software, tools, and applications, some books and periodicals, and some hardware accessories. Six books (including one of the author’s own) are referenced; more could have been included, such as the useful Writing user documentation [1]. An index is provided.

An appealing presentation style used throughout the book (illustrating a method mentioned in chapter 2) is “Using Sideheads for Notes.” These “sideheads” themselves provide informative and interesting reading, albeit at a different level.

The author briefly mentions the “emergence of the electronic book combining documentation, training, and multimedia technologies,” and concludes that in “the near future,” we will be able “to view and to ultimately purchase publications over on-line services such as the Internet.” Since that “near future” is already here, the book’s next edition will have to be updated, and might be released online.