From PRD to Instant Text
From PRD to Instant Text Over the years I have learned a lot from PRD users. And your post, Sharon, reminds me of a very well organized PRD list we converted into an Instant Text glossary with the goal to make the transition as smooth as possible. I thought that as you had spent so much time to create and organize a list of abbreviations, what you needed was a glossary with all these entries, at least as well organized :) As you say: "I knew those entries well because I had systematically organized them in a way that allowed me to remember quickly." Most of the 8000 entries were imported with a few clicks, and I remember the remaining abbreviations /xxx *xxx +xxx and others like r/w or q-t that required some fine-tuning so it would fit into the IT way of abbreviating. We wanted to do it in a systematic way so that even though the rules changed somewhat, there was an easy way of memorizing them. That was, of course, at a time where you had not yet experienced the possibility of having the same abbreviation for different phrases and the advantage of having the visual feedback :) What I know for myself and have learned from PRD users is that change is awfully hard, and a well thought-out list is not something you want to discard. How many hours went into each of these lists? Even though new technology offers new possibilities and Instant Text offers new and unique technology, the important goal we tried to achieve is making the best of all worlds. The wishlist of PRD users was long. I am usually getting the phone calls :) I tried to forward them all, and I think with Version 3.5 and especially now with Version V, we made IT so flexible that you can use IT just the way you think is best for you. As you say, Sharon, it is possible to survive the change from WP5.1 to MSWord, and not only did you survive the change from PRD to Instant Text, you came to love IT and use IT not just the PRD way, but I wait to read the next post ... Thank you for your kind words about our tech support :) Marianne
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