Managing cross-platform reliability
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As you may (or may not) be aware, Red Pony runs a Macintosh office. While this makes for an agreeable and elegant technological environment, we often require access to the Microsoft platform so we can be 100 per cent compatible with clients’ office environments.
In the current issue of Macworld magazine, Red Pony Principal Consultant Peter Riches is interviewed about how Red Pony ensures fidelity of document appearance across operating systems.
Not all versions are equal, particularly when it comes to applying styles and formatting to content.
‘A lot of the documentation we do for clients involves setting up an application to work with a variety of users,’ Peter explains. ‘These might, for example, be specific instructions for how to use a piece of machinery. Some clients are using different versions of Word and we’ve found we need to run both a Mac and PC environment to set up templates and formatting correctly—so users can just pick them up and use them properly.’
Another reason to run the Windows version of Word is that it offers functionality not available on the Mac, including support for the plugin PerfectIt!, which Andrew has written about previously.
While our experience shows that the newer versions of Word (2011 for Mac and 2010 for Windows) have fewer problems than their predecessors when switching between platforms, if you need to exchange Word files with other users it’s always a good idea to check how your document will appear in the different environments first.
Read the full article in Macworld magazine.
