RE: Single-Sourcing with FrameMaker: How do I do it? (long)

["Keith Soltys" <keith -at- soltys -dot- ca>]

>
> I originally responded privately to a private query, but see another query
> on the list as to "how do I do it"?
>
> There are three different techniques I use for single-sourcing:
>
> (1) Conditional text.<snip>
>
> (2) Multiple book files <snip>
>
> (3) Text insets. <snip>

</snip>
>
> There is only so much re-purposing you can do with FrameMaker before a
> database-driven solution become more appropriate - or cut/paste starts
> looking attractive for certain variants.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Michele Marques, Technical Writer
> AUTROS Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
> marquesm -at- autros -dot- com <mailto:marquesm -at- autros -dot- com>

Good points, especially the limitations of conditional text in FrameMaker,
which caused me no end of grief in my last job when I had to deal with 4
sets of overlapping conditionals. I do wish Adobe would fix this so it works
the way everybody in the world (except Adobe) figures it should work --
i.e., AND for overlaps, not ORs.
>

I have an article, "The Joy of Single-sourcing" by Hedley Finger, up on my
web site that covers some of the same ground. The direct URL is
http://www.soltys.ca/techcomm/articles/the_joy_of_single-sourcing.html

Another related article is "X Marks the Spot" by Michael Skeet, in which he
discussed an XML-based single-sourcing system (using mostly open-source
tools). I've seen this in action and it is truly impressive, but this
approach is not for the faint-hearted. See
http://www.soltys.ca/techcomm/articles/X_Marks_the_Spot.htm

Regards
Keith


 --
Keith Soltys
keith -at- soltys -dot- ca
Host of "Internet Resources for Technical Communicators" since 1994
Now at http://www.soltys.ca/techcomm.html




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