Re: Queries on Single Sourcing

Subject: Re: Queries on Single Sourcing
From: Maritza van den Heuvel <MaritzaV -at- stt-global -dot- com>
To: " (TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- RAYCOMM -dot- COM)" <TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 23:00:43 +0200

Kevin dearest wrote:
Well dang it! I'll ask you the same question that I asked
that other fella about his XML (and don't see a reply yet,
but I'll check the spam folder just in case...):
What tools are you using, and what is your work flow?
We hear a lot of lovely verbiage about single-source and
content repositories and all that (and I just spewed some
of it), but what I want is to get a feel for how it is
actually being used by somebody who is actually using
it. Concrete examples with circles and arrows and
sidebars about how this or that procedure or software
fits into the next step... and what you'd do differently,
knowing what you know, now.
High-toned arguements are fine, but as the salespeople
know, what sells is stories. Detailed, "you were there"
stories. What's especially important is that when
you get to the big black box in the middle of your
flow chart that says "and magic happens here"... you
pull aside the cover and explain any magic (i.e., any
places where you had to bridge the gap between commercial
software and desired results... say, with scripts and
macros that you wrote yourself).
Feel free to ignore me. I know you are busy. But if
you do have a moment to enlighten us, I'd be pleased
to hear the true-romance story with names.
Ooo! Ooo! Or write it up for Eric's web site and then
publish the link, here.
Cheers,
/kevin
***
I'll be more than glad to share my experience with everyone in detail - no
frills, no sales talk. Just me telling you what I've learnt. But for now, I
obviously don't have time - let me just get through this weekend, and I'll
do a proper write-up of my situation and why I feel the way I do.

For those of you who're interested, I use AuthorIT, a single-sourcing tool
developed in New Zealand, which has made a strong showing the last few
years. The learning curve is no joke, and if you want to beautify your
output you have to customise templates, and yes, even use macros for Word
output (and VBA isn't one of my strong suits - yet). AuthorIT isn't too hot
on tables, but then again, tables are becoming an endangered species in some
style guides - especially for web output where table-less CSS layout is
becoming all the rage.

Anyway, it's almost 11 pm, my time and I still have some work to do ....
I'll chip in from time to time until I go home (hey, I'm lonely here at the
office!), but don't expect long epistles.
Maritza
www.stt-global.com




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