RE: RoboHelp for FM in the real world

["T. Word Smith" <techwordsmith -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Np.

--- Rene Stephenson <rinnie1 -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> Hi! Sean, THANK YOU for your valuable insight!! I
> have
> a couple of follow-up q's for ya:

Up-front, I've been using WWP a long time, so am a
fan. I tried RHFM 1.0--I need to get back and try the
1.1 update, but RHFM 1.0 was a good first effort, but
really slow.

WWP 2003, which is older than RHFM 1.0, is easy to
use, has the same learning curve as RHFM, has more
output options (like HLP), and is a tonne faster
(again, I gotta test 1.1).


> I tried that route, but the DOC file from RHO
> doesn't 
> include any of the popup topics (and there are
> tons). 
> It also blew away all cross-references. LOTS of
> rework.

When I did it, my Xrefs were preserved. But, yes, a
significant task.
> 
> > 2) Convert your HLP project HPJ to a RoboHTML MPJ
> and
> > use Quadralay's (www.webworks.com) to convert the
> MPJ
> > to MIF which you can open and work on in
> FrameMaker.
> 
> I have an old copy of WWP Pro (V6.0), but I'm not
> sure if 
> it will work in WinXP well enough to run a test
> case. 

The WebWorks Import Utility is a different tool.

WWP 7.0 was a huge change over WWP 6, and WWP 2003
(version 8, the latest) is a huge change over WWP 7.
If you have WWP 6, you will be very pleased with WWP
2003.

> If
> I can get the MPJ to WDP or WFP without losing much,
> I know
> I can import the WDP or WFP to RHFM without having
> to go
> down to the MIF level. Maybe that's a viable
> migration
> path. (Funny, I've used WWP for publishing to HTML,
> etc.,
> but never considered it for HLP, etc.)

Yes. I can't speak for this process, though, because
I've only tried it a few times, it's not something
I've done a lot of. I recommend giving it a go,
though.

> "c-s" = context sensitive, meaning the flags for the
> map 
> IDs, right?

Right.

> 
> > In the long term, yes, very much so ... or go to
> > WebWorks Publisher (my preference). 
> 
> Do you prefer WWP over RHFM bc WWP is more of an
> authoring environment, or is it a user interface
> thing, or features, or what? Do tell.... :-)

Neither is an authoring environment.

1) RHFM is a lot like WWP, it uses many, many of the
same things.

2) They have equal learning curves.

3) When I tested RHFM 1.0 (I gotta test 1.1), on my
projects WWP was 3x quicker; that's a big deal.

4) RHFM brings nothing new to the table ... it handles
breadcrumbs better than WWP 2003 and it lets you
output multiple kinds of help per project, which WWP
doesn't do, but I find that kinda useless--I create
several kinds of help, but each project really only
needs and gets one kind.

5) WWP handles more output formats.

6) WWP is mature. RHFM is a version 1
product--granted, it looks decent for a version 1
product, but I want to see what it looks like after it
has some miles on it.

HTH!



=====
T.

"Money makes the world go 'round is an incomplete statement; money is the fuel, and stupidity is the short bus that burns it." (Bill Swallow-02/04)


	
		
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