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RE: Question - Epic Editor Any one using it ? Pro and cons other warnings
Subject:RE: Question - Epic Editor Any one using it ? Pro and cons other warnings From:"Nagai, Paul" <pnagai -at- inovant -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 26 Jul 2004 09:25:21 -0700
> I am starting a new gig Monday and have just been informed (by the
> developers) that the part of the applications help I will be working
> (updating and New content) on was previous done with Epic Editor
> (googled - states it is a XML editor ?) and then "converted to"
> Framemaker. At the moment I don't have much to go on but would
> like to be prepared at least with the basic.
> Is there any one out using Epic Editor?
> How easy is it to learn and use?
> Any tips and advise?
Epic Editor is an XML (and SGML) editor. Epic itself isn't difficult to learn, but how quickly you become proficient within a given application will depend, as someone else mentioned, on documentation/training/available experts who can explain how they intend Epic, their DTD, their stylesheet(s), etc. to be used. Or, absent that sort of support, how long it will take you to hack around with those components and figure it out yourself. Not a whole lot different from figuring out someone else's Frame templates.
If you're unfamiliar with DTDs and how they control what elements (think Frame tags) are permitted in each context (the "structure" in structured documentation), grokking this will be a much bigger challenge than getting a grip on the editor, Epic or something else.
That said, it sounds like you may be working within structured Frame, so at least the tool will be familiar. You'll still have to learn how the elements relate to each other, how they relate to any external applications (will your files be post-processed, outputting something input into a compiled help system, for example?), etc. If it's not structured Frame, then you'll have to learn all this and then "agree" to follow the rules rather than have them enforced.
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