RE: Single-sourcing tool

[Veronica Kütt <veronica -at- front-runner -dot- com>]

Hi Elizabeth,

I agree with Sharon when she says that Structured FrameMaker and WebWorks is
the way to go. When you say, "The level of documentation complexity is
increasing exponentially" I would also add DITA into the mix. 

Here's what our instructor, Alan, has to say about DITA:

"DITA is an architecture for authoring, managing, and publishing technical
documentation. DITA was designed by IBM in response to today's increasing
business demands on technical publishing -- including single-source
publishing to multiple audiences and multiple output formats, ease of
localization, and ease of content management.
DITA combines several documentation best practices, including topic-oriented
and minimalist writing. DITA provides task, concept, and reference
information types, and can be customized to support your own business
requirements.
IBM has donated DITA to the open standards community, where it is now being
deployed by companies of all sizes that need to meet today's increasingly
complex publishing requirements. This course is appropriate for
organizations that are considering DITA, and will also provide "best
practice" information that can be used in any publishing workflow".

There is a learning-curve, but it's not very "long", to learn Structured
FrameMaker and DITA. As Front Runner specializes in Structured FrameMaker,
WebWorks and DITA training, our trainers are industry specialists who know
the products inside and out. 

I was also going to mention ABCM plug-in for conditional text in Structured
FrameMaker http://www.weststreetconsulting.com/WSC_ABCM.htm.

Keeping in mind that all Front Runner courses are customizable and on
demand, here is a list of upcoming public courses you may want to consider:

DITA - February 7-9, 2007
FrameMaker: Authoring Structured Documents - February 12-13, 2007
FrameMaker: EDD Development - February 14-16, 2007 WebWorks ePublisher Pro -
Pittsburgh Dates: January 22-23, 2007 Toronto
Dates: March 29-30, 2007

I would be happy to discuss this further with you.

Sincerely,
 
Veronica Kütt
President
Front Runner Training
A Division of Front Runner Publishing Solutions Inc.
"Learn what you wish you'd known yesterday!"®

416-515-0155 or Toll Free 1-877-999-0155 veronica -at- front-runner -dot- com

Front Runner
21 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 402
Toronto, ON  M4T 1L8
 
Call Toll free: 1-877-999-0155

Front Runner Training is a WebWorks University - Certified Affiliate! We
offer certified WebWorks ePublisher Pro training. We are an authorized
Quadralay software reseller.

All Front Runner Training courses are customizable and on demand.
 



-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+veronica=front-runner -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+veronica=front-runner -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of elizabeth j allen
Sent: January 5, 2007 10:15 AM
To: Robert_Johnson -at- percussion -dot- com
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Single-sourcing tool

Hi Robert,

I'll do my best to explain, but I'm one of the LaTeX newbies, so try and cut
me some slack please! (Not to mention that I can't divulge trade secrets, so
all you get is generic info--sorry!)

We are writing documentation for related chips--much of the information is
the same for all of the products in the family, but it also overlaps in
weird ways.

\ifthenelse(A + (\not B + \not C))(true_statement)(false_statement)
is what we use in LaTeX to help sort out the conditions

For example, Chip A is exactly the same as chip B, except that chip B has
certain functions removed. Chip C is also based on Chip A, but has some
things removed and others added. There are also chips D, E, and F in the
pipeline, all based on chip A, but their functionality has not yet been
completely defined and tends to change from time to time. *But* because
these chips are all based on A, the A condition = true for all of them.

That's because we also have chip families I, II, III; and a, b, c; and i,
ii, iii. And they all have documentation, much of which is common to all the
families.

Different customers get different chips, thus different capabilities, along
with different price points. You can see why we can't let info slip through
the cracks.

This is why Framemaker, with its simple OR conditional, can't do what we
need it to do. And why I need help finding a tool that can.

Thanks!

Elizabeth
--
Elizabeth J. Allen
Technical Writer
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein


Robert_Johnson -at- percussion -dot- com said:
> Elizabeth,
>
> Why are the conditionals used, and how?  I have an idea in mind 
> (actually a set of ideas), but I'm not sure how practical it is until 
> I understand what's going on with conditionals.
>
> Bob Johnson
> Principal Writer
> Percussion Software
> Woburn, MA


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