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Subject:switching to CMS/strategy for screenshots needed From:Patryk Korman <patryk -dot- korman -at- native-instruments -dot- de> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:50:39 +0100
Hello everyone,
I'm preparing a content management system and the documentation
processes in our techwrite department for switiching to cm within the
next few weeks. Now altogether this took about a year andâwith great
foresightâI saved the best parts for the end.
So now there's a problem which I'm not quite sure how to address: 90% of
our documentation is software manuals, so there is a lot of screenshots
involved. Screenshots are taken by the authors (external), placed in the
source documents (word/Oo), and sized to fit later on when we shape
documents in the DTP app. Now for the future, there will be no more
manual document design, so the graphics have to arrive at the cms in a
final size. What I could do:
1. Take screenshots on a single computer, find a size that fits the
layout and batch-size all graphics after importing the documents to the
cms (but I can't, since screenshots have to be taken by the authors on
their private computers)
2. Adjust the size in the cms one by one after importing the documents
(no option since PDFs are created dynamically from data base content, so
there'd be no layout context for orientation. Furthermore, I don't want
to do that).
3. Find a way to somehow import the screenshots exactly the same size
they were sized to within the word document.
Now obviously option three would be the most favorable, but I haven't
found an adequate way or tool yet.
If anyone ever came across a similar problem and found a solution, or if
you have any ideas, input is greatly appreciated.
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