OEM customers/Great book recommendation

[Alexia Prendergast <alexiap -at- SEAGATESOFTWARE -dot- COM>]

2 topics for the price of one -- the first is on-topic and the second is
not (but
I'm sneaking it in under my PS at the bottom of this message).

First, the real, on-topic topic:

How can I make life for my OEM customers easier? Here's the situation:
I write my online docs (Frame/PDF) and help (WinHelp). Then, when we
send the final files out to be burned onto CDs, we also send the source
files to our OEM customers (per contract) so they can customize the
content to suit their products.

In Frame, I use global variables, strict adherence to template styles
and
style/usage guide, conditional text, and text insets to make their
customization
efforts easier. (Examples: They redefine the global variable "product
name"
with the name of their product instead of ours and apply the new
variables to
all the files so they don't have to do exhaustive, multi-file, searching
and replacing.
They automate the mapping of our styles to their styles and don't have
to worry
about writers overriding styles. They turn off conditional text that
doesn't apply
to them. They swap out the text insets that don't apply for ones that
do. And so on.)

For help, there really isn't anything they can do other than search and
replace
and edit as needed. At least that I can think of for now.

Any ideas for additional things I can do to help them out? (I'm not so
noble -- what
helps them out helps me out, ultimately, as well. ;-)

Thanks,
A.

PS. Now for my off-topic, topic: I read a *great* book by Louis Sass
called _Madness
and Modernism: Insanity in the Light of Modern Art, Literature, and
Thought_. One of
the most fascinating books I've read in ages. I was so impressed that I
had to go to
http://www.amazon.com and write a "thumbs-up" review. If you are
interested in
identity, modern culture and thought, and schizophrenia and related
disorders, read
this book.

--
Alexia Prendergast
Senior Technical Writer
Seagate Software
mailto:alexiap -at- sems -dot- com

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