Re: Single Source HTML <-> FRAME

[Craig Sanders <csanders -at- BEST -dot- COM>]

Hi, John!

You seem to have to process right, but you might want to look at Quadralay's
WebWorks Publisher for generating the online material from FrameMaker.
Publisher is, IMHO, the only truly production grade product available for this
kind of work. I've been using it for the past three years (how long has WebLite
been with us?) for projects ranging from a few pages to several thousand pages,
and it has always gotten the job done.

No, it is isn't the perfect product. It is a complex tool (Takes a FrameMaker
book and generates your choice of HTML, HTML with JavaScript, HTML with
JavaScript and frames, DHTML, HTMLHelp, WinHelp (yep, WinHelp), JavaHelp, or
OracleHelp. The online design possibilities are limited only by the boundaries
of the respective formats themselves. However, the design is, to a great
extent, up to John User (you, unfortunately). Because the tool is complex, the
learning curve is accordingly steep and long.

I can say that no other tool (and I have evaluated just about all of them) can
do what Publisher can do, especially the new version 4.0. You can get a 30-day
fully functional eval from www.quadralay.com, and I also understand they are
giving free tech support during the eval period. That's seems like a fair deal
to me.

A short note: the documentation with the current version is not what I would
call great. However, this is being addressed by Quadralay and you should see a
good improvement within 2-3 months.

Hope this helps,
Craig Sanders

John J. Gardiner wrote:

> I have a client who is interested in creating both a platform-independent
> HTML help system and a hard copy user guide. This client wants to single
> source both sets of documentation as much as possible.
>
> I am guessing the process should be:
>
> 1) Using FrameMaker, write/review/edit the hard copy doc
> 2) Using WebWorks Lite, export the doc to HTML
> 3) When making subsequent changes, return to Step 1
>
> I have also heard that Web Help can do these tasks, though it forces me to
> use Word (yuck) and does not address the hard copy side of the equation.
> Any suggestions/tips/criticisms are appreciated.
>
>                John J. Gardiner
>        Technical Documentation and Design
>              www.johngardiner.com
>
>  Online Help  *  User Guides  *  Documentation
>            HTML   *   Graphic Design
>          e-mail: info -at- johngardiner -dot- com
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==

--


"We do not see things as they are...
we see things as we are."
 -Anais Nin

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=