Re: Real value (was implementing single-source) - demonstrated!

["Tim Altom" <taltom -at- simplywritten -dot- com>]

It actually sounds as if your single source system was horribly mismanaged,
Glenn. There is no reason, for example, that a well-designed system starts
with Frame, goes to SGML, then to XML, then to HTML. The idea with
single-source is that you maintain the file in ONE location and just OUTPUT
to the others, with the click of a button, ideally. Companies both large and
small are successfully keeping documentation this way, but the good ones
were well-designed from the start. As an analogy, a car that breaks down
repeatedly doesn't necessarily make you think "all cars are crap", but that
"this particular car is unreliable". The system you describe sounds like it
was either incorrectly designed or only partially implemented. A partly-done
single-source project is about as sound as a partly-assembled jumbo jet.

Now, single-source does impose something most writers and managers find hard
to accept: discipline. To produce reliable output, you must have reliable
input, and that means defined and predictable structure. No more novelists
and poets writing tech doc. No more rushing about and crying out "can't we
just stick this in somewhere?" Single-source makes flesh of
"GIGO"..."garbage in, garbage out". If you want to write things on the fly,
changing your mind about your structure as you go, single-source won't work.
We accept such limitations in innumerable databases we use every day; why
not accept them as a working paradigm, too? This isn't "monkeys that punch
keys". Rather, it's an agreed-upon and workable structure that, like a river
bank, brings order to fluidity.

And yes, it's not only possible but feasible to put multimedia on CDs or the
Web using XML. Single-source accommodates such materials, too. And while
it's better from a quality standpoint to redesign anew for each medium, it's
just not financially workable to do that. With budgets being limited at the
best of times, either one medium becomes the favored child, or all media are
short-changed. No company can put out marvelous WBT, CBT, print, and help
files. No company can afford to.


Tim Altom
Simply Written, Inc.
Featuring FrameMaker and the Clustar(TM) System
"Better communication is a service to mankind."
317.562.9298
Check our Web site for the upcoming Clustar class info
http://www.simplywritten.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Glenn Emerson <gemerso1 -at- rochester -dot- rr -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 12:02 PM
Subject: RE: Real value (was implementing single-source) - demonstrated!


> Amen, Andrew!
>
> The value of these systems is that they let IT & IM types design and build
> the systems of their dreams. They also feed this misguided management
notion
> that good analysts/writers can be replaced with monkeys that punch keys
> because all the intelligence is in the authoring/publishing system. We've
> tried to implement one for years, and the costs of developing it have far
> outweighed any savings from reuse of the text. Furthermore, it has added
so
> many steps to the publishing process that we have to stop content
> development months ahead of product launch. There has to be a team to
> convert Frame to SGML, then convert the SGML to XML, then convert the XML
to
> HTML files. Then this has to be packaged on a CD. Then the CD has to be
> tested. We've cut down on duplication of content, but we've added 15 odd
> programmers and specialists to maintain the system, a handful of people to
> manage the conversion process, a team for the testing and approval
> process....
>



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY.
http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.

Sponsored by SOLUTIONS, Conferences and Seminars for Communicators 
Publications Management Clinic, TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, and more 
http://www.SolutionsEvents.com or 800-448-4230

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.