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RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
Subject:RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks) From:"Steve Arrants" <steve_arrants -at- sonic -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Jun 2001 10:44:14 -0700
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-63935 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-63935 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of Andrew
Plato
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 10:23 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: VGilliotte -at- MEGA -dot- com
Subject: Re: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
>I think most single-sourcing projects are undertaken because the writers
want
>something else to do than write.
In my experience, it is driven by 'the word from above' to reduce
localization and other costs. Some managers hear the words "single-sourcing"
and think that it will make for cheaper, quicker documentation.
I have never, in over 14 years, worked on a single-source project that
didn't shift costs or work to another part of the project. Whether it was
training or learning new procedures or tools, or having to retranslate at a
different stage or schedule in a "clean-up" period near the end of a
project, single-sourcing is not nirvana.
>The fact is, single-source is very difficult
>to do correctly and often does not work in the
>utopian ways the articles tell you.
And even when it does work, it isn't the greatest thing since bread was
sliced. I haven't seen much single-sourced documentation that I thought was
successful. Often, it was the print manuals online without consideration for
how people use things online (hint: a PDF of a print manual without "search"
and without hypertext references isn't very usable).
Single sourcing is the Holy Grail of technical communication. But most
writers don't know the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.
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