process for online help AND FrameMaker sourcing?

Subject: process for online help AND FrameMaker sourcing?
From: Melissa Clark <MClark -at- luminous -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 10:39:15 -0700


Hi all,
I am writing because I am in the midst of working on both hard copy
documentation (sourced in FrameMaker 6.0) and JavaHelp online help (sourced
in RoboHelp but content comes from 2 of the hard copy documentation books).


The process for doing this conversion we have right now is not really a
process at all... Our conversion consists of hiding all of the figures and
references to figures using OnlineHelp conditional text, then either saving
as HTML or just copying and pasting the text over into RoboHelp. Over time,
when changes are made in the hard copy book that affect online help, it
becomes quite difficult to track the changes. Right now, we track changes
once the conversion has been done by printing out the affected page and
highlighting the affected area. (Don't laugh!)

I am curious as to what all of you do to convert and maintain online help,
especially when you have an online help delivery that has to occur before a
hard copy documentation delivery. We are also interested in any suggestions
(for either prior to conversion or after conversion) that could ease this
process.

(I realize that we might be venturing down the single-sourcing road, but we
are a small company and maintaining a database (or other similar single
sourcing mechanism) *may* not be best for us if it requires high
maintenance.)

Please respond to me directly since I am subscribed to digest mode.

Thanks,
Melissa Clark

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