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I think this can be done, but the remaining revisions would best be done
in FrameMaker. The question is, do your authors have or want FrameMaker?
If they create the first drafts in Word, then you need to provide them
with templates that easily convert to Maker. It can be done, but you
need to use care in your design and use of the templates. Then a
production person can convert the drafts to FrameMaker.
For subsequent drafts, I believe it would be difficult to establish a
workflow that is easy and inexpensive where the authors could extract
the copy, edit it, and then the production people can pour it back into
FrameMaker. That model is more akin to PageMaker, Quark, or InDesign.
FrameMaker is best used *within* FrameMaker - that is, once you're in
FrameMaker it's best to stay there. Maintaining all cross-references,
tables, and many other things is just too complicated if you want to
easily and often switch in and out of FrameMaker (my opinion... That's
not to say an enterprising sould can't develop a reasonable solution).
Unless of course, you are interested in XML or SGML. But then you're
talking about cost...
If the authors have FrameMaker, then you can develop an environment that
minimizes what they need to know about the product. You can design
templates that are straight-forward to use. You can create custom menus
that hide unnecessary features. You can go so far as to develop plugins
that make their tasks easier. I urge you to consider that for an
author, using FrameMaker isn't all that difficult. It's the design and
template setup that's complicated. But that's because a good template
can do so much for you.
The final PDF production should not be a problem. Again, you can set up
your template book so that you generate the PDF consistently every time.
The workflow should be as follows:
Authors: write the book using MS Word (or directly Framemaker), using a
template and styles prepared by the publisher;
his work (or their works) should be passed to Framemaker and the creative
do
the impagination;
the Authors, now, should have the possibility of modifing the text in a
simple way (trough an interface as that of InCopy);
at the end, we generate a PDF file that we send to provider of printing
supplies.
Is it possible such a solution? Is there a product that make this?
--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es
