Re: Print vs Online versions of same manual

[k k <turnleftatnowhere -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Greg Stenhouse <greg -dot- stenhouse -at- tait -dot- co -dot- nz> wrote:
> 
> Hi David
> 
> What you are proposing with Frame's conditional text
> and WWP is very common.
> Search the archives for "single-source", which will
> bring up lots of
> discussions for and against. In a nutshell (and this
> a very small and
> overly-simplified nut):
> * For: update the source only once, yet the press of
> a button means multiple
> deliverables like magic! Less work for you in the
> long term, and management
> will love you.
> * Against: you can never really do 100% justice to
> all deliverables (there
> is usually compromise to some extent).
> 

I say go with the "For" argument regardless. Having
been stuck with several projects where I have to
manually update many different Word files whenever the
product is changed, I'd give much to be able to have
one set of keystrokes update all files at once.

I think this "against" statement is not entirely
accurate. The times that I used FrameMaker and WWP, it
was my experience that you can set things up so that
both the print manuals and the online help come out
exactly the way you want them. 

The catch is, getting what you *really* want using a
single-source method takes a lot more work than making
compromises. It requires a lot of thought on things
like how the organization of a help system differs
from the print version organization. Then you have to
make sure the FM source files include everthing needed
to make it possible to boil down different versions.
That extra time on the setup end may not be worthwhile.

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