RE: Longhorn - Tech writing changes

["technicoid" <technicoid -at- cableone -dot- net>]

chevotilburg -at- postmaster -dot- co -dot- uk quoted:

>But it gets worse. Authoring in MAML XML is very different from authoring
in Word or HTML
>(which have presentation elements). Some authors find it difficult to
adjust to the 
>transition.
>But many authors do fine. This quote sums up UI/UA design for me. "The goal
of the UI >designer is to put the Help author out of a job". This from a
Microsoft Help author and team >leader who I highly respect. You don't need
to document everything."

I guess I would temper Rob's concerns this way: if you've done anything with
structured authoring and automated style-sheet application, you'll probably
do just fine. The difficulty will be with those help authors who've had full
control over presentation and design and aren't wild about giving up that
control. 

I've taken a looksee at MAML, and it's pretty extensive in its scope. Some
of the structures are a little restrictive, but I think they'll become less
so before MAML is released officially. 

I also noticed the comment about MS using XMetal. I had more luck with
XMLSpy, which seems to have better support for XML Schema.

Bill
technicoid -at- cableone -dot- net





^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -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.