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Subject:RE: How do you manage changes to names From:"Zagorac, Mladen" <Mladen -dot- Zagorac -at- lionbridge -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:56:32 -0400
How do you make product change smoother? Depending on the age of the product and amount of written and graphic material containing the product name.
I've worked as a technical writer in a company where the management for some reason decided we needed a new name. What did the documentation department do? We search-replaced all the old name instances with new ones. But then again, that was in 2000 and almost all was in manually written HTML. Screenshots were taken anew, graphics manually changed, etc. All in all it took us a while (can't remember exactly how long) and then again half a year down the road we still found some tiny image somewhere where the old name was still lingering.
I have no idea how the marketing department handled the transition.
What would I have suggested if I were to find myself in a similar situation these days? Probably same old search-replace as product names don't change often and obsolete documents don't need to be touched. But in the more efficient world of XML, I'd give the product name a special treatment. Just in case it happens again.
Mladen
________________________________
Mladen Zagorac
Technical writer
________________________________________
From: techwr-l-bounces+mladen -dot- zagorac=lionbridge -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [techwr-l-bounces+mladen -dot- zagorac=lionbridge -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Daniel Ng [kjng -at- gprotechnologies -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 11:34 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: How do you manage changes to names
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When product names change, it affects various things from marketing
collateral, user guides source, guide, help systems, file names, setup
routines, labels, procedures, screenshots.
What do you do to make it go down a lot smoother?
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Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
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