TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
-----Original Message-----
From: Norman, Mary
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 2:30 PM
Subject: Translations Costs with Online Help
> Does anyone have some good suggestions and/or best practices
>for using existing tools like RoboHelp to keep the translations costs
>down to a minimum?
Can you move your projects to HTML based help? Then you could use some
rather simple Java scripting (ala http://www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/jsintro1/js_begin1.html) to
create variables for things product names, model numbers, etc., and use
the same base translated text for projects that fall under the same
"family" of products. Also, with topics broken down in to individual
HTML files, you can get away with sending just the files with changes to
translation, so even if you have to pay for matches in with your
translation memory, you have less to deal with.
I worked on a family of products where we basically had a high end
version, a middle of the road version and a "budget" version, and we
only had the pain of translating the bulk of the files once, and then
just swapped out pictures, changed the variables and just removed some
pages as we went from doing the docs for the high end products to the
budget versions. While we did have to go back and do some editing on
other languages for each product, there was also the benefit of the time
we weren't just sitting around, waiting for translations to come back.
- V
**This transmission may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the information contained herein (including any reliance thereon) is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you received this transmission in error, please immediately contact the sender and destroy the material in its entirety, whether in electronic or hard copy format. Thank you.**
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
