Re: Seapine Surround for User Documentation Source Control

[cjcbrown -at- comcast -dot- net]

Hi Sylvia, 



We are a software company delivering product documentation in PDF, webhelp, and html. 

Most of our source files are in Framemaker and the help is being moved to Flare. 



We have available to us the software version control system and SharePoint also. 



As to official version control, we made the decision long ago not to use version control on Frame files. 

As someone has mentioned, the space needs for diffs are huge and the ROI for tool and processÂtime and cost was not there we thought. 

We use simple saves and backupÂto the network file system and for 15 years this has been sufficient for all needs 

including the occasional fire drill with restoring earlier versions. But, we do not have much context sensitive help, 

that might make a difference. 



If, for something like ISO compliance, we needed to do version control on document source files, 

I would do text version of the sources, like XML from Flare or MIF for clunky old Frame. 

I would test first to see if I could save as text files, check in, then check out and recreate the project. 

Basically as little as possible to meet source code requirements. 

And then there is the whole issue of doing diffs on 100+ PNG screen shots... per release. 



We use SharePoint as a repository for finishedÂdeliverables stored item by item. 

Way too clunky as check-in and check-out for multiple files 

at least how we see it here; maybe your site has figured out a way to handle mass quantities of filesÂeasier. 



We want to keep it simple. 

Multiple repositories and processes for writer deliverables can really suck the time away from content. 



Connie 




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "SB" <sylvia -dot- braunstein -at- gmail -dot- com> 
To: "TECHWR-L Whirlers" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, "Techshoret" <techshoret -at- yahoogroups -dot- com> 
Sent: Sunday, May 9, 2010 12:03:05 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Seapine Surround for User Documentation Source Control 

Hi, 

I am working for a software company. I would like to organized the 
documentation and maintain it in a source control tool. We have both Seapine 
Surround and Microsoft SharePoint. 

Part of our documentation is maintained in MS Word, the other part is 
maintained in Author-it with Word and PDF as outputs. At some point, we will 
also have HTMLs. 

R&D wants the product documentation in Surround under the same tree as the 
code, per version. This allows them to take snapshots. I have no problem 
with that but I would like my PDFs and HTMLs together with my final (GA) 
release but they do not want outputs in there, claiming that the release is 
a different process, which means that I will have to store the PDFs and 
HTMLs elsewhere. 

They also want the rest of the company documentation (for example special 
projects) to be maintained in another system (SharePoint) since it is not 
product-related. 
I was hoping to centralize all the documentation but I see that this is 
getting very complicated. 

I would like to know if any of you has used Seapine Surround for source 
control. I am just wondering if Surround is the right tool for documentation 
maintenance. 
I also wonder how software companies are managing their documentation. 

Your feedback is much appreciated, 

Many thanks, 

Sylvia 
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Use Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word, or HTML and 
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Use Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word, or HTML and 
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and Doc-To-Help does the rest. Free trial: http://www.doctohelp.com


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