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.
We use Flare to do exactly what you describe. We have both PDF and context-sensitive online help. It is critical to get the dev team informed and cooperating from the beginning so they can be sure to include the appropriate help links.
We output to one help system and create individual as well as a combined version of the manual in PDF.
~Deb
On Jan 11, 2013, at 8:25 AM, Sarah Blake <sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com> wrote:
> ...this has got to be a solved problem by now, right?
>
> I've just moved to a new gig, and they have a product setup where the 'product' is the platform, plus a number of optional and mutually independent modules that are 'switched on' according to the license.
>
> I don't want to confuse the users with documentation for modules they don't have access to, and I don't want to have to manually generate tailored documentation for every sale. Has anyone successfully used other options?
>
> (Yes, I know I asked this same question like six years ago. I didn't manage to figure out a good, scalable solution then either)
>
> Sarah Blake
> Technical Writer
> Arieso Ltd
> Office +44 (0) 1635 232470 | Fax +44 (0) 1635 232471 |
> Email sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com<mailto:sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com> | Web www.arieso.com<http://www.arieso.com/> |
>
> Have you signed up<http://blog.arieso.com/sign-up/> to receive the Arieso blog yet? See articles on 'iPhone 5', 'LTE-A', even 'the Mars Curiosity rover'. Please visit blog.arieso.com<http://blog.arieso.com/>
> Arieso Ltd, Astor House, Newbury Business Park, London Road, Newbury, RG14 2PZ, United Kingdom.
> Registered in England No. 04515167, VAT Registration No: 784 1794 87
>
> Arieso Inc, 3495 Piedmont Rd, Bldg 11 Suite 550, Atlanta, GA 30305, USA.
>
> This message and its attachments are confidential and are intended for the use of the individual(s) named above. If you have received this email in error, you are not authorised to make any use of it - the unauthorised use, disclosure or copying of the email or its contents is prohibited. Please notify us by reply and delete it along with all copies in your possession. The message content may contain personal views which are not the views of the company unless specifically stated. The Arieso Group does not accept legal responsibility for the content of this message as it has been transmitted over a public network nor for any loss or damage caused by errors or viruses. Thank you.
>
> P Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.
>
> Read all about them: http://bit.ly/doc-to-help-10-outputs
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as tig -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Writer Tip: Create 10 different outputs with Doc-To-Help -- including Mobile and EPUB.