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.
Subject:Frame to On-line Help From:"Marie C. Paretti" <mparetti -at- RRINC -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 25 Aug 1997 12:47:30 -0400
After reading through numerous archive messages, I've learned (I think)
that one of the (few) problems with Frame is converting Frame docs to true
on-line help (i.e. porting the docs into RoboHelp or Doc-2-Help). However,
most of the archive stuff on the topic is several months old, and I know
new software versions have come out recently for these products, so I'm
wondering the move from Frame to RoboHelp via RTF files is still as messy
as it seemed to be several months ago.
The reason I ask is that our long-term goals for documentation include
paper manuals, electronic versions distributed as PDF files via CD, docs on
the Web (either as PDF or HTML), and some kind of actual on-line help
(overkill maybe?!), and the trade-off seems to be that the better the tool
for printed/PDF docs (i.e. Frame), the trickier it is to get it into usable
on-line/context sensitive help ("survey says" Word/RoboHelp there). Since
we'll be buying the latest and greatest of everything, I want to make sure
I know exactly what the tradeoffs amount to.
Since this is a much-discussed topic on the list and I'm really only
interested in the ups and downs of the newer versions, please respond to me
privately (unless, of course, other folks think this is a general-interest
issue -- I'm happy to summarize if necesary).
Thanks,
Marie
Marie C. Paretti
Department of English Recognition Research, Inc.
University of Wisconsin - Madison Blacksburg, Virginia
mparetti -at- facstaff -dot- wisc -dot- edu mparetti -at- rrinc -dot- com
Sometimes I feel like a dog
standin' on a tool box
in the back of a pickup truck
doin' 90 round a corner
just tryin' to hang on for dear life.
James Bonamy
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html