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Subject:Re: Powerpoint is overkill for manuals! From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 28 Jan 1999 15:49:08 -0500
Maybe I should describe, in a little more detail, my use of Access for web site work.
There is a substantial amount of VB code involved. I tend to work directly in HTML when designing templates, and there is a certain amount of HTML markup inside some of the document records. My experience as a programmer makes this a viable method.
The site where I am using this method is a business unit intranet. Most of the content has to do with our product line.
There are two kinds of pages: highly structured, and general.
The highly structured pages include things like product pages, product team rosters, and a grid that provides fast access to most of the product line information. These pages are generated almost entirely by the software. The formatting is almost all in the templates, with only a few HTML markups in some of the more unusual records. For example, most of the products have a single part number. But one product has many options, and each combination of options has a part number. The part number field for that particular product contains a big, bad HTML table that explains how to derive a part number from the options and lists the valid part numbers.
The general pages are stored in a table as nearly complete HTML documents. Each record includes a lot of markup. The program just stuffs the content into a standard page.
I try to fit as much of the site as possible into the highly structured pages. Those pages completely remove layout from my day-to-day maintenance. I don't have to set the newest revision number to the appropriate font, I just type it into the field and hit "generate page".
One of the challenges that this system helps me face is the fact that there are two versions of the site, with different audiences and slightly different content. When I hit that button, both versions of the site get updated. Another is that some of the information appears in both overview and detail pages. Again, I make the change in one place and all the references are up to date.
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Office:
mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
Home:
nax -at- execpc -dot- com
