Re: Folio vs HTML

[Barry Kieffer <barry -dot- kieffer -at- EXGATE -dot- TEK -dot- COM>]

Greetings Lisa,

I used FolioViews for a few years, and it is a good application with a large
following.

The main problem is that FolioViews is a proprietary system. In order for
anybody to view the topics or even search on them a Folio reader has to be
installed.

Folio allows the owner of the creation part of the db to "almost" give away
the reader (much like what Adobe does with Acrobat). But don't confuse
FolioViews with Acrobat - FolioViews is a full featured application. Folio
rips through the document and indexes every single word.

I used Folio mainly as a technical support database of problems and
solutions that I was responsible for. If I had the chance to do it all over
again, I would stick with Folio.

Oh, one other downside to Folio, the company is a lot like Interleaf, it has
a great application, but it is very slow to update.

But also like Interleaf (who created a completely custom desktop publishing
system for Integrated Device Technology) is willing to work with their
customers to offer some custom stuff.

If you have any specific questions, please write me.

Regards,

Barry Kieffer
Technical Writer
MBD Customer Documentation
Tektronix, Inc.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lisa Ann Miller [SMTP:lisamil -at- ANET-STL -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, February 04, 1999 5:47 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Folio vs HTML
>
> I would like you all's opinion on Folio and how it compares to HTML-based
> documentation.  Currently, I am analyzing a documentation project.  This
> project is extremely complex (multiple platforms, several applications,
> many locations, existing documentation that should be used, currently
> being
> migrated).  I feel the best development approach would be to document
> information at the smallest level and then allow the reader (help desk
> folks) to query the information in order to read topics related to his or
> her question.  Conceptually, it would be called an information database
>
> My question is this - should I use an HTML front-end with a database
> back-end or should I use Folio to create the information base?  I'm
> considering Folio because it has the same functionality as HTML in regards
> to hyper-linking, key-word search, links to other applications and
> programs.  It is based on the idea of an information base, and I wouldn't
> need to develop a search engine or manage HTML pages.  I guess Folio seems
> more to me like developing a standard help file then HTML does.  If I do
> this though, I think it would mean that I lose the ability to provide
> context sensitive help.
>
>


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