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No problem (well, not much of one). And this isn't tool dependent, by the
way.
It helps a ton and a half to keep your docs strongly structured in Frame,
and immaculately consistent. Do not, not ever, not once, resort to
overrides. Don't do this. Bad things can happen.
Design your doc from the start as a single source, by "clumping" information
(we actually call it "clustering") and making tasks sealed off from other
tasks. Then export as a MIF from Frame, run it through a product called
MIF2RTF (available via download) and either run the resulting RTF through
the compiler or (as I like to do) pull it into a good standalone tool like
ForeHelp to have a final go-through.
The results are wonderful, controllable, useful, and cost a whole heck of a
lot less than the alternative. Once this complicated-sounding process is
perfected, you can make a help file, an HTML site, or PDFs automatically.
But it rests on task analysis, user analysis, structure, and absolute
devotion to consistency. To get the benefits of automation, you have to play
the automation game.
You can check out our website for information on how we do it.
Tim Altom
Simply Written, Inc.
Featuring FrameMaker and the Clustar Method(TM)
"Better communication is a service to mankind."
317.562.9298 http://www.simplywritten.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Ina Forst <forst -at- STEINSOHN -dot- DE>
To: <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 9:15 AM
Subject: Appropriate tools
>Hi All,
>
>I have been using Doc-to-Help so far for producing my online software
>documentation. For generating user's manuals for our hardware components I
>have been using FrameMaker. I am no longer satisfied with this solution, as
>the layout of the documents generated in Word / Doc-to-Help differ from
>those generated in FrameMaker (FrameMaker came first; later on I decided to
>install Doc-to-Help).
>As I prefer working with FrameMaker (Word often behaves very strange) I
>would like to know, whether it is possible to use FrameMaker for online
help
>documentation too; perhaps in conjunction with WebWorksPublisher or any
>other tool.
>
>Thanks in advance for your help.
>
>
>Ina Forst,
>H.M. Stein Sohn GmbH, Germany
>
>
>From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==
>
>
>
