Re: Frame -> HTML

[Mark Dempsey <mxd2 -at- osi -dot- com>]

Eric,

I respectfully disagree, at least in the circumstances I face:

You say:> 
> All of these issues (re-editing converted HTML, establishing
> conditional text, and cross-references) can be resolved by carefully
> setting up and configuring the Wpublish template.
> 
> * Wpublish converts reliably--exactly as you tell it to. If you set it
> up correctly and completely, you'll NEVER need to edit the HTML
> output. (And if you do, you're creating tons more work and working
> harder, not smarter, but that's another thread.)

What about handling the fruits of the Frame "Generate and Apply Formats"
command (needed to clean up legacy manuals' old formatting)? This
command makes Body* into Body1. (BTW, I needed to clean up docs made in
Frame 4 so they would generate pdfs, and this was one of many required
cleanups.) 

Webworks maps Body1 to "default" by default. What you say is perfectly
correct, but if you have the manuals I've been dealing with, what
Webworks produces is Garbage Out that *must* be edited. The development
effort to deal with whether Body1, etc. tags are in a doc, whether the
split of HTML files is at the correct spot, etc. is another edit cycle,
IMHO.

> * Wpublish remembers conditional text settings separately from the
> Frame docs, so you can do the setup in Wpublish once, then keep
> your Frame docs conditional text settings configured for print, and
> it'll all work.
> * Yes, you need to think about online versus hardcopy considerations
> in doing cross-references, but Wpublish can automatically change
> your "See Blah on Page 2, section 4" to "See Blah for more information"
> for online output. If you set it up right.

Once again, this is a big "if." If we set up our docs right, we'll be
anticipating online presentation while we structure and write them. If,
however, we have legacy manuals, created with no such consideration, we
must do that most difficult of maneuvers: anticipating in retrospect.
There's a set of development tasks to perform in setting up
FrameMaker/Webworks, and another in reorganizing the manual. Sometimes I
think it would be easier to just start the manuals from scratch...

That's what I *meant* to say...

Regards,

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