RE: On-line HELP! (Long)

["Lydia Wong" <lydiaw -at- fpoint -dot- com>]

Vanessa asked for "a package that produced all formats from paper to web!"

We would all love such an animal, but IMHO, it doesn't exist in a single
package. I do wonder why your manager wants this, anyway, since you say
you're going to online documents only.

There are ways to accomplish single sourcing (which is what you are asking
for). One way is to author in FrameMaker, then output the content to PDF
(pretty straightforward), HTML/HTML Help/WinHelp (less straightforward),
etc.

To do this, you would require additional tools, though Frame 6 does ship
with the Acrobat Distiller (for creating PDF files--but you already have it)
and WebWorks Publisher, Standard Edition, for producing HTML and XML(?). The
drawback to this package is that the WebWorks Publisher Standard Edition is
limited in its capabilities versus the full "Professional" version, which
allows customization and provides support for compiled help formats (WinHelp
and HTML Help).

You and your company will need to decide what output formats you require,
and make your decision based on that, in part. FrameMaker is going to be one
of the best tools for you if you need many different types of output. And
because FrameMaker (and even more so, Frame+SGML) can support hypertext
linking and structured content, Frame is a great choice if you don't know
what your future needs will be (and most of us don't).

Besides determining what you really need in terms of output formats, the
other two issues are learning curve and cost. FrameMaker has a bit of a
learning curve, though there are several classes available. Acrobat you
already know, and producing it from FrameMaker isn't very difficult.
WebWorks Publisher has a steep learning curve, and there fewer classes
available than for FrameMaker. (There are other tools that do some of the
same things WebWorks Publisher does, such as MIF2GO from Omni Systems.)

Cost could be considerable. For a single writer, FrameMaker will run about
$800, and WebWorks Publisher is about $900. (MIF2GO is considerably less, I
believe.)

One last word of advice: if you are only doing online help output for now,
and no longer require PDF files, be sure to look at ForeHelp
(www.forehelp.com). IMHO it's a better tool than RoboHelp, and it's far less
expensive, especially when you consider support costs.

Best of luck to you!

Lydia : )
---------------------------
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com