RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)

[Lief Erickson <lerickson -at- mqsoftware -dot- com>]

Valérie GILLIOTTE wants advice for single-sourcing.

<<We are starting a new project, which is rewriting all our documentation
with
single-sourcing in mind. We will be using Frame and WWP. Up till now we had
two separate sets of files for Print and Help (using Word not Frame). We are
therefore new to Framemaker, WWP and ... single-sourcing!>>

You are embarking on a noble journey, but I think that you may be attempting
too much (for right now). Single-sourcing requires an intimate level of
knowledge of the tools with which you are working. 

You mentioned that you are brand new to FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher
and that will make your effort exponentially more difficult. You will be
learning about the idiosyncrasies of FrameMaker, WebWorks Publisher, and
migrating and/or rewriting your documents to/in FrameMaker. Not difficult,
but not simple either. The hardest part, the one that ensures success with
single-source, is getting a bullet proof FrameMaker template. Not easy. (The
reason is mentioned below.)

I recommend that you that you read Dan Emory's papers, which can be found at
http://www.microtype.com/ and http://www.inframe-mag.com/ -- especially the
paper about FrameMaker templates. There is also a lot of good advice in the
http://www.frameusers.com/ archives and the archives of this list, too. I'm
sure that there is probably good information on the http://www.wwpusers.com/
list and archives, too. Don't forget to look at http://www.stc.org/.

<<We have started to define a template in Frame. Now and before moving to
the
writing part to test our template we want to know more about the pitfalls of
single-sourcing with those tools (about documentation structure etc.).>>

You can do some testing, but until you go through a release cycle (and the
associated pressures) and work with the template for a while (perhaps
months) to find where the anomalies are, you'll probably miss something.
Remember it is not the regular stuff that will cause problems, it is the
exceptions. It is the exceptions that you must design for and consider when
single-sourcing.

In any case, good luck and have fun!

-Lief Erickson
Lead Technical Writer
MQSoftware, Inc
lerickson -at- mqsoftware -dot- com 

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