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

Subject: RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
From: "Swallow, William" <WSwallow -at- courion -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 14:10:12 -0400

:: By successful, I guess I mean successful for the user. Is
:: it usable? Is it valuable?
:: I can tell whether it is single-sourced or stand-alone when
:: someone I'm
:: interviewing shows me samples and talks about the valiant,
:: two-year struggle
:: to get single-sourcing in place, and what I'm looking at is a mess.
:: BZZZZ--that candidate IS the weakest link. Goodbye.

Well, in that case I agree. But in general, it's hard to tell whether a
piece was single-sourced or independently developed just by looking at its
end result. And in the case of two really good examples, one single-sourced
and one independently developed, it'd be hard to determine which is which
(without being sneaky and viewing the underlying code).

:: The time and effort I've seen many organizations put
:: towards a single-source
:: solution could have been used more efficiently to produce
:: good, usable
:: documentation in print and online. I'm not saying that
:: single-sourcing is
:: impossible. But it involves a lot more than a tool or a
:: set of macros or
:: styles--which is what a lot of writers I've talked to think is more
:: important that looking at the big picture, costs, and the like.

I agree here as well. You need to know what you're getting into, what you
want to do, and how you're going to do it before you even START to think
about tools. Otherwise you're no better off than a 10-month-old with an open
can of Play Dough. :)

*****************
BILL SWALLOW
Technical Writer
C O U R I O N C O R P O R A T I O N
1881 Worcester Road
Framingham, Mass. 01701
T E L * 508-879-8400 x316
F A X * 508-879-8500
www.courion.com
*****************

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
Next by Author: RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
Previous by Thread: RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)
Next by Thread: RE: advice for single-sourcing ( Framemaker + Webworks)


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads