RE: Draft then Tag, or Tag while Drafting?

[MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

Dick Margulis [mailto:margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net]
> 
> Different strokes for different folks, Jim.
> 
> I usually start with the structure and, if I am working with 
> a blank screen, am as likely to write empty tags and go back 
> later to fill in the content as you may be to write content 
> and go back later to add tags.
> 
> So long as we both end up with functional documents, it 
> shouldn't matter, right?
> 
> 
> 
> "Jim Bennett" <jim -at- jim-bennett -dot- com>
> 
> >
> >I am new to drafting structured documents. Do those of you who draft
> >structured documents prefer to draft the document 
> unstructured and then
> >go back and tag it, or do you prefer to insert the tags as you go?

Writing in FrameMaker, properly set up for a structured document, you 
don't have a choice. It enforces the structure. It won't let you insert 
a heading or level out-of-order. You *could* just write everything 
as body text, after the first heading, though that would get a bit 
tedious when you did numbered and nested lists...

It's easier to spend a morning getting accustomed to going with the 
flow of what the EDD/DTD enforces, and then you just forget that it's 
there and go on with your writing, secure in the knowledge that it'll 
all be properly tagged, valid, etc., without needing much thought about 
tagging. The idea is that, with a proper EDD/DTD setup, that sort of 
thinking has already been done and automated for you. You just write 
within the structure. It's generally effortless, unless something is 
wrong. Assuming that the structure was properly developed before you 
started the content, then the structure enforcement helps you to 
write the document properly.

If the structure is not working for you at some point, you find out 
right away that you need to re-think how you are writing the current 
passage, and how it should fit into the overall development of the 
document. I find that kind of intrinsic feedback to be invaluable.

If you truly need to write freeform or risk impenetrable writer's block,
then write in a plain text editor and copy/paste sections of it into a 
tagged structure later on. Even so, you'll probably need to break it 
up into separate text files, roughly equivalent to your eventual 
chapters and sections... so why not do it from the get-go, and inside 
the production program?  With Word, your mileage would likely vary.

But if I'll eventually be using FM to finish a document, then even 
without a structured interface, I still find myself needing to 
assign hierarchy or I get lost/go nuts. If nothing else, the oversized 
text of headings provides landmarks and eye relief in an otherwise 
daunting flow of text.

/kevin


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