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Re: RE: XML-based Help Authoring tools for customized help
Subject:Re: RE: XML-based Help Authoring tools for customized help From:"Mark Baker" <listsub -at- analecta -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 11 Dec 2003 21:40:59 -0500
David O'Brien wrote
> I'm trying to put together a plan for a combination of SEs, SMEs and a
writer
> or two to write, edit and publish doco using a systematic and efficient
> process, and DocBook or Simplified DocBook, Epic, AuthorIT, IntelliJ,
Serba,
> Word2003 and FrameMaker are all in the soup at the moment, so this
discussion
> is 110% relevant to what I'm doing.
Don't start with tools. Start with information life cycle. Where does
information come from. How is it captured and expressed? Who is it delivered
to? In what formats? How does it change, when, and why? How is it verified
and approved? What is its cycle time and life span? Does it have to be
translated? If, so, on what schedule?
Then ask yourself how it can best be captured. By writing documents? By
writing topics? By creating and populating abstract information objects?
Some mix of these? What would the workflow look like in each case? Where
are the bottlenecks? How will changes in information affect your information
set? What about changes in requirements? Who will have to touch the content?
What types of tools/processes are they willing/able to use? What regulatory
or legal requirements do you have to meet?
Until you have answered all of these questions, and answered them in terms
of information, not documents, you should not even think about XML or
authoring tools or CMS tools, or any of the rest of it. Once you have, the
answers to the tools questions may or may not be obvious, but you will good
firm criteria against which to assess your choices.
It used to be that there were very few choices for creating and delivering
information, and so you had to start by thinking about how to fit the tools
you were stuck with into your business processes. Today, however, there are
many choices of tools and approaches, which means you have the luxury of
defining your ideal process first and then picking the best tool to
implement it.
RoboHelp for FrameMaker is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to online Help, intranet, and Web.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! Call 800-718-4407 for
competitive pricing or download a trial at: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l4
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