I have a set of four manuals, user's guides and administrator's guides for two products that are very similar, and we use a single set of text insets to enable us to update all four books from a single source. We are using unstructured Frame 7.2 along with FrameScript and numerous plug-ins. We use conditional text and variables extensively to make this solution work. We have eight conditions:
AG (Admin Guide) UG (User's Guide) OPTPROC (Product 1) OPTINF (Product 2) OPTPROC_AG (Product 1 Admin Guide) OPTPROC_UG (Product 1 User's Guide) OPTINF_AG (Product 2 Admin Guide) OPTINF_UG (Product 2 User's Guide) Because cross-references in shared text insets need to refer to their targets in container files in the appropriate books, we usually need to use two conditionalized cross-references where one unconditional cross-reference would suffice in a "normal" book. A few of our text insets appear in all four books, so we need to use four conditional cross-references each time we make a cross-reference from those text insets. As a result, we have an even larger amount of conditional text in our books than we would need in "normal" books with conditional text. By assigning color attributes by product (green for Product 1 and orange for product 2) to conditions in our text insets we are able to keep these multiple conditional cross-references straight most of the time. But we have the usual problems seeing conditions in the Frame interface (e.g., conditional tables, spaces and anchors), and the occasional disconnect between what displays on the status bar and what displays in the Conditional Text dialog. The usability of a swap box for assigning conditions regularly annoys me. When I select a condition, click Apply, and go merrily on my way only to discover I forgot to double-click to move it into the In box, you can probably hear my ARGGHH! all the way out in Cupertino. That's about it for conditional text, but if you want input on text insets I can offer volumes of complaints. Thanks, Jim Ramsay James (Jim) Ramsay Senior Technical Writer webMethods, Inc. (now Software AG) Phone: 303-218-3508 www.webMethods.com / www.SoftwareAG.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ] On Behalf Of David Valiulis Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 8:21 AM To: Frame Users Subject: looking for conditional text scenarios Greetings, Here at Adobe we're looking for real-world uses of conditional text. We'd be very interested in a summary of some of the interesting uses out there, including the condition tags you've defined and the output desired. We'd also like to hear of any limitations you've encountered in either Frame 7 or Frame 8. For example, you might say... "I work on a doc set that must output to print and to the web in two different versions, Mac and Windows. We've set up 6 conditions: WinPrint, WinWeb, WinBoth, MacPrint, MacWeb, and MacBoth." Many thanks. /dave valiulis Adobe systems _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/james.ramsay%40softw areag.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.