Matt- People are asking why it's so hard to convert. My point is that for many solo writers, it's hard to propose a conversion to management, and get buy-in, especially when there's doc to write that's currently being delivered just fine in their eyes.
To successfully convert unstructured content to a structure, you need: An expert to create an EDD and/or DTD. An expert in XSL to create output. An expert to map your current styles to elements. An expert to help you update your content to shoe-horn into the new XML 'buckets'. An expert to train those who are going to be using the new tools. Now, that could be one person, or a team. However, it's still someone else that needs to be paid. It doesn't take a team to upgrade from Word to Frame. Converting to CHM has been mostly a one-button operation for years. If you want WebHelp, all you need is some HTML and CSS knowledge and a copy of a HAT. Once Pagemaker came around, it made publishing easier. Once Dreamweaver and FrontPage came around, it made creating web pages easier. Converting to structure may never get that easy, but it's gotta get easier than it is now. -=Ed. > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Sullivan [mailto:m...@grafixtraining.com] > Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 3:42 PM > To: 'Ed'; 'Bernard Aschwanden (Publishing Smarter)'; 'Alison Craig'; > 'FrameMaker Forum' > Subject: RE: Structuring documents (was RE: Adobe's New Corporate Strategies) > > The question isn't/wasn't whether or not to structure...that decision is > based on (among other things): > -number of authors > -level of reuse > -need to enforce content model > -need to pass content between one organizational group and another > > If the powers that be decide there is an ROI to structure, then that's what > you'll do. > > Once that decision is made, as with any software or format conversion, there > will be a conversion of legacy docs to the new format. > > As noted by myself, Bernard, and others, the ease of conversion to XML or > DITA is mostly dependent on the quality of the legacy docs and their > consistency in applying a stylesheet. > > If I were asked to convert docs to a format I'm not expert in, I'd expect a > major headache. So should someone without XML, DITA, or DTD experience if > they want to do this by themselves. > > However, relatively speaking, the pain of XML and DITA conversion is not > appreciably greater than any other conversion, if you are going to retain > full use of references, toc's, linking, graphics, etc. > > As you can see, from various posts, there are folks that can help. It's not > our place to tell you (without analysis)whether or not to structure but we > can effeciently and economically help with that transition. > > > -Matt > > ________________________________ > > Matt Sullivan > GRAFIX Training > > 714 960-6840 > 714 585-2335 cell /txt/sms > skype: mattrsullivan > > http://www.grafixtraining.com > http://blogs.roundpeg.com > http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrsullivan > http://twitter.com/mattrsullivan > http://twitter.com/roundpeginc _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.