What is wrong with working in your current version of FrameMaker, which you don't mention, so I am going to assume 7.2.
What is wrong with creating the PDFs straight out of FrameMaker? Mif2Go can handle your online help problem. It produces several different flavors of Online Help, from Windows Compiled HTML (CHM) to Oracle Help for Java (cross-platform), to Omni Help (Web HTML Help), and the cost won't break your budget. You can download and play with their eval version at www.omsys.com. As others have pointed out, you can, with a little work, manage the CMS part manually. David Spreadbury Sr. Technical Writer -----Original Message----- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Roger Shuttleworth Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 3:24 PM To: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: OT: Software recommendations Hello All I just started a new job at a software company whose product is very GUI-intense. User assistance is crucial, and our legacy versions use online Help that opens in a separate browser window. Management seem to be very open to the idea of embedded help, etc. in upcoming versions, and they are very serious about good UI design - so I'm hoping I'll be able to promote embedded help in the future. In the past the Help was created in RoboHelp 7 and existed separately from any PDF output, but in the future I can see us also creating well-designed PDFs, single-sourcing the PDF and the Help, and maybe also training materials. There will also be about four software packages with different sets of features (so some form of inclusion/exclusion mechanism will be needed. I'm looking for recommendations as to which software package(s) to use. My inclination is to get TCS2, single-source in FrameMaker, and then push to RH. I'm pretty savvy with structured FM (though not v.9.0). Before I leap for TCS2, I wonder if there are other possibilities. We do not need XML as yet, though it may be a remote possibility down the road). I've also thought about using XML and the DITA-OT, but the PDF output is probably not good enough and there will be issues with file management in the absence of a content management system. Any suggestions will be welcome. Thanks for your help. Roger Roger Shuttleworth Technical Documentation AV-BASE Systems Inc. 1000 Air Ontario Drive, Suite 200 London, Ontario N5V 3S4 Canada Tel. 519 691-0919 ext. 320 rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com
