Re: OT: Software recommendations
Hi Roger As Scott Prentice said, the DITA Open Toolkit and FrameMaker are not mutually exclusive. If you want to author DITA-structured content in FrameMaker, try Leximation's DITA-FMx plug-in, you'll love it: http://leximation.com/dita-fmx/ If you want to see an example of various deliverables which were generated from the same source (ditamap): - XHTML, generated with the DITA Open Toolkit: http://www.nomadesk.com/webhelp/welcome.php - PDF, generated with FrameMaker and DITA-FMx: http://www.nomadesk.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Nomadesk_getting_started_guide_final.pdf - CHM, generated with the DITA Open Toolkit: Included in the Help menu of Nomadesk (feel free to download and install a free trial to see it). To include/exclude content and to create variants of your documentation, you can use the DITA's conref and ditaval (conditional processing) mechanisms. To generate output from your DITA content, you could use TCS2, but you can also consider and test other tools like DITA2Go, MadCap Flare, WebWorks ePublisher... And if file management becomes too complicated, you have a wide choice of DITA-aware content management systems. Bluestream XDocs, for example, is one that plays nicely with FrameMaker and DITA-FMx. There is an XDocs webinar recording on Youtube: http://bit.ly/57EYwZ Cheers -- Yves Barbion • Managing Director • Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor www.scripto.nu • skype: yves.barbion • T: +32 494 12 01 89 • F: +32 9 366 50 23 ___ 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.
OT: Software recommendations
Hi Roger As Scott Prentice said, the DITA Open Toolkit and FrameMaker are not mutually exclusive. If you want to author DITA-structured content in FrameMaker, try Leximation's DITA-FMx plug-in, you'll love it: http://leximation.com/dita-fmx/ If you want to see an example of various deliverables which were generated from the same source (ditamap): - XHTML, generated with the DITA Open Toolkit: http://www.nomadesk.com/webhelp/welcome.php - PDF, generated with FrameMaker and DITA-FMx: http://www.nomadesk.com/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/Nomadesk_getting_started_guide_final.pdf - CHM, generated with the DITA Open Toolkit: Included in the Help menu of Nomadesk (feel free to download and install a free trial to see it). To include/exclude content and to create variants of your documentation, you can use the DITA's conref and ditaval (conditional processing) mechanisms. To generate output from your DITA content, you could use TCS2, but you can also consider and test other tools like DITA2Go, MadCap Flare, WebWorks ePublisher... And if file management becomes too complicated, you have a wide choice of DITA-aware content management systems. Bluestream XDocs, for example, is one that plays nicely with FrameMaker and DITA-FMx. There is an XDocs webinar recording on Youtube: http://bit.ly/57EYwZ Cheers -- Yves Barbion ? Managing Director ? Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor www.scripto.nu ? skype: yves.barbion ? T: +32 494 12 01 89 ? F: +32 9 366 50 23
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 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com ___ 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.
Re: OT: Software recommendations
We use DITA (authored in FM9) and create HTML output with ePublisher. Currently, we create an FM book from the DITA files, apply a template to the book, and create the PDF with Acrobat. WebWorks has added the ability to format PDF output through ePublisher, but we haven't had the chance to run it through its paces. If we can get the output to look the way we need it to, this will shave a lot of time off of production. We do all this without a CMS, although I shall be investigating CMS systems this year. Even though we do have to keep a close eye on managing the files and the process, I really like working this way. Nadine --- On Mon, 1/25/10, Roger Shuttleworth rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com wrote: From: Roger Shuttleworth rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com Subject: OT: Software recommendations To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Date: Monday, January 25, 2010, 4:23 PM 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 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as generic...@yahoo.ca. 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/generic668%40yahoo.ca Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers..com/ for more resources and info. ___ 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.
Re: OT: Software recommendations
I'd definitely look at TCS2, and then look at a couple of additional things beyond that to investigate: 1. MIF2Go can do a couple things RH can't, and vice-versa. So I'd also investigate a second HA solution that can run off FM single-source. 2. If you're also doing manuals, or they want to continue doing manuals, I'd look at the DocBook standard as a simpler alternative to DITA, and one that may be easier to implement if they already have a manual paradigm. If you're not already a member, you may also want to join the TCS User's Group at http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en. Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Roger Shuttleworth rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com wrote: 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 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ 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.
Re: OT: Software recommendations
Hi Roger... Keep in mind that the DITA-OT and FrameMaker are not mutually exclusive. You can use the OT to generate your HTML output, but still use FM for authoring and PDF publishing. It's a bit of work to tweak the OT for HTML .. but not too bad .. tweaking the OT for PDF output (especially if you're looking for something comparable to FM's PDF) is a *lot* of work. I'd go with TCS2 so that you've got all of the bases covered, and as time permits, experiment with other options that may free you from proprietary processing where appropriate. Cheers, ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 Roger Shuttleworth wrote: 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 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com ___ 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.
Re: OT: Software recommendations
Hi Art Thanks for your reply, and Nadine too. I'm familiar with DITA and will most likely use that. I should have mentione in my OP that there are two of us here, and the only software we have at present is the single RoboHelp licence, so buying a couple of FM licences won't get us very far. Thanks for the link to the User Group. Roger Roger Shuttleworth Technical Documentation AV-BASE Systems Inc. 1000 Air Ontario Drive, Suite 200 London, Ontario N5V 3S4 Tel. 519 691-0919 ext. 320 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com - Original Message - From: Art Campbell [mailto:art.campb...@gmail.com] To: Roger Shuttleworth [mailto:rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com] Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Sent: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:19:33 -0500 Subject: Re: OT: Software recommendations I'd definitely look at TCS2, and then look at a couple of additional things beyond that to investigate: 1. MIF2Go can do a couple things RH can't, and vice-versa. So I'd also investigate a second HA solution that can run off FM single-source. 2. If you're also doing manuals, or they want to continue doing manuals, I'd look at the DocBook standard as a simpler alternative to DITA, and one that may be easier to implement if they already have a manual paradigm. If you're not already a member, you may also want to join the TCS User's Group at http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en. Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Roger Shuttleworth rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com wrote: 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 rshuttlewo...@avbasesystems.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ 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.
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
OT: Software recommendations
We use DITA (authored in FM9) and create HTML output with ePublisher. Currently, we create an FM book from the DITA files, apply a template to the book, and create the PDF with Acrobat. WebWorks has added the ability to format PDF output through ePublisher, but we haven't had the chance to run it through its paces. If we can get the output to look the way we need it to, this will shave a lot of time off of production. We do all this without a CMS, although I shall be investigating CMS systems this year. Even though we do have to keep a close eye on managing the files and the process, I really like working this way. Nadine --- On Mon, 1/25/10, Roger Shuttleworth wrote: > From: Roger Shuttleworth > Subject: OT: Software recommendations > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Date: Monday, January 25, 2010, 4:23 PM > 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 > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as generic668 at yahoo.ca. > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/generic668%40yahoo.ca > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. > Visit > http://www.frameusers..com/ for more resources and > info. > >
OT: Software recommendations
I'd definitely look at TCS2, and then look at a couple of additional things beyond that to investigate: 1. MIF2Go can do a couple things RH can't, and vice-versa. So I'd also investigate a second HA solution that can run off FM single-source. 2. If you're also doing manuals, or they want to continue doing manuals, I'd look at the DocBook standard as a simpler alternative to DITA, and one that may be easier to implement if they already have a manual paradigm. If you're not already a member, you may also want to join the TCS User's Group at http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en. Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Roger Shuttleworth wrote: > 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 > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.com. > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >
OT: Software recommendations
Hi Roger... Keep in mind that the DITA-OT and FrameMaker are not mutually exclusive. You can use the OT to generate your HTML output, but still use FM for authoring and PDF publishing. It's a bit of work to tweak the OT for HTML .. but not too bad .. tweaking the OT for PDF output (especially if you're looking for something comparable to FM's PDF) is a *lot* of work. I'd go with TCS2 so that you've got all of the bases covered, and as time permits, experiment with other options that may free you from proprietary processing where appropriate. Cheers, ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 Roger Shuttleworth wrote: > 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 > >
OT: Software recommendations
Hi Art Thanks for your reply, and Nadine too. I'm familiar with DITA and will most likely use that. I should have mentione in my OP that there are two of us here, and the only software we have at present is the single RoboHelp licence, so buying a couple of FM licences won't get us very far. Thanks for the link to the User Group. Roger Roger Shuttleworth Technical Documentation AV-BASE Systems Inc. 1000 Air Ontario Drive, Suite 200 London, Ontario N5V 3S4 Tel. 519 691-0919 ext. 320 rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com - Original Message - From: Art Campbell [mailto:art.campbell at gmail.com] To: Roger Shuttleworth [mailto:rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com] Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com Sent: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:19:33 -0500 Subject: Re: OT: Software recommendations > I'd definitely look at TCS2, and then look at a couple of additional > things beyond that to investigate: > 1. MIF2Go can do a couple things RH can't, and vice-versa. So I'd > also investigate a second HA solution that can run off FM > single-source. > 2. If you're also doing manuals, or they want to continue doing > manuals, I'd look at the DocBook standard as a simpler alternative to > DITA, and one that may be easier to implement if they already have a > manual paradigm. > > If you're not already a member, you may also want to join the TCS > User's Group at http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en. > > Art Campbell >art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers apply. >DoD 358 > > > > On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Roger Shuttleworth > wrote: > > 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 > > ___ > > > > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.com. > > > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > > >
