RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-13 Thread Reng, Dr. Winfried
Hi,

 Electropubs.com has a nifty little plug-in called Clean 
 Import that lets you replace existing formats with the ones 
 you import (all kinds of formats or just the ones you 
 select). So you could delete the unneeded conditions from one 
 file and then Clean Import conditions from it to all the 
 other files, and that would remove all the unneeded ones. 

I use FindChangeSpecial from Rick Quatro. Very useful!
You do not need to import anything, but you can replace or 
delete conditions. The plug-in can also work on all files 
in a book.
http://www.frameexpert.com/plugins/findchangespecial/index.htm


Best regards

Winfried
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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bill Swallow
 This has led me finally to consider conditional text. I'd
 create two tags: windows and linux. Then,  I'll apply the tags to operating
 system specific UI/functionality while leaving shared content alone.

Sounds like a perfect solution.

 Here's the thing though, I am not a fan of conditional text. I've learned
 that i need to apply the tags in a very specific sequence and apply it to
 preceding paragraph marks or otherwise hiding and showing the conditional
 text introduces funky formatting into my book. I also think it makes
 managing and tracking content in a document really tricky.

Well, you do need to be consistent about applying it. But conditional
text shouldn't be affecting style-driven formatting at all. Are you
hiding indicators when publishing?

 -is there a better mechanism than conditional text that I could use to get
 the same result?

Not without moving to DITA or another XML solution.

 -If conditional text is the best solution, is there a framemaker plugin that
 makes managing conditional text easier? Note that I am not interested in
 FrameScript.

I've always found Frame's native conditional text handling to be more
than adequate so I've never looked before. A quick Google search
turned up a few but I can't speak to them at all.

-- 
Bill Swallow

Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Combs, Richard
Joseph Lorenzini wrote: 

snip
 sense to create two different documents, which share a large amount of
 information. This has led me finally to consider conditional text. I'd
 create two tags: windows and linux. Then,  I'll apply the tags to operating
 system specific UI/functionality while leaving shared content alone.
 
 Here's the thing though, I am not a fan of conditional text. I've learned
 that i need to apply the tags in a very specific sequence and apply it to
 preceding paragraph marks or otherwise hiding and showing the conditional
 text introduces funky formatting into my book. I also think it makes
 managing and tracking content in a document really tricky. So here are my
 questions:

How are you using the condition tags and what problems are you having? The 
sequence in which you apply condition tags is completely irrelevant. And you 
don't need to apply the tag to the preceding pgf mark (pilcrow) unless you fail 
to apply it to the pilcrow at the end of a pgf whose entire content you're 
conditionalizing. 

People tend to have problems with conditional text when they try to apply 
conditions on too granular a level. Your needs are dead-simple: two conditions 
that never need to overlap. All you have to do is adhere to one simple rule: 
conditionalize only entire pgfs. Even if only a couple of words have changed, 
just duplicate the pgf, change those words, and apply the appropriate condition 
to each pgf in its entirety (including the pilcrow at the end). 

If you stick to that rule, there should be no funky formatting problems. In 
each case where there is an OS difference, one of two pgfs is shown. As long as 
both have the same pgf format, it makes no difference which is shown. 

Of course, while you're authoring/editing, you'll want to have both conditions 
shown (with condition indicators turned on). So the doc will be longer and 
pagination wrong. But so what? You don't worry about those things until it's 
time to hide one condition or the other and produce your final output. 

If you have very long pgfs (a bad idea) and/or simply reject the above rule, 
then at the very least restrict yourself to conditionalizing complete 
sentences. To succeed at this requires a bit more discipline -- for instance, 
you need to consistently include the space after the end of the sentence, but 
not the one before it, so that the remainder of the pgf looks OK when you hide 
that sentence. 

Whatever you do, _don't_ conditionalize a word here or there. That's what leads 
to problems. 

HTH!


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
--
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread William Abernathy

Joseph:

What you are describing is exactly the sort of situation conditional text was 
designed for. From the sound of things, you're bothered by the basic logic of 
conditional text. You are not the first writer to experience this, and you will 
not be the last. Nonetheless, I have a hard time imagining how adding another 
layer of complexity is going to help you over that hump. My advice, good for 
what you paid for it, is to put your chin into the breeze and perfect your 
conditional text technique. With time, you will master it, and it will become 
less confusing.


Concerning the specific issue you address, one way of dealing with the paragraph 
mark issue is simply to get into the habit of adding a space to the end of every 
line. Once upon a time, when memory was expensive, and mighty lizards ruled the 
land, leaving an extra byte of padding at the end of a line was a pretty 
profligate use of memory. Time to get over this. Adding an extra space character 
makes not picking up the paragraph tag much easier. As for tracking, you need to 
force your reviewers into reviewing a Windows draft and a Linux draft. I've 
managed this with change bars only, and in newer versions of Frame, your 
tracking only gets better.


Good luck,

--William

Joseph Lorenzini wrote:

Hi all,

I have recently encountered a documentation issue that I'd like feedback on.
I am documenting a software product. There are two versions of the product.
One version is for Windows. The other version is for Linux. The windows
version came after the Linux version and there are significant UI and
functional differences between the two. Originally, I was told that these
differences would eventually go away and that the user experience would be
identical on both operating systems. This hasn't happened. The differences
have grown.

This is problematic because a Linux user isn't going to care about
windows-only functionality and a windows user isn't going to care about
Linux-only functionality. At the same time, there are major similarities
between the two versions because they are the same software. It doesn't make
sense to create two different documents, which share a large amount of
information. This has led me finally to consider conditional text. I'd
create two tags: windows and linux. Then,  I'll apply the tags to operating
system specific UI/functionality while leaving shared content alone.

Here's the thing though, I am not a fan of conditional text. I've learned
that i need to apply the tags in a very specific sequence and apply it to
preceding paragraph marks or otherwise hiding and showing the conditional
text introduces funky formatting into my book. I also think it makes
managing and tracking content in a document really tricky. So here are my
questions:

-is there a better mechanism than conditional text that I could use to get
the same result?
-If conditional text is the best solution, is there a framemaker plugin that
makes managing conditional text easier? Note that I am not interested in
FrameScript.

Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini



--
William Abernathy
Berkeley, CA
http://yourwritereditor.com
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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bill Swallow
 Whatever you do, _don't_ conditionalize a word here or there. That's what 
 leads to problems.

Very wise! I've had to clean up many documents that were poorly
conditioned to the word level. It can certainly be done well, but it's
not for the conditional text novice by any means. Kiddies, don't try
this at home. ;)

I do think that limiting to the paragraph level is a bit restrictive
though. I think that with just a drop of discipline you can get away
with going down to the full sentence level, but I wouldn't go more
granular than that. You need to set a conditional use guideline and
adhere to it. I suggest conditioning at the sentence level from the
first character in the sentence straight through to the period or to
the space after the period if the sentence has others following it.
This way you will never have odd run-in formatting from sentence to
sentence.

A lot of people over-think their use of conditions. Keep it simple
(which your needs are) and stick to rules about applying them

-- 
Bill Swallow

Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood

Available for contract and full time opportunities.
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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Combs, Richard
Joseph Lorenzini wrote:

 Thank you for your feedback. I'll definitely go with the conditional text
 then. I like guidelines of only conditionalizing paragraphs is and never
 have overlapping conditions.  As Richard suggested, if I have to I'll just
 replicate the paragraph. As for the funky formatting I was referring to,
 the issue is this: sometimes the end paragraph mark may be an indented
 item, part of a bulleted list, or a section heading.  So it isn't always
 the case that I'll have the same formatting every where in the book. As a
 result, when I did a hide/show in some cases, the resulting paragraph mark
 would inherit a number or formatting from a header. As a workaround, I may
 introduce empty Body paragraph marks to ensure that only body paragraphs
 are rendered no matter what I show or hide.

Sorry, I don't understand. When you hide a condition, there is no resulting 
paragraph mark -- there is only all the stuff that _doesn't_ have that 
condition applied. And that stuff doesn't inherit anything from anywhere -- 
it just remains what it was. 

Let's say you have a procedure step (numbered list paragraph) that applies only 
to Linux, so you apply the Linux condition to the entire paragraph. When you 
hide that condition, that step disappears. Hiding it has exactly zero effect on 
the preceding and following paragraphs that are still displayed (barring an 
unfortunate interaction of Keep With/Next settings affecting pagination, or 
something like that). 

If you have a Linux Step 3 paragraph and a Windows Step 3 paragraph, and 
either one or the other is hidden, depending on the output, then nothing on 
that page will change except which of the two paragraphs is shown and which is 
hidden. 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
--
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
--






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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Baruch Brodersen

 snip
 Sorry, I don't understand. When you hide a condition, there is no
 resulting paragraph mark --

/snip

There is if the hidden condtional text is a text inset.

-- 
B a r u c h   B r o d e r s e n
T e c h n i t e x t   D o c u m e n t a t i o n
8 7 7  7 2 1  6 9 8 8
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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Flato, Gillian
I always make each condition a different color so it's easy to see what text 
has what condition applied. 

Thank you,
 
 
Gillian Flato
Technical Writer (Software)
nanometrics
1550 Buckeye Dr. 
Milpitas, CA. 95035
(408.545.6316
7  408.232.5911
* gfl...@nanometrics.com
 
-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com 
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Baruch Brodersen
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 11:59 AM
To: Combs, Richard
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com; Joseph Lorenzini
Subject: Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text


 snip
 Sorry, I don't understand. When you hide a condition, there is no
 resulting paragraph mark --

/snip

There is if the hidden condtional text is a text inset.

-- 
B a r u c h   B r o d e r s e n
T e c h n i t e x t   D o c u m e n t a t i o n
8 7 7  7 2 1  6 9 8 8
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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Combs, Richard
Baruch Brodersen wrote:
 
 snip
 Sorry, I don't understand. When you hide a condition, there is no
 resulting paragraph mark --
 /snip
 
 There is if the hidden condtional text is a text inset.

Only if you fail to apply the condition to the paragraph that contains the text 
inset. 

A text inset sits within the paragraph in which the cursor was located when you 
imported it. Once the text inset is there, it looks like that paragraph 
follows the text inset (especially if you don't display text symbols and/or 
don't have the text inset selected). But in fact, it's the _container_ 
paragraph for the text inset. If you apply the condition to the entire 
container paragraph, not just to the text inset, and then hide the condition, 
the entire container paragraph, text inset included, disappears. 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
--
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
--






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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Combs, Richard
Field, Karen wrote:
 
 Question along these lines: I've got docs that I split into different
 version numbers and company branding. One document spins into 6
 different ones when I combine the version numbers with the branding.
 (For example: v. 2.1 Company A; v. 2.1 Company B) I do apply conditions
 at the word level; Any ideas on how to get around that?

I wouldn't use conditional text for such differences. That's what variables are 
for. I'd recommend this: 

1) Create user variables called, say, Version and Brand. 

2) For each of your 6 outputs, create an Output X definitions FM doc that 
contains the Version and Brand variables defined as they need to appear in that 
output. 

3) Prior to producing a given output, import variables from the corresponding 
variable definitions doc to all the files in the book. 

Obviously, you can include other output-specific things in your Output X 
definitions doc -- additional variables, conditional text settings, even 
brand-specific page layouts or format definitions -- and import those as well. 
It all depends on how much customization you need for each output. 

But for simple redefinitions such as those you cited as examples, stick to 
variables. 
 
 Also, because I've been working in these docs for years, I've got tons
 of condition tags I'd like to delete. When I delete them from one doc
 (using the FM Help instructions), the changes don't port to other docs
 when I import formats. Is there a way to get rid of unneeded condition
 tags from a bunch o' files at once?

Importing formats is additive -- FM doesn't remove what's already there (and 
you wouldn't want it to without giving you some control over whether or not to 
do that). 

Electropubs.com has a nifty little plug-in called Clean Import that lets you 
replace existing formats with the ones you import (all kinds of formats or just 
the ones you select). So you could delete the unneeded conditions from one file 
and then Clean Import conditions from it to all the other files, and that would 
remove all the unneeded ones. 

HTH!

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
--
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
--






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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bernard Aschwanden (Publishing Smarter)
Ideally I'd suggest try to avoid conditional text. That means planning. Then, 
if you do need to use it, you've done all you can to
avoid it, and it should appear as little as possible. It likely needs as little 
as possible to make it work as well. It's a great
feature, but one that you may be able to reduce your need for.

That means think a lot about what you write. With one client we took the 
approach of a Mac and a PC version of manuals, but we had,
say, 10 chapters that had the same info. We avoided product names. We asked the 
developers to match the product and dialogs. Then we
wrote generic. Instead of on the PC, click FOO to open the Windows Explore 
and on the Mac, click YADDA to open the Finder or
whatever, we wrote Open your file browser, and similar things. The assumption 
was that the user would either know how to do it,
look it up in the chapter on Mac Specific Functions and Tips, or ask a person 
how do I do *this*.

At the end we had 9 or 10 shared chapters, and 1 for just a mac, one for just a 
PC. Conditions almost didn't exist. We also dropped
versions and product names. Personally I find it a bit silly. At the end of the 
project we had a set of core common files, one file
for a mac, one for a PC, and two books (mac version and PC version).

If I have a book/help file/website and I'm reading about MS Office 2007 for 
Windows then do I need to see text that says on your
Windows 7(r)(tm)(c), using Microsoft Office 2007(r)(tm)(c) you can open a file 
by selecting the File menu and choosing Open. Nope.
If I am reading the manual I already know that I'm using the software. And the 
version. And the OS. Now I have one sentence. It says
Select File  Open.

That sentence, btw, likely works for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Paint, 
Photoshop, Acrobat, FrameMaker, WordPerfect, and so much
more. Heck, write it cleanly, assume some intelligence and problem solving in 
the reader, and you can have this:

-

Open a document
Files that are available to you on your local drive, over a network, or through 
other locations can be opened. There may be slight
differences based on the specific software you are using.
1. Select File  Open
2. Navigate to the document to open.
3. Select the document
4. Click OK or Open.
-

That now tells you how to do this regardless of almost all factors. It's not to 
say that your docs will be this easy, but a big part
of conditional use that I have seen with clients in the past 20 years or so has 
been due to the feature existing and people deciding
to use it, rather than planning their docs, and only using features when/where 
it makes sense to do so.

Hope that adds a bit to the discussion.

Best of luck,

Bernard




Bernard Aschwanden
Publishing Smarter
www.publishingsmarter.com

Write Less. Write Better.




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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bill Swallow
In that case make sure you conditionalize everything from the 1st
character to the ending paragraph mark of each conditional paragraph.
You should have no issues if you follow that rule.

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 2:03 PM, Joseph Lorenzini jalo...@gmail.com wrote:
 Thank you for your feedback. I'll definitely go with the conditional text
 then. I like guidelines of only conditionalizing paragraphs is and never
 have overlapping conditions.  As Richard suggested, if I have to I'll just
 replicate the paragraph. As for the funky formatting I was referring to, the
 issue is this: sometimes the end paragraph mark may be an indented item,
 part of a bulleted list, or a section heading.  So it isn't always the case
 that I'll have the same formatting every where in the book. As a result,
 when I did a hide/show in some cases, the resulting paragraph mark would
 inherit a number or formatting from a header. As a workaround, I may
 introduce empty Body paragraph marks to ensure that only body paragraphs
 are rendered no matter what I show or hide.

-- 
Bill Swallow

Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood

Available for contract and full time opportunities.
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Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bill Swallow
 That means think a lot about what you write. With one client we took the 
 approach of a Mac and a PC version of manuals, but we had,
 say, 10 chapters that had the same info. We avoided product names. We asked 
 the developers to match the product and dialogs. Then we
 wrote generic. Instead of on the PC, click FOO to open the Windows Explore 
 and on the Mac, click YADDA to open the Finder or
 whatever, we wrote Open your file browser, and similar things. The 
 assumption was that the user would either know how to do it,
 look it up in the chapter on Mac Specific Functions and Tips, or ask a person 
 how do I do *this*.

Generally I agree, but I think in this specific case the application
that Joe is documenting really varies between Linux and Windows. At
least, that's what I gathered from: Originally, I was told that these
differences would eventually go away and that the user experience
would be identical on both operating systems. This hasn't happened.
The differences have grown.

In this case, I think it's best to *advocate* for the generic approach
but until it's achieved on the application side conditions are likely
the best solution. As the applications become more similar, the
conditioned document can be generalized and conditions removed for
those general portions.

-- 
Bill Swallow

Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood

Available for contract and full time opportunities.
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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread David Spreadbury
I have been following this thread with interest. I, personally believe that
conditional text would solve your problem, but, I was recently involved in
documenting a software application that was targeted for Windows and Unix.
The client did not want to use conditional text. So, we were left with
creating separate sections for Unix and Windows, only where there were
functional differences. This primarily occurred with installation and
maintenance, i.e., backup, restore, type procedures. Our solution was to
document the platform-specific procedures consistently in the same order.
The installation section would document the Unix-specific procedures
followed by the Windows procedures. The same was true whenever this
situation arose. The headings were, usually, identical except to refer to
the platform; Installing on Unix followed by Installing on Windows. I
worked out very nice.

The big advantage of doing it this way is production of one document instead
of two, which made follow-on maintenance was much easier; only one book to
muck with.

Just a second opinion.


David Spreadbury
Sr. Technical Writer


-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Bill Swallow
Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 4:27 PM
To: Bernard Aschwanden (Publishing Smarter)
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

 That means think a lot about what you write. With one client we took the
approach of a Mac and a PC version of manuals, but we had,
 say, 10 chapters that had the same info. We avoided product names. We
asked the developers to match the product and dialogs. Then we
 wrote generic. Instead of on the PC, click FOO to open the Windows
Explore and on the Mac, click YADDA to open the Finder or
 whatever, we wrote Open your file browser, and similar things. The
assumption was that the user would either know how to do it,
 look it up in the chapter on Mac Specific Functions and Tips, or ask a
person how do I do *this*.

Generally I agree, but I think in this specific case the application
that Joe is documenting really varies between Linux and Windows. At
least, that's what I gathered from: Originally, I was told that these
differences would eventually go away and that the user experience
would be identical on both operating systems. This hasn't happened.
The differences have grown.

In this case, I think it's best to *advocate* for the generic approach
but until it's achieved on the application side conditions are likely
the best solution. As the applications become more similar, the
conditioned document can be generalized and conditions removed for
those general portions.

-- 
Bill Swallow


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RE: Strategy for Handling Conditional Text

2010-04-12 Thread Bernard Aschwanden (Publishing Smarter)
BILL: Generally I agree, but I think in this specific case the application that 
Joe is documenting really varies between Linux and
Windows. At least, that's what I gathered from: Originally, I was told that 
these differences would eventually go away and that the
user experience would be identical on both operating systems. This hasn't 
happened. The differences have grown.

B: A great reason to ask for that in writing ;) If they 'tell' you that it will 
go away and that UX will become the same, then
they'll change and not do it. If they put it in writing at least you can go 
back with that and say look and then smack them.
With a large, cold, dead fish. Repeatedly. No jury of MY peers would convict 
you.

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