[TCP] Help Systems
Hello: I have been out of the on-line help world for a number of years now and need some information on the latest tools people are using. We have a number of Windows-based products that need some kind of on-line help solution. We have used RoboHelp for some products and DreamWeaver for others. Our help is translated into 14 languages, including Chinese. Ideally, it would be great to have a single source solution, so we can deliver PDFs as well as help systems. However, we are constrained by a tight budget, so I'm not sure how much we can invest in tools. We currently use FrameMaker 7 and Adobe Acrobat 7.We are looking into delivering the PDF as the on-line help, perhaps using bookmarks to make it more context sensitive. I'd appreciate any ideas on strategies and tools that people have. Regards, Sue Susan S Newton Learning Products Developer __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
[TCP] Overuse of Quotation Marks
This article was in today's Chicago Tribune -- thought I'd share. :-) -Carla http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-1009languageoct09,0 ,5014466,print.story AT RANDOM: ON LANGUAGE Blogger: Web site's all in fun, and you can quote me on that By Nathan Bierma Special to the Tribune October 9, 2007 Bethany Keeley, the blogger behind The 'Blog' of 'Unnecessary' Quotation Marks (quotation-marks.blogspot.com), says she isn't a member of the punctuation police and doesn't want to be. The grammar police want to claim me for themselves, but they're never going to get me onboard, Keeley said in a telephone interview. That's because her punctuation spying is purely for fun, not anger management, says Keeley, a doctoral student in rhetoric at the University of Georgia. Keeley collects pictures of signs that use quotation marks in questionable places, and posts them on her Web log. She finds it entertaining to pretend that quotation marks that are used for emphasis instead indicate insincerity, sarcasm or euphemism. For example, when a reader submitted a photo of a hotel sign telling guests, Please 'Do Not Remove' our guest towels, Keeley imagined the quotation marks made the phrase sarcastic. Maybe they say 'Do Not Remove' because they really mean 'go ahead and take them, so we can charge you outrageous prices for them,' she wrote. A reader in Milwaukee sent in a picture of a sign that read, Floor Space For Rent: 'Reasonable' -- Inquire Within, with the quotation marks making you wonder how reasonable the rates really are. A sign at a Super 8 in Sioux Falls, S.D., told customers Your cooperation is 'sincerely appreciated,' but the quotation marks made the sign seem anything but sincere. A recent wave of attention has boosted traffic to Keeley's blog and made Keeley -- whom I know from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., which we both attended -- an unlikely blogger celebrity. Last month Keeley's blog was the Pick of the Day at Yahoo (picks.yahoo.com), and was featured in an Associated Press report that appeared on the Web sites of the New York Times and Washington Post. The AP headline read, Blogger 'Exposes' Annoying Quote Abuse, but Keeley says she isn't annoyed and doesn't consider questionable quotes a matter of abuse. She's uneasy about being celebrated by supporters of Lynne Truss, the acerbic author of the best-selling screed Eats, Shoots and Leaves who cheekily threatens bodily harm to punctuation perps. In most cases I'm intentionally misinterpreting people, Keeley says. What they mean to say is clear. I'm mostly just trying to have a little fun with language. Even before he knew about Keeley's blog, linguist John McWhorter wrote an opinion article in the New York Sun arguing that quotation marks can be considered legitimate indications of emphasis in non-standard English (especially on hand-written signs, where bold and italics are difficult to use). Call it the new boldface, McWhorter wrote. It is an understandable mistake. Quotations set off something, and it's a short step from setting something off to emphasizing it. I asked McWhorter in a telephone interview if it's still reasonable to chuckle at emphatic quotation marks, even if the usage is understandable. It's a little snobbish, but we're all human, McWhorter said. -- Contact 'Nathan Bierma' at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune - CONFIDENTIAL- This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, and may also be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you may not review, use, copy, or distribute this message. If you receive this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email and then delete this email. __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] Overuse of Quotation Marks
On Behalf Of Martinek, Carla quoted an article that included: Even before he knew about Keeley's blog, linguist John McWhorter wrote an opinion article in the New York Sun arguing that quotation marks can be considered legitimate indications of emphasis in non-standard English (especially on hand-written signs, where bold and italics are difficult to use). Call it the new boldface, McWhorter wrote. It is an understandable mistake. Quotations set off something, and it's a short step from setting something off to emphasizing it. I asked McWhorter in a telephone interview if it's still reasonable to chuckle at emphatic quotation marks, even if the usage is understandable. It's a little snobbish, but we're all human, McWhorter said. To which I reply: Linguist John McWhorter, huh? Ri-i-i-ight. Kevin __ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email __ __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] Help Systems
On 10/9/07, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I highly recommend not using a pdf as an online help system. It is not what they are intended for. If you are using FM you can look at WWP to create help from that source. Look at www.help-matrix.com for a list of tools that may meet your reqs. Most tools can import FM source btw. Regarding the comment about most tools importing FrameMaker, as of a couple of years ago, only some of the tools were built to handle more than one-time imports of FrameMaker content. I was a beta tester for RoboHelp for FrameMaker, which was built to generate various online help formats from FrameMaker content. It was built to allow you to CONTINUE to use FrameMaker as your composing environment, and would convert your FM source files anew each time you generated your online help. WebWorks Publisher is built the same way. However, other tools (again, as of a couple of years ago) were built to do a one-time import, and updates needed to be made in the online help tool, itself. Forking your documentation source files (print in FM, web-based or online in another tool) is something that should be avoided when possible, and saved for very late in the process when it isn't. -- -David Castro [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] Help Systems
Regarding the comment about most tools importing FrameMaker, as of a couple of years ago, only some of the tools were built to handle more than one-time imports of FrameMaker content. I was a beta tester for RoboHelp for FrameMaker, which was built to generate various online help formats from FrameMaker content. It was built to allow you to CONTINUE to use FrameMaker as your composing environment, and would convert your FM source files anew each time you generated your online help. WebWorks Publisher is built the same way. However, other tools (again, as of a couple of years ago) were built to do a one-time import, and updates needed to be made in the online help tool, itself. Forking your documentation source files (print in FM, web-based or online in another tool) is something that should be avoided when possible, and saved for very late in the process when it isn't. Currently, WebWorks ePublisher Pro and Flare allow you to reference FrameMaker files in your projects. Once RoboHelp 7 (the TechComm Suite edition) is released, it will allow you to do the same thing. This means that you can point to the Frame files and they will be included when you publish. If you change the Frame files, those changes will be reflected the next time you publish...you don't maintain two copies of the content. Also, I believe that conditions in the WWP/Flare/RH project can be applied in Frame and honored upon publishing. Char James-Tanny ~ JTF Associates, Inc. ~ http://www.helpstuff.com -- Please send follow-up questions to the list. (Inquiries sent off-list may not be seen.) Contact me directly (CharJT at helpstuff dot com) with business inquiries. -- 2006-2007 Microsoft Help MVP Find a Help Authoring Tool at HAT-Matrix.com ~ http://hat-matrix.com Co-author of Managing Virtual Teams ~ http://www.wordware.com/wiki AuthorIT Certified Consultant, Development, and Training STC Secretary, 2006-2008 Web site Hosting and Design ~ http://www.jtfhosting.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] Help Systems
Note that I said IMPORT. I didn't say roundtrip! grin (And as a I hate Framemaker person, I would only ever import the files and then I would throw the source away and work in my new tool of choice! BIGGER grin) I was answering from my Blackberry this morning, so intentionally kept my response short. To the don't use a PDF as an online help system statement I made, if you want to question that, take a look at Adobe's own help systems. In the not too distant past, that was how they delivered online help for various apps such as Framemaker and Acrobat. They finally decided to change and provide real online help. Which is much more usable and user-friendly. (Technically, you should provide both an online help in whatever format is appropriate as well as a printed manual or PDF. And the two should not necessarily contain the same information.) If you are planning on single-sourcing your content and are going to be translating into several languages, I'd suggest that you take a look at AuthorIT. You can publish into whatever the Windows help format(s) you need, create a PDF, and single-source content. The Localization Manager allows you to easily manage translation jobs, by sending out only the updated content (once the entire thing has been localized). I have a personal preference for AuthorIT, but I also have a personal preference to keep the number of tools I use to create my deliverables down to a bare minimum (one!) and a very strong personal preference to not have to manually manage my translation jobs. But that's just me! grin ...sue On 10/9/07, David Castro [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 10/9/07, Sue Heim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I highly recommend not using a pdf as an online help system. It is not what they are intended for. If you are using FM you can look at WWP to create help from that source. Look at www.help-matrix.com for a list of tools that may meet your reqs. Most tools can import FM source btw. Regarding the comment about most tools importing FrameMaker, as of a couple of years ago, only some of the tools were built to handle more than one-time imports of FrameMaker content. I was a beta tester for RoboHelp for FrameMaker, which was built to generate various online help formats from FrameMaker content. It was built to allow you to CONTINUE to use FrameMaker as your composing environment, and would convert your FM source files anew each time you generated your online help. WebWorks Publisher is built the same way. However, other tools (again, as of a couple of years ago) were built to do a one-time import, and updates needed to be made in the online help tool, itself. Forking your documentation source files (print in FM, web-based or online in another tool) is something that should be avoided when possible, and saved for very late in the process when it isn't. -- -David Castro [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
