On Nov 2, 2006, at 12:46 PM, Carol Levine wrote: > Over the past year, Donna and a few techwhirlers have given me great > advice about single sourcing and efficient use of conditional text. I > implemented a lot of their ideas (thank you again!) and am about to > implement even more of them (with an eye to future chunking with XML). > > One of the problems I had then, and did not have a chance to resolve > at the time, was how best to handle word-level conditional text, as in > the following paragraph, where each color represents a conditional > tag: > [snip] > • The nine guides are translated into French, Italian, German, > and > Spanish. I have read that word-level conditional text is strongly > discouraged in the localization world.
I know that others may know more about localization, but from what I've heard, I'd agree with this assessment. A concept that requires one word in a language may not always translate into one single word in another. Conditionalizing particular words requires the translator to use a fine-toothed comb over each sentence. This might very well be more expensive as an end result! Also, conditionalizing the word can become problematic when there are many words conditionalized in a single paragraph. Keeping the spacing correct, and making sure the sentence works in every condition that you've created can produce more overhead than it's worth. So, starting from that point, I think that conditionalizing the sentence is probably the best way to go. > QUESTIONS: > • The "platform" variable, as it currently exists in the > variables > document, doesn't "fit" into all locations in the chapter documents; I > don't always need to use the full product name, and sometimes the > structure of the sentence leads to a bad fit. Is it best to > create two flavors of "platform" variable, for example, > "platform-title" to use in the TitlePage document and "platform-chap" > to use in the chapters? Yes. I've created different forms of the word as variables for the very same reason. > • Would you conditionalize "in the device's control panel" (which > applies only to the embedded platform) in the sentence or, to avoid a > word-level condition, repeat the entire sentence and > conditionalize each for the appropriate platform? The latter. > • Would it be better to turn this type of paragraph into three > conditionalized text insets (one for MEAP, one for Ricoh, and one for > ScanStation) that are then imported into the container chapter? I would think so, just because it allows you to chunk the information and treat it as a single block, which is then easier to handle conceptually. Best, Tarage _______________________________________________ Are you a Help Authoring Trainer or Consultant? Let clients find you at www.HAT.Matrix.com, the searchable HAT database based on Char James-Tanny's HAT Comparison Matrix. Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details. Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com Your 3D Documentation Community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
