On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:56:49 -0700, russ at weststreetconsulting.com wrote:
>Jeremy Griffith wrote [referring to semantic markup]: > >>You can do the same with paragraph formats, too. But you can >>do all that in UNstructured docs just as easily as in structured. >>Maybe *more* easily, when you factor in the time to set up your >>structure, and to modify it when you make changes, which is major. >> >>I've only been able to identify one situation in which structured >>Frame can do this better than unstructured, and that's when you'd >>want nested element tags within a paragraph, since you cam't nest >>character formats. (There are easy workarounds for creating the >>equivalent of nested paragraph formats, such as using start/end >>formats and/or markers.) OTOH, I have yet to see a non-hypothetical >>case where such nested char formats were really needed... >> >>Structured Frame is designed for large pubs groups where standard >>document designs are required, perhaps for ISO 9000, perhaps for >>other corporate policy reasons. For smaller groups, and especially >>for lone writers, the setup costs (time and consultants) are likely >>to exceed the benefits, much like a CMS (Content Management System) >>can. There are excellent consultants around, many on this list, >>for whom it is a breeze. If you decide to go this way, hire one. >>It will prevent much anguish and hair loss. >This is misinformation, on nearly all counts. Isn't that a tad harsh, Russ? My point, which you appear to have missed, is that (as Richard said) semantic markup is good, *and* that you can do it in unstructured Frame. Do you deny this fact? I also said that for small groups, "the setup costs (time and consultants) are likely to exceed the benefits". I'll stand by that assessment, based on using Frame in both its unstructured *and* structured (formerly known as "FrameBuilder") forms over many, many years, originally on a Sun 2... I didn't say there are *no* benefits, just that the costs may be greater. Do you assert that the costs are always insignificant, then? >I am a lone writer who is completely dependent on structured Frame. >Without it, I would need at least twice the manpower to handle the >busywork that it does. Furthermore, I adhere to no industry standard >and make changes to my structured template frequently. All well and good... but what *else* are you? An expert in structure, perhaps? How long have you worked with structure? As I said, "There are excellent consultants around, many on this list, for whom it is a breeze." You are one of the four or five I'd think of first... Here's the first line on your home page: "Welcome to West Street Consulting, your home for structured FrameMaker? plugins and other utilities." I've also written plugins that work with structured Frame (Mif2Go does, just fine), but I hardly consider myself a representative Frame user... nor would I assume that everyone would have as easy a time as I do. Do you say it's easy for everyone? >Granted, the setup costs for me are minimal now, because I >have the skill set. My point exactly. That's why I said "hire a consultant". Do you think consultants are unnecessary? <vbg> >But that is the whole point of these occasional rants... you >just have to get in there and learn, because that's when it >becomes a breeze. Assuming, that is, that you *have* the time. Many of our colleagues, having survived downsizing from ten writers to two with no decrease of workload, do not. And if you do, is that time better spent on learning nifty new tools, or on improving the docs you're paid to write? One size does *not* fit all. If you have a genuine *business* case for going to structured Frame (or if you are a hacker at heart, like you and I), go for it. ;-) >Of course it takes time to ramp up, but when it is so >obviously the way of the future, ... This makes me feel old. <g> Well, I *am* old... old enough to remember any number of "obvious" advances that went nowhere. The future has many ways... most of which we won't recognize until we get there. Here's a little related snippet from [XML-DEV] today: > [Michael Chanpion:] On the other hand, this is more or less > the story of CORBA ? lots of time and money spent on something > that has vastly underperformed relative to its initial hype. > [Elliotte Rusty Harold:] Exactly, and that's hardly the only > example of lots of corporate money being fed into the shredder. That's in the current "More predictions to mull over" thread... >Two final points... > >- I'll retract much of what I said if you can provide a single >recent example of anything groundbreaking in the area of techcomm >that specifically involved unstructured content. The Web? You don't consider HTML an example of structured content, do you? It qualifies in only the most technical sense... and most pages violate even its simple DTDs grossly. Or maybe it's not recent enough for you? >- Always beware of the typewriter salesman when you are reading >the computer brochure. You consider me a "typewriter salesman"??? LOL! It's true that when I was first a pubs manager, we did our output (for power-plant manuals) on IBM Model C's, but then the Selectric came out. I also worked with MTST and MTSC systems, wrote the first screen-oriented editor for CP/M (and the first Z-80 symbolic debugger), wrote software for the first "affordable" ($9,995) dedicated word processor, and did typesetting on an XDS-940 mainframe driving a Mergenthaler V-I-P photocomposer. I've always been on the bleeding edge of tech publications... not the trailing edge. However, more to the point, unlike the typewriter salesman I make *nothing* when people stay with unstructured Frame. You, OTOH, make your living from people who go structured. Perhaps it's the *computer* salesman you need to watch? ;-) -- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc. <jeremy at omsys.com> http://www.omsys.com/
