Thanks Russ, and everyone else who has responded. It's good to get confirmation that we'll need to head down the bespoke custom path for now. Although I'd challenge the vendors to come up with the goods ASAP. There is obviously a need for SOMETHING in the market..
Gordon -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of russ at weststreetconsulting.com Sent: 13 March 2008 12:02 To: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: FrameMaker DITA and CMS Hi Gordon, If you want to publish instantly, you'll probably have to build something or pay somebody lots of $$$ to customize something else. There is a conspicuous absence of off-the-shelf, dynamic publishing systems that also support multichannel publishing. There are things like Wiki pages which are good for quick publishing and revision management, but they certainly lack the information management and layout features that a professional techcommer would demand. I've done something similar to what you suggest, albiet with a fair amount of effort. We had a need to publish PDF manuals at normal release intervals as always, but there was also a need to view the current information in real time, as products were being developed. The ultimate solution uses FrameMaker to author the content in XML and produce the PDFs from it. On the web side, we built a Java-based publishing system that takes the same XML and delivers it over a website, making heavy use of XSLT. This is an example of an end-to-end system that works very well and was worth every second we put into it, but it certainly isn't something you can just go out and buy. We don't use DITA or a CMS. There is unlimited potential to do cool things if you have the will. And, you don't necessarily need DITA or a CMS to make amazing things happen, but you may find that one and/or the other turns out to be the best solution. Russ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Message: 3 Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:52:55 -0000 From: "Gordon McLean" <[email protected]> Subject: RE: FrameMaker DITA and CMS To: <framers at lists.frameusers.com> Message-ID: <000301c88426$d87885a0$61284d0a at devtestpub.inchinnan.grahamtech.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" DITA isn't a publishing standard, it's a content structure standard I thought. Perhaps I need to state my question more clearly. Does anyone have an example of all the applications (names!) used in an end to end publishing system that is based on XML single source (DITA is a bit of a red herring I guess, it's a standard, not an application). I know FrameMaker 8 supports DITA, and I'll be evaluating that soon (I presume it handles the transformation from XML to 'FM editable' and back?). But what CMS are people using? And what publishing engines? Webworks? Or something from the DITA Open Toolkit? I'm wary of getting sucked into a proprietary path, and also of having an overly complex build system (ultimately we want to publish on a schedule as well as instantly to a website). I've visited and read up on a lot of vendor propositions, and I'm aware that consultancies will have favoured solutions, so I'm asking the Framers for THEIR recommendations if they have such a system in place. Gordon >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as Gordon.McLean at grahamtechnology.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/gordon.mclean%40grahamte chnology.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ This email (and any attachments) is private and confidential, and is intended solely for the addressee. If you have received this communication in error please remove it and inform us via telephone or email. Although we take all possible steps to ensure mail and attachments are free from malicious content, malware and viruses, we cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any changes to content outwith our administrative bounds. The views represented within this mail are solely the view of the author and do not reflect the views of the organisation as a whole. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Graham Technology plc Registered in Scotland company no. SC143434 Registered Office India of Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, Scotland PA4 9LH http://www.grahamtechnology.com ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
