I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.
What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a couple of days. For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour. Scott Avraham Makeler wrote: > Thanks, Art. > (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2? > > (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only? > > (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that > case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a > separate \Graphics folder for each book. > > (d) > >>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a > WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the > books are set up and how fast you are. > > - Well, I have never done it before. > - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take > two days? > > Thanks! > > avraham > > > > > > On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell <art.campbell at > gmail.com>wrote: > >> Avraham, >> >> Question 2: >> I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory >> for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics, >> \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories >> with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by >> the document set so they're at the top level. >> >> Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some >> are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and >> things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent >> file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading >> information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core >> of information but use different head structures -- it may be under >> and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when >> possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal >> content. >> >> Question 1: >> There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze. >> >> Question 3: >> No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a >> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the >> books are set up and how fast you are. >> >> >> Art Campbell >> art.campbell at gmail.com >> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 >> Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson >> No disclaimers apply. >> DoD 358 >> >> >> >> On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler <amakeler at gmail.com> >> wrote: >>> Hi all, >>> RE: Merging books >>> >>> The situation: >>> >>> I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst >>> these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows: >>> >>> Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content (each book is >>> ~100 pages) >>> >>> Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content (each book is >> ~80-100 >>> pages) >>> >>> (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting >> the >>> situation.) >>> >>> Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so >> that >>> each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either >> the >>> two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text >>> controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the >> identical >>> part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common >> component >>> or "book" (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you >> have >>> to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in "on the >>> fly" the common, identical component. >>> >>> Same for set #2. >>> >>> >>> Questions: >>> >>> 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for >>> each of these two sets of books? >>> 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two >> sets >>> of books? >>> 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each >> of >>> the two sets of books? >>> >>> TIA >>> >>> - avi
