Hi Art Thanks for your reply, and Nadine too. I'm familiar with DITA and will most likely use that.
I should have mentione in my OP that there are two of us here, and the only software we have at present is the single RoboHelp licence, so buying a couple of FM licences won't get us very far. Thanks for the link to the User Group. Roger Roger Shuttleworth Technical Documentation AV-BASE Systems Inc. 1000 Air Ontario Drive, Suite 200 London, Ontario N5V 3S4 Tel. 519 691-0919 ext. 320 rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Art Campbell [mailto:art.campbell at gmail.com] To: Roger Shuttleworth [mailto:rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com] Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com Sent: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:19:33 -0500 Subject: Re: OT: Software recommendations > I'd definitely look at TCS2, and then look at a couple of additional > things beyond that to investigate: > 1. MIF2Go can do a couple things RH can't, and vice-versa. So I'd > also investigate a second HA solution that can run off FM > single-source. > 2. If you're also doing manuals, or they want to continue doing > manuals, I'd look at the DocBook standard as a simpler alternative to > DITA, and one that may be easier to implement if they already have a > manual paradigm. > > If you're not already a member, you may also want to join the TCS > User's Group at http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en. > > 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, Jan 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Roger Shuttleworth > <rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com> wrote: > > Hello All > > > > I just started a new job at a software company whose product is very > GUI-intense. User assistance is crucial, and our legacy versions use online > Help that opens in a separate browser window. Management seem to be very > open to the idea of embedded help, etc. in upcoming versions, and they are > very serious about good UI design - so I'm hoping I'll be able to promote > embedded help in the future. > > > > In the past the Help was ?created in RoboHelp 7 and existed separately > from any PDF output, but in the future I can see us also creating > well-designed PDFs, single-sourcing the PDF and the Help, and maybe also > training materials. There will also be about four software packages with > different sets of features (so some form of inclusion/exclusion mechanism > will be needed. > > > > I'm looking for recommendations as to which software package(s) to use. My > inclination is to get TCS2, single-source in FrameMaker, and then push to > RH. I'm pretty savvy with structured FM (though not v.9.0). > > > > Before I leap for TCS2, I wonder if there are other possibilities. We do > not need XML as yet, though it may be a remote possibility down the road). > I've also thought about using XML and the DITA-OT, but the PDF output is > probably not good enough and there will be issues with file management in > the absence of a content management system. > > > > Any suggestions will be welcome. Thanks for your help. > > > > Roger > > > > Roger Shuttleworth > > Technical Documentation > > AV-BASE Systems Inc. > > 1000 Air Ontario Drive, Suite 200 > > London, Ontario > > N5V 3S4 > > Canada > > Tel. 519 691-0919 ext. 320 > > rshuttleworth at avbasesystems.com > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > > >
