Also beneficial for multiple editors working on the same book in different chapters and configuration control when one chapter is changed often and others rarely change. I also have other elements such as large tables that are maintained externally or commonly used content managed as external entities so that changing common content in one place results in a consistent change across the entire publication. But that's getting into structure of some sort.
Ed On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 11:13 AM, Lin Sims <ljsims...@gmail.com> wrote: > <laughing> I think I touched a nerve. > > Yeah, my personal inclination is one chapter per file, unless we're talking > a really short document of less than 20 pages. Nice to know that I'm not > alone; however, I'm really looking for reasons why using a chapter per file > is better than using one file for an entire book (or vice-versa, I know > there are people out there who do it that way). > > Manageability and stability are both good points, especially since Frame > has become somewhat less stable since Adobe took it over (still far, far > better than Word). And fighting the design model is also an excellent > point. > > (And, Ken, even though I'm not working in DITA, I do try to organize my > documents in a structured fashion. Consistency of language and order of > information presentation go a long way towards that.) > > On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Ken Poshedly <poshe...@bellsouth.net> > wrote: > > > Lin, > > > > We also use unstructured FM11.0 to produce files that are distilled down > > to pdf files for hard copy printing (and maybe distribution on CD, but > not > > so much). > > > > As such, we compile separate chapter files then assemble them into a > final > > book in FM. > > > > Much more manageable that way (at least for us). A former so-called tech > > writer here (who wound up being our not-so-loved manager before finally > > being let go) forced FM to do what he wanted it to do, with humongous > files > > resulting that crashed and burned at least half the time. A normal > chapter > > file might be 3 or 4 mb, but his sometimes got into the gigabyte range. > > Didn't care, didn't change, and caused the rest of us lots of problems > when > > trying to open his files or even p-a-g-e through them (it took maybe an > > hour to work one's way through a 50 or 60-page file). We're now much > better > > off, referencing and not embedding our graphics. Hint: take any photo > > produced with a digital camera from its 60 x 60 inch (or whatever) > original > > size and resample it down to maybe 8 x 10 and oh, how life in tech > > pubs-land is so much better. > > > > So in the end, don't do the whole book as one file. Use chapters as > > separate files (even with all the stuff you mentioned), then combine them > > into one book afterwards. > > > > And yes, while the rest of the world goes on to DITA, etc, we continue to > > "bring up the rear". > > > > -- Ken in Atlanta > > > > > > On Monday, November 7, 2016 1:46 PM, Lin Sims <ljsims...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > > Pretty much what it says in the title. I'm guessing there have been > > discussions about this in the past, and I plan to look for those, but I > > thought I'd toss this out there anyway. > > > > We're talking chapters that can run a couple hundred (or more) pages > loaded > > with tables, graphics, and conditional text so that they can be used to > > single-source multiple documents (no, don't talk to me about DITA, my > > non-tech-writing boss wants it in unstructured). > > > > -- > > Lin Sims > > _______________________________________________ > > > > This message is from the Framers mailing list > > > > Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com > > Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com > > Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/ > > framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ > > Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/ > > listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com > > Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com > > > > > > > > > -- > Lin Sims > _______________________________________________ > > This message is from the Framers mailing list > > Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com > Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com > Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/ > framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ > Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/ > listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com > Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com > _______________________________________________ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com