Hi, Sue. Thanks to Donna and Carla, I set up single sourcing last year for documentation for, at the time, nine vendor platforms. Here's what I did:
I created a folder for each vendor platform; each folder contains the vendor-specific FrameMaker book, table of contents, list of tables, and index files, as well as any vendor-specific files. I created another folder for the artwork and one for "Shared FrameMaker files". Each book contains the vendor-specific files plus any topics applicable to the vendor (I did some major 'chunking' of the original guide in order to accomplish this). Then, within each file, I applied conditional text as needed to *whole*sentences and paragraphs. I used to conditionalize within sentences, as in "The CanonRicohToshiba system ...". However, that was very hard to read and maintain. So, in some cases, I duplicated paragraphs and conditionalized for the vendor. In addition, because the workflow was different for licensing some of the machines, I created a unique licensing topic for each vendor, even though 95% of the content was identical. Those topics went in to the vendor-specific folder. In addition, at Carla and Donna's suggestions, I created a variables file for each vendor. It includes the information, such as vendor name and part number, that I use on each title page. The title page is in the shared files folder. When I generate a vendor book, I import the variables in the title page. I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me with additional questions. Carol *Sue's original e-mail* Blah blah blah (content for both). Then Yada Yada Yada (content specific to our product). Then Blah blah blah (content for both). As in, not easy to share an entire topic. And there are dozens of places. So the decision is: 1. Do I rip apart the topics, and rebuild the paragraphs that apply to each doc type? 2. Do I rip apart the topics and add a variable that includes Yada Yada Yada on the one, and empty on the other? 3. Do I create a copy of the topic and pull out what doesn't pertain to the one? Thereby forcing me to then manage duplicate topics (changing content in one means to change in the other -- and yeah, I can flag them both to remind me to change the other one but still...). 4. Do I frickin' ignore the problem and hope it goes away? <sigh> ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
