Note that I said IMPORT. I didn't say roundtrip! <grin> (And as a "I hate Framemaker" person, I would only ever import the files and then I would throw the source away and work in my new tool of choice! <BIGGER grin>)
I was answering from my Blackberry this morning, so intentionally kept my response short. To the "don't use a PDF as an online help system" statement I made, if you want to question that, take a look at Adobe's own help systems. In the not too distant past, that was how they delivered online help for various apps such as Framemaker and Acrobat. They finally decided to change and provide "real" online help. Which is much more usable and user-friendly. (Technically, you should provide both an online help in whatever format is appropriate as well as a printed manual or PDF. And the two should not necessarily contain the same information.) If you are planning on single-sourcing your content and are going to be translating into several languages, I'd suggest that you take a look at AuthorIT. You can publish into whatever the Windows help format(s) you need, create a PDF, and single-source content. The Localization Manager allows you to easily manage translation jobs, by sending out only the updated content (once the entire thing has been localized). I have a personal preference for AuthorIT, but I also have a personal preference to keep the number of tools I use to create my deliverables down to a bare minimum (one!) and a very strong personal preference to not have to manually manage my translation jobs. But that's just me! <grin> ...sue On 10/9/07, David Castro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 10/9/07, Sue Heim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I highly recommend not using a pdf as an online help system. It is not > > what they are intended for. If you are using FM you can look at WWP to > > create help from that source. Look at www.help-matrix.com for a list > > of tools that may meet your reqs. Most tools can import FM source btw. > > Regarding the comment about most tools importing FrameMaker, as of a > couple of years ago, only some of the tools were built to handle more > than one-time imports of FrameMaker content. I was a beta tester for > RoboHelp for FrameMaker, which was built to generate various online > help formats from FrameMaker content. It was built to allow you to > CONTINUE to use FrameMaker as your composing environment, and would > convert your FM source files anew each time you generated your online > help. WebWorks Publisher is built the same way. However, other tools > (again, as of a couple of years ago) were built to do a one-time > import, and updates needed to be made in the online help tool, itself. > Forking your documentation source files (print in FM, web-based or > online in another tool) is something that should be avoided when > possible, and saved for very late in the process when it isn't. > > -- > -David Castro > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ______________________________________________ > > 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 > ______________________________________________ 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
