Re: limits on number of conditions? (FM 6.0)

[hedley_finger@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Teresa:

> Question about conditional text. One of our internal process documents
> that was written by another writer states:
>
> - There should be no more than 12 condition tags.
> - There should be no more than two condition tags applied to any one
> piece of text. While FrameMaker does permit more than this, it may
> become difficult to manage.
>
> But she cannot remember why these statements were made. I am now in a
> position where I need substantially more than 12 conditions (i.e. 22)
> due to the fact that our source documents must now output 4 print books
> and 4 online help projects. It has also become a very real possibility
> that we may need up to four condition tags applied to the same piece of
> text (unlikely, but possible).

There may be some upper bound, but I haven't found it.  The document I am
working on at the moment has about 52 and a colleague's has 161, for much
the same reasons as you: multiple products in different markets that share
the same source code and documentation 'code'.

Of course, with 161 or even 52 conditions, you are toying with insanity.
Perhaps the 22 conditions with two overlaps is some arbitrary limit to
protect your company from mental health claims?  8^)

Regards,
Hedley

--
Hedley Finger
Technical Communications/Technical communicator and FrameMaker mentor
MYOB Australia <http://www.myob.com.au/>
P.O. box 371   Blackburn VIC 3130   Australia
12 Wesley Court   Tally Ho Business Park   East Burwood VIC 3151
Australia
<mailto:hedley_finger@myob.com.au>
Tel. +61 3 9222 9992 x 7421,   Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558

(C) MYOB Limited 2002


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