Re: Right tool for print + multi-version Web + .pdf + ... ?

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The ideal solution would be to use FM+SGML to author and maintain the 
documents, and export them to XML and PDF. Then, using XSLT, the XML 
versions of the documents can be converted to HTML, SHTML., or whatever. 
One key advantage of XML is that it uses Unicode to define the glyphs for 
any language. This will facilitate translation into latin- and 
Chinese/Japanese-based languages, but Arabic is a problem for FrameMaker 
because it reads right-to-left. Also, FM+SGML 6 cannot utilize Unicode 
fonts. Perhaps this limitation, as well as the current inability to import 
XML back into FM+SGML, will be corrected in the next release.

S-Tagger, which works on FrameMaker MIF files, offers the best language 
translation solution. The structured MIF files are converted by S-Tagger 
into Word 2000 files, with all the MIF constructs preserved, and the 
translation is done in Word. Then, S-Tagger converts the translated version 
from Word back to MIF for import into FM+SGML as structured documents. 
However, the language limitations of FM+SGML described above still prevail. 
It might be best to keep the translations in Word 2000 (which can utilize 
Unicode fonts), from which (potentially) they could successfully be 
exported to XML.

The main advantage of FM+SGML over ordinary FrameMaker is structure and 
metadata. Metadata, in the form of attributes, offers many advantages for 
information management, formatting, and other functions. On export to XML, 
the structure and metadata are preserved, eliminating the necessity of 
mapping paragraph tags to structure as would be required to convert 
ordinary FrameMaker files to XML using Webworks Publisher or MIF2GO. That 
conversion route into XML also severely limits the preservation of metadata 
in the form of attributes.

In FM+SGML the definition of structure is accomplished by an Element 
Definition Document (EDD), which is analogour to an SGML or XML Document 
Type Definition (DTD). In addtion, however, the EDD also provides Structure 
Rules, which define context- and attribute-based formatting of FM+SGML 
structured documents. The development of a new EDD is not trivial task, 
however. But, if you choose to use an EDD that has already been developed 
(DocBook for example), the development cost can be substantially reduced.

The ideal solution would be to create your documents in FM+SGML using an 
appropriate EDD. PDFs can then be produced directly, and, with Acrobat 5, 
some aspects of structure are preserved, but (so far as I know) the 
metadata would be lost. In addition, you would export the documents to XML, 
preserving all the structure and metadata, and the resulting XML documents 
would be stored in a database repository where they are broken down (to any 
desired granularity) into their constituent structural components. From the 
database repository, customized documents can be assembled on-the-fly (in 
response to a database query, for instance), and then passed through XSLT 
to produce the deliverable document in HTML or SHTML, for example, with and 
any desired formatting.

Implementing the full approach, however, would likely be daunting and 
costly. But there are enormous advantages to it that can, in many cases, 
produce a huge return on your investment.

I have written a paper (in PDF format) entitled FrameMaker+SGML Information 
Design. You can find it at Shlomo Peretz's website:

http://www.microtype.com/

Click on the Resources link. At the top of the Resources page, you'll see a 
list of links. Click on "Dan Emory's Articles". You'll find the document there.

At 08:27 PM 1/30/02 -0500, wkeppel@pacbell.net wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>A few years ago I used FrameMaker 4 (Macintosh) on some book-length 
>documents with lots of illustrations and cross-references. It was great! 
>Now I'm planning a large, complex print-plus-web project and wonder if 
>FrameMaker 6 +SGML  is the right tool for the job. (I'm a website newbie, 
>but don't mind a steep learning curve if the tools will do the job.)
>
>My initial project will be a content-heavy (articles, papers) website with 
>some related print documents, plus a photo archive. I'm planning to have 
>multiple versions of the same site so I can accommodate overseas users 
>with very slow connection speeds (text only). Content documents will be 
>available in HTML for online viewing, and .pdf for printing. Parts of the 
>site will eventually be translated into various languages, including 
>Arabaic and perhaps Chinese. Over time, I'll also be adding slide shows, 
>some with voice-overs, and perhaps video.
>
>A priority is minimizing site maintenance and minimizing hassles when 
>changes are made. I'm hoping FrameMaker will allow me to maintain the text 
>portions of the site as a FrameMaker archive, auto-generating tables of 
>contents and automatically updating cross-references, and that I'll then 
>be able to export changed documents as HTML for the website proper.
>
>So, is FrameMaker 6 +SGML the right tool for the job? If not, what is, and 
>why?

====================
| Nullius in Verba |
====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
177 Riverside Ave., STE F, #1151, Newport Beach, CA 92663
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