Re: Right tool for the right job ...?

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxxxxx>]

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From: "Steve James" <steventl@ntlworld.com>
> I am responsible for a suite of documents where it is common for a piece
> of text (sentence and/or paragraph) to be re-used across the suite.
> [...] Instead of supplying the same
> suite of documents to all clients, we are looking to produce a suite of
> custom documents for each client. [...] The bottom line being
> that the text in the documents suite is generally the same for every
> client - It's just that the text may appear in a different order in the
> document to reflect the different configuration for each client.
> 
> Couple this with the fact that we also output to HTML Help and share text
> with our Training dept, a simple change to functionality in our product
> will require a search in each and every other document/deliverable [...]
> 
> I have heard that database publishing is one solution, ...

It sounds like you're already using FrameMaker, and I see no reason why
you shouldn't continue to do so. FrameMaker has the functionality to
address your situation, and it would only be a problem if the re-used
texts are very common and very small text pieces, or if you have a
large number of different client configurations.

You would use conditional text for the re-used texts and apply a
condition indicating the "configuration". If the same texts are re-used
in many places and/or they are long (more than a paragraph perhaps),
you could place them in text insets and conditionally import them.
You then show or hide the conditions to get the correct contents
for each configuration.

This would work well if, let's say, 90% or more of the contents is
identical between configurations, and if you don't have any complex
"interactions" between configurations (e.g. overlapping texts).
It works best if each text only has a single condition applied,
since logical expressions (AND/OR) between conditions gets very
complex and often yields undesired results.

Database publishing is a good idea if your contents is, guess what,
stored in a database :-) Typical examples are catalogs presenting
product information in lists or tables, where the data comes from
a database. Another alternative is a "content management system"
which can create a publication from different text snippets (often
stored in an XML "database") guided by rules in the system.
Both of these alternatives could possibly apply to your situation,
but they require a great deal of investment in time and money.
>From what you've described so far, using the existing FM features
of conditional text and text insets seems to be enough.


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Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
Technical Writer, IAR Systems, Uppsala, Sweden
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com
http://go.to/framers/
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