[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Date Index] [Thread Index] [New search]

Re: RoboHelp/Online Help Presentations?



[ The original message appeared on the FrameUsers mailing list.
  This reply is sent only to the "Free Framers" mailing list.
  If this reply is useful, consider copying it to FrameUsers. ]

From: "Anachie Shakespear" <omath@xxxxxxxxx>
> Does anyone out there have any presentation slides that relate to:
> 1. Why you should move from hardcopy documentation to Online Help?
> --the benefits, advantages, etc.
> 2. How to move from from hardcopy documentation to Online Help?
> 3. Generally, anything that relates to these topics.

This is a vast subject, closely related to "single-sourcing".
There are numerous articles available on this subject.

However, you're asking about *moving* from hardcopy to online help.
Even the concepts and workflows of single-sourcing assume that you
need both, since they're two very distinct and different animals.

You cannot replace a hardcopy manual with an online help system.
They serve different purposes, are used differently, and should
(must) contain different information, phrased in different ways.
Even if you write about the very same topic, you will find that
you should phrase yourself differently in hardcopy and online help.
And some type of information isn't suited at all for online help.

Replacing a hardcopy manual with an electronic version (an HTML
or PDF version) is a different thing. Online documentation isn't
the same thing as online help.

A good set of articles about hardcopy and online help:
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/onlinehelphomepage.html

Some introductions to single-sourcing are:
* An introduction to single-sourcing (Simply Written, 2002):
  http://www.simplywritten.com/library.htm
* A new approach to single-sourcing (Dan Emory, 2003):
  http://www.microtype.com/resources/articles/SingleSourcing_DE.pdf
* Introduction to single source (STC Intercom, 2001):
  http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2001/200102_23-27.pdf (part 1)
  http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2001/200104_26-29.pdf (part 2)
* Beyond the buzzword: single sourcing (STC Intercom, 2002):
  http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2002/200201_15-17.pdf

A controversial article about this topic was the STC Intercom 2002
article "Differentiating online help from printed documentation":
http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2002/20020708_10-12.pdf

Some of the debate regarding this article can be found at:
* "Of myth and reality":
  http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/archives/0207/techwhirl-0207-00813.html
* "On-line vs. print":
  http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/archives/0207/techwhirl-0207-01479.html
* "Single-sourcing = myth?":
  http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/archives/0207/techwhirl-0207-00825.html

Hope that helps!

_____________________________________________
Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
Technical Communicator, Uppsala, Sweden
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@xxxxxxxxx
http://go.to/framers/
_____________________________________________

Join the "Free Framers" mailing list: send an email to
majordomo@xxxxxxxxx with "subscribe framers" in the body



** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **