Re: Frame + SGML: is it for me?

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:35 AM 7/9/99 -0400, Richard Phillips wrote:
>Dick Phillips
>
>Having had some exposure to (Frame+SGML) I may be qualified to add a
>remark or two. 

>Comparing it to pure Frame, it may offer advantages to
>large companies that deploy writers in battalions and turn out documetns
>in very large numbers.
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Not so. I use an EDD I've developed in my practics to produce almost all
documentation. Although FM+SGML can also work just like vanilla FrameMaker
when you want it to, but I use the structured approach because it nearly
doubles the speed at which I can work. I don't have to worry about
formatting, because the EDD takes care of it for me. Most text container
elements in that EDD include formatting attributes which allow me to quickly
modify the default format specified by the EDD.
====================================================================
>
>It forces the writer to organize his work into certain pre-defined
>structural entities with strict rules about the transitions between
>them.
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True, but the structure need not be rigid. It depends upon the EDD/DTD. If
you're not required to conform to an "industry standard" DTD, the EDD
structure can be made as loose as you want it to be. Where a given
mini-structure (say a captioned figure) has multiple elements, the EDD can
work almost like a macro that inserts the elements in their proper sequence.
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>
>The "advantages" are two-fold:
>
>(1) It tends to make all of an organizations document look alike.
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Not so. A single EDD/DTD can define different structure and formatting for
different document types, and further variations are possible by creating
multiple templates for the same EDD. My paper (available as a PDF document)
entitled "FM+SGML Information Design" explains in detail how this can be done.
======================================================================
>
>(2) It makes it possible to grab a large block from one document and
>drop it seamlessly into aother document.
==================================================================
And that's not to be sneezed at. Information reuse and document repurposing
are vital capabilities, and FM+SGML excels at it.
================================================================== 
>
>Hated it, myself.  Can't stand having my creativity stifled.
>
>===============================================================
Oh well. For you creative types who want to dawdle for hours over each page,
there's always PageMaker and Quark.
======================================================================
What hasn't been mentioned on this thread is FM+SGML's capability to
function as a semi-automated style guide for both structure and formatting.
And, by re-importing the template's element definitions and formats into a
finished document the style guide is completely enforced, including the
elimination of every single format override. The authoring and quality
assurance time saved by this capability alone is worth the trouble of using
a structured document approach, even if you have no SGML requirement.
     ====================
     | 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
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
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