Writing Workshop

Lotech Solutions ( www.lotechsolutions.com)

(As sourced from scriptorium.com)

Single-sourcing refers to a writing process in which you create different deliverables from a single set of files.

Single-sourcing takes quite a bit of planning. However, if you do it right, you can create high-quality deliverables and save money and time.

The FrameMaker/WebWorks Publisher combination offers a cost effective, powerful way of delivering print, PDF, HTML, WinHelp, HTML help, and other online help formats from a single set of FrameMaker source files. This approach requires highly structured FrameMaker templates and a disciplined approach to writing, which makes it possible to deliver high-quality single-sourced deliverables.

In a single-sourcing workflow, you create a single set of files that contains all the information for both the printed and the online version, and use features such as conditional text—text that you tell your text development tool to show or hide based on tags that you apply to the text—to control which information appears in which deliverable.

It is quite possible to write content that works in several output formats. Extensive planning and using the right tools can give you complete control over the appearance of both printed and online materials.

The first step is to identify your information types:

• Interface information
• Conceptual information
• Reference information
• Procedural information

For each information type, you need to identify which deliverables should include that information. You also have to consider navigation aids.

In the automatic single-sourcing process, FrameMaker enforces a strict adherence to a template. You'll use FrameMaker features such as paragraph tags, markers, and conditional text to build-in the customization that you need for a single-sourcing project. Matters to consider are:

• Topic depth, which refers to the length of a section. The major sections become individual topics in online help.
• Conditional text lets you label information that should appear only in the printed version or only in the online version. You can setup tags such as PrintOnly and OnlineOnly information. When you convert through WebWorks Publisher, you remove the PrintOnly information.
• Context-sensitive help is setup by creating a custom marker type in your FrameMaker files, then inserting markers with help IDs where the related text occurs.
• Links can be created using FrameMaker hypertext markers in addition to using cross-references.
• Navigation is created using hypertext and cross-references, and is a critical element in online help that makes your help friendlier, such as related links.
• Chunking information refers to the process of separating content into topics. Each topic is a chunk of information that stands on its own. These chunks, or modules, of information let readers look at one chunk and get all the information that they need about that particular task or topic. Most technical documentation is not read from cover to cover. When you chunk information for single-sourcing, it's important to eliminate all position dependent references.

WebWorks Publisher (WWP) uses the FrameMaker tags, such as paragraph, character, and table tags to determine the formatting used for the output. Basically, WWP replaces the FrameMaker tags with the tags needed for HTML, XML, or RTF.

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See Also

 Lotech Solutions' Tips, Tricks, and Procedures

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