Changing the engine without stopping the rickshaw
This presentation is a reworked version of a joint presentation with a customer at TCWorld in Germany 2012. It shows how the transition from unstructured documentation to the modern world of structured, XML-based and topic-oriented authoring can be made smooth, without interfering with the publication chain. This presentation describes a project that was done using FrameMaker 10 with its built-in ExtendScript toolkit. It shows how being able to mix unstructured and structured content, including a DITA-type conref mechanism, can be used to keep the system running while the materials are converted and pushed into a repository for reuse one by one. This flattens the legacy documentation hurdle that may keep companies from moving to modern authoring practices.
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Changing the engine without stopping the rickshaw
- 1. CHANGING THE ENGINE WITHOUT STOPPING THE RICKSHAW
- 2. WHO’S TALKING ? Jang F.M. Graat Studied Applied Physics, Psychology, Philosophy Worked 25+ years in Tech Comms industry JANG Communication Amsterdam, Netherlands Self-educated professional Automating FrameMaker
- 3. THE PROBLEM Legacy documents Too much to leave behind Still alive - worth $$$ Content Management Convert or rewrite All or nothing Changed publication track High up-front cost
- 4. THE SOLUTION ? Non-intrusive conversion One file at a time Minimal style changes Partial reuse options Only when needed Gradual transition Content management Using a custom repository
- 7. FORMAT TAGS
- 9. CONVERSION Before: structure shown by formats
- 10. CONVERSION After: formats based on structure
- 11. NO VISIBLE CHANGE Before After
- 12. UNDER THE HOOD Before After
- 14. STEP 2: REUSE Topics Maps Publications
- 15. CMS: ALL OR NOTHING
- 16. USING TEXT INSETS MyInsets.fm MyChapter.fm Flow A Flow Main Flow B
- 17. STRUCTURED INSETS MyInsets.fm MyChapter.fm
- 18. INSETPLUS
- 22. CONTAINER TOPICS
- 23. task step warning prelreqs step warning warning caution step caution supply step caution condition step notice steps step step notice step step step supply step step supply step step step supply step condition closereqs step condition condition condition step condition
- 24. REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FrameMaker 10 or newer Plug-ins: InsetPlus, XRef Wizard, FrameSLT, AXCM Built-in: ExtendScript ( based on JavaScript ) Repository files contain reuse items InsetPlus pulls content into chapter files (text insets) Chapter contains mix of reused and non-reused content Authoring and publishing processes are not changed
- 27. }
- 29. ONGOING PROCESS
- 30. CHANGING CONTENT
- 33. CONCLUSION
- 34. FIT FOR THE FUTURE
- 35. THANK YOU