changing the engine without stopping the rickshaw

CHANGING THE ENGINE WITHOUT STOPPING THE RICKSHAW

WHO’S TALKING ?

Jang F.M. Graat

Studied Applied Physics, Psychology, Philosophy

Worked 25+ years in Tech Comms industry

JANG CommunicationAmsterdam, Netherlands

Self-educated professional

Automating FrameMaker

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

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

STEP 1: CONVERSION

UNSTRUCTURED ?

FORMAT TAGS

CONTENT + FORMATS

Before: structure shown by formats

CONVERSION

After: formats based on structure

CONVERSION

NO VISIBLE CHANGE

Before After

UNDER THE HOOD

Before After

PUBLICATION PROCESS

STEP 2: REUSE

Topics Maps Publications

CMS: ALL OR NOTHING

USING TEXT INSETS

Flow B

Flow A

MyInsets.fm

Flow Main

MyChapter.fm

STRUCTURED INSETSMyInsets.fm MyChapter.fm

INSETPLUS

DITA CONREF METHOD

STEP 3: MANAGEMENT

SPAGHETTI DOCUMENTS

CONTAINER TOPICS

task

steps

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

step

warning

warning

caution

caution

notice

notice

supply

supply

supply

condition

condition

condition

closereqscondition

condition

prelreqswarning

caution

supply

condition

REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMFrameMaker 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

ADOBE EXTENDSCRIPT

FILLING A REPOSITORY

}

LINKED TO REPOSITORY

ONGOING PROCESS

CHANGING CONTENT

CREATING NEW BOOKS

PUBLICATION PROCESS

Repository

CONCLUSION

FIT FOR THE FUTURE

THANK YOU