Be A Hero – ELIMINATE “END GAME”
RoundUp 2007,
Austin TX
November 6th, 2007
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Agenda
Introduction
What Did We Learn From You ?
What is “END GAME” ?
How to Get Rid of “END GAME”
Choosing a Strategy.
Create a Starting Point.
Becoming a Hero !
Q&A
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Introduction
20 + Years in Technical Publications
10 Years in Production Shops
10 Years in Publishing Software
Graphics
Content Management
Editing Tools
Publishing Engines
Document Conversion
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
What Did We Learn From You ?
The Boss
“I don’t understand what’s so difficult – anyone can write. All you have to do is create the content and then just publish it.”
The Reality
Standards
Software Products
Focus has been on creating the content and formats but not the publishing process.
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
What Did We Learn From You ?
“JUST PUBLISH IT”
Covers a lot of stuff..
Tight schedules
Increasing requirements
Limited budgets
Changing user needs
Lack of management understanding
Writers are tenacious.
“THE END GAME”
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
What is “END GAME” ?
“END GAME”
Phrase Came From A Customer
Steps needed to create output formats (HTML, PDF, Online Help etc.)
Not about Content or Styling.
Repeatable for every release
Potential bottleneck (c.f. webmaster)
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
What is “END GAME” ?
“END GAME” Can Be Your Worst Nightmare
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
How to Get Rid of “END GAME”.
Examine requirements
Legacy content?
Printed manuals?
Images?
Online format types?
Other languages/locales?
Lifetime of content?
Update interval?
Software budget?
Strive for automation
No post-conversion edits
Automate post-conversion steps
Avoid visual Q/A requirements at end
All errors identified by system
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
How to Get Rid of “END GAME”.
Avoid over-reliance on best practices.
Flaws must be identifiable
Enforce conformance up-front
Avoid HTML lists unless enforced with structured editor
Track updates
Keep previous version for “diff” analysis
Compare conversion engine changes
Compare content changes
Simplifies final review
Prevents future migration difficulties
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
Topic or document based?
Authoring environment?
Publishing system?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
Topics require up front effort
Documents are harder to reuse
Smaller means more work
DTD, Schema, or unstructured?
Choose wisely...
Topic or document based?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
Adobe FrameMaker
» Large documents
» Powerful cross-reference and book operations
» Best of both worlds (XML and WYSIWYG)
Authoring environment?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
Microsoft Word
• Available across enterprise
• Reduced training cost
• MS Office integration
Authoring environment?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
DITA-XML
• Standards Based
• Variety of Authoring Tools
• Business Systems integration
• Separates Content from Formats
Authoring environment?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Choosing a Strategy
Standardized/productized
Open architecture
Content Management System Integration
Ability to maintain
Total cost of ownership
Support for new formats (i.e. Vista)
Automation/workflow flexibility
Publishing system?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Create a Starting Point.
Create simple style template
• Headings
• Lists
• Bullets
• Note/alert styles
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Create a Starting Point.
Create sample use cases
Images
Tables
Print vs. online
Popup, glossary, etc.
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Becoming A Hero !
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Becoming a Hero !
Free the writer
• Focused on content not tool used
• Provide ability for individual publishing
Peace of mind for management
• Means for tracking content
• Regular scheduled build runs
• Means for adapting to future requirements
Ultimate goal
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
The Three Components
Map Document Style to Output Style
Source + Map = On Demand Publishing
Output
Lights Out / Hands Off for Automation
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Work Flow – Developing The Rules
Styles Template
Document Style = Output Style
Document Designer
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Work Flow – On Demand Publishing
Source Documents
Writers / Production
Output
Source + Map
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Work Flow – Automation
Source Documents
CMS
Output
Output
Lights Out / Hands Off
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Work Flow – Overview
Source Documents
Output
Document Style = Output Style
Source + MapLights Out / Hands Off
Styles Template
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Questions ?
© 2007 – Quadralay Corporation
Contact Info
Alan J. PorterVP-OPERATIONS
WebWorks.comQuadralay Corporation
9101 Burnet Road, Suite #105
Austin, Texas. 78758
Tel: 512-719-3399 x232
Cell: 512-968-7362
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