Fitting WebWorks Publisher into a Publications Workflow Presentation to SF Bay Area STC Chapters October 2004 Steve Homer Consulting Copyright ©2004 Steve Homer

About This Presentation l Very brief tool description l Emphasis on process issues: –What’s efficient? –What’s not? –What can you automate? –How can you apply these ideas to other tool sets? l Q&A at end

About the Speaker l Consultant specializing in setting up FrameMaker + WebWorks Processes l … but I also develop documentation l Clients in the Electronic Design Automation & semiconductor industries l Based in Santa Cruz, CA

Agenda l Overview of WebWorks Publisher l Choosing Tools l Workflows for single-sourcing –Single-sourcing defined –Optimizing the publishing process –Organization size –Bumps in the road l Customizing the WWP templates

What Does WebWorks Do? l WebWorks Publisher (Standard & Pro) –Converts FrameMaker or Word files to HTML, MS HTML Help, WinHelp, WebWorks Help, and more –Templates + source formatting control the output –You can have multiple templates and outputs –Source files are formatted for paper/PDF, if needed (view demonstration)

Choosing Tools l What platforms must you support? l Do you need to produce hardcopy or printable PDFs? Help? HTML? l Do you have time to tweak formatting? l Do you use style catalogs or “overrides” to format text? l How much source material do you have?

Single-Sourcing and WWP l Multiple outputs from one source l WWP does not change the source files l You can format the source files for print/PDF l Output formatting is defined in the WWP template l Lends itself to structured authoring (with or without XML)

Making the Process Easier l Update your Frame/Word templates l Use named paragraph and character styles to encourage structured authoring l Get buy-in for your style standards l Deliver “clean” source files to ensure smooth conversions

Organization Size l Lone writers who don’t enjoy setting up tools should: –Perhaps use RoboHelp for Word instead –Or avoid trying to customize the output –Or use a consultant l Larger groups can identify or hire: –Tool Specialists –Production Editors (desktop publishers)

Single-Sourcing is Very Annoying Because… l Sometimes the first bullet really needs to be purple! l Making the page look perfect for print is all I care about. l I don’t know when to use all these new paragraph and character styles. Create a Style Guide. Use it.

Bumps in the Road l Authors who can’t be required to follow a style guide (e.g., developers) l Updates to deliverables l Undocumented processes l Unrepeatable processes l Undocumented templates

Customizing WWP Templates l Options depend on the output format l You can customize: –Page templates and their Navigation controls –Paragraph, Character, Table, and other styles l You can add functionality, such as: –“View PDF” or “View Code Examples” buttons –“Bread Crumbs” navigation cues (view demonstration)

Adding Automation l Pre-processing: clear change bars, update crossrefs, and generate PDFs l File Copying: splash screens, PDFs, README files, and quick reference cards l Post-processing: extract code examples from HTML files, check for missing files, and prepare release “kits”

Where to get more information l Download slides or questions: – l WebWorks info: –Quadralay Corp: –WWP Users Yahoo! Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/wwp-users –

More information (continued) l Tool comparisons: – –Excellent article by Char James-Tanney: –Help Authoring Tools & Techniques Yahoo! group: groups.yahoo.com/group/HATT