Using the Single-Source Wizards in RoboHELP 2000 for WinHelp

HTML Help is the Windows Help standard for 32-bit operating systems (for example, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000). Your users must have Internet Explorer installed on their systems (or at least the necessary core components).

James-Tanny, Char. HelpStuff (2000). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>RoboHelp

Using WordPress to Build Websites Instead of Blogs

One of the things I like about WordPress is its versatility. WordPress isn’t just blogging software. With the right theme, you can build a website that doesn’t resemble a blog at all. Essentially, writers who become familiar with WordPress become empowered as web designers as well.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Content Management>Software

Using XML in Databases

Today, we can find many applications to manage XML content that demonstrate the power and flexibility that can only be achieved through XML-native databases. Information intensive companies such as the airline and manufacturer described in this paper have achieved significant technical and business benefits from their use of XML standards and database technology over alternative approaches.

Waldt, Dale. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Databases>XML

Using XSLT for Content Management

Introduces XM (XSLT Make), a simple and affordable Web publishing content-management solution that takes advantage of XML and XSLT. Code samples show the development of a wrapper for the XSLT to make it easy for a nonprogrammer to use. XM project code is available by link.

Marchal, Benoit. IBM (2001). Articles>Content Management>XML>XSL

Virtual Documents: The Challenges of Chunking

Beware the virtual document! It may look harmless. It certainly looks helpful. It will lure you with a siren's song of reusable content components that enhance flexibility and improve efficiency. And then, if you're not careful, it will smash you into pieces upon the rocky shores of complexity.

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (1999). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Waarom CMS-Systemen Overbodig Zijn

Ik heb mij altijd verbaasd hoe partijen als Vignette, Broadvision en Tridion zo veel geld konden verdienen. Ik was niet echt onder de indruk van de software, en tal van implementaties toonde aan dat er vaak problemen mee gemoeid zijn. Het gaat slecht in de markt van de standaard content management systemen. Kees van Mourik van OoipTech legt zijn vinger op de zere wonde en kijkt vooruit.

van Mourik, Door Kees. de Lijst (2002). (Dutch) Articles>Content Management>Professionalism

We Neurotic Amateurs: A Commentary on Edmond H. Weiss's "Egoless Writing: Improving Quality by Replacing Artistic Impulse with Engineering Discipline"    

The assertion that technical communicators tend to be 'amateurs'--that is, lovers of our own work--is a claim with little foundation. Arguments toward regimentation and systematization of documentation writing are not calls to professionalize a currently-immature field, but rather attempts to emulate the hierarchy we have seen implemented in microprocessor engineering in the 1970s, software development in the 1980s, and content management in the 1990s. Such 'egoless' methods may offer advantages to employers, but should not necessarily be considered 'progress.'

Sauer, Geoffrey. Journal of Computer Documentation (2002). Articles>Content Management>Documentation

Web Books: Publishing Large Scientific and Technical Documents Simultaneously on the World Wide Web and on Paper  

That we need to write separate documents for on-line display and the printed page is a technical writers’ axiom, but using a single source has practical advantages. Tools that enable you to write and print with a desktop-publishing program and automatically convert to an on-line format make writing and maintenance easier and keep information consistent. FrameMaker serves as a useful and widely-used desktop-publishing package and WebMaker converts FrameMaker sources to HTML for the World Wide Web.

Jackson, Ken and Sonya E. Keene. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Web Two-Point Uh-Oh  

The problem with many Web 2.0 applications is the assumption that the community's motives are good, or at least neutral. Perlin's column explores how one of the drawbacks of Web 2.0--potential loss of control over information--has manifested itself.

Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Content Management

WebWorks Publisher In Action: A Project Management Perspective  

From October 2001 through August 2002, a team of two technical authors converted the documentation for a Web Content Management System from a series of static manuals to a single-sourced, dynamically delivered context-sensitive online help/print manual combination. This paper covers the challenges encountered and overcome when resources became more scarce and demands rose. It offers some technical insight in the application of Adobe FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher Professional to achieve the goal of manageable documentation.

Gill, Harold B., III and John Swymer. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Content Management>Project Management>Case Studies

WebWorks Publisher: Jumping into the Details  

Desprez illuminates some of the advanced features of Quadralay's WebWorks Publisher, a software package that allows single-sourcing from Adobe FrameMaker to online documents. For a discussion of WebWorks tailored to beginners, see Wendy G. Beren's article 'WebWorks Publisher: Can It Convert You?'

Desprez, Robert R. Intercom (2001). Articles>Content Management>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

What is the Purpose of a CMS Tender?

There are a number of processes used to select and purchase a content management system (CMS). Many of these involve the creation of a tender document. Beyond this core goal, it is worth reviewing what the purpose of a CMS tender is.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Legal>Contracts

What is Wiki?

Wiki is a category of web server software that allows users to contribute content. Collaboration is the key to Wiki, which is designed as a powerful system for online communities to build web pages and web sites. Unlike blogs and forums, all users are allowed to contribute and edit existing content. Wiki is derived from the Hawaiian term "wiki wiki" meaning "quick". The concept behind a Wiki is that collaboration on projects will move it along quicker.

Small Business Software (2007). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Wikis

What They're Saying About CMS and XML

Assuming the tools are now within the range of an average small to medium business and all the other costs associated with implementation are still there, what incentive is there for a business to want to change to CMS or XML?

Stuhlemmer, Barbara. ClearComm Information Design (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML

What's a CMS Lite?

What are we to think when so many products are being marketed these days as a CMS? For starters, content management seems to have won the day over many management software paradigms in the last decade or so. Companies that once did document management, knowledge management, information management, or--dare we remember--data management, all herald their products today as content management software.

Doyle, Bob. EContent (2005). Articles>Content Management

What's in a Word...

What is the real difference between a Content Management Framework and a Content Management System?

Byrne, Tony. CMSworks (2004). Articles>Content Management

What's the Best Content Management System? It Depends...

There are a dizzying number of systems on the market that are or can be referred to as Content Management Systems. Determining which content management system is right for you starts with an understanding of the different types of systems and the range of functionality available. Analyzing your needs is critical to selecting the right system.

Manning, Steve. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

When You Need to Localize and Categorize

Internationalization -- or 'I18N', a very geeky abbreviation referring to the number of letters left out -- is commonly defined as a set of practices intended to make software more 'localizable' by introducing layers of abstraction in the code and the data of an application. That way, it is easier to later modify the language, currency, date, and number format according to the requirements of a specific locale.

Donner, Christian. CMSwatch (2006). Articles>Content Management>Localization

Where is the Knowledge in a Content Management System?

This column aims to answer the question: where is the knowledge in a content management system (CMS)? In doing so, light will be shed upon the long-term value of a CMS in capturing organisational knowledge, and the role a CMS has to play in a broader knowledge strategy. Interestingly, the knowledge is not in the content itself. Instead, it's in the processes and practices that surround a content management system. By recognising the importance of these supporting activities, the greatest benefits can be gained from implementing the CMS, and the goals of the broader knowledge strategy can be met.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Knowledge Management

Which Hosted Wiki Is Right for You?

A look at three hosted wiki services that are free or relatively cheap to use and provide easy tools to set up your wiki within minutes.

Nesbitt, Scott. InformIT (2006). Articles>Web Design>Content Management

Whikibility Cultural Key Drivers: Quickness

The fact that a Workplace could be considered 'quick' is not properly linked with the easiness to find information or with the speedy level of the communications: in this context it is linked to the Wiki feature of assuring a real-time updating access to contents and resources (data, information or knowledge and physical resources).

Cammarata, Vincenzo. Grow Your Wiki (2007). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration>Wikis

Who is in Control?: The Logic Underlying the Intelligent Technologies Used in Performance Support    

Performance support (also called EPSS, for electronic performance support system) emerged from the instructional design and training communities because corporate enterprise systems were difficult for people to use, and the training needed to make them productive was expensive and time consuming. A good definition is that 'EPSS (Electronic Performance Support Systems) are systems that provide employees with the information, advice and learning experiences they need to get up to speed as quickly as possible and with the minimum of support from other people' (Raybould 1996). One of the issues in designing performance support is managing information overload. Two approaches are the use of agents and the presentation of information in visual form (called information visualization). The former looks for ways that computer programs can do work for users, sorting through data on their behalf; the latter looks for ways to present information so that users can directly access it through direct manipulation. You can do both, but the selection of each has an impact on the interaction style and the degree to which users can directly control the system. It is therefore an issue that any performance support system designer should consider carefully. This is a logical extension of the goal of easy-to-use programs, adding the requirement that the user interface be actively informative and helpful.

Quesenbery, Whitney. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Content Management>Workflow>EPSS

The Why and How of Content Convergence and Integration

Content producers are about to live through interesting times, to adapt the popular saying, with the dawning of The Age of Content. Industry is discovering content as a commodity; the rules are changing, and fast. What have traditionally been seen as the lowliest form of commercial content within an enterprise, technical manuals, are starting to take their place alongside the other valued corporate assets.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. Writing Assistance (2007). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Technical Writing