An Overview of Single Sourcing with an XML Content Management System
Creating an XML-based Content Management System to single-source technical publications is as simple as 1 - 2 - 3. OK, maybe it isn't quite that easy, but this article discusses how it can be done.
Sapir, Rick. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>XML
A Case Study in Developing Dynamic Content at Ontario Systems
Charles Cantrell, an Information Engineer, describes Ontario Systems' process for delivering dynamically assembled and populated documentation for Artiva, its 'highly customizable' accounts receivable management application.
Cantrell, Charles. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Documentation>Content Management
Customizing the Appearance of Your Manual, Help System, and HTML Help System 
Doc-To-Help gives Help authors complete control over the look, feel, and content of a project's printed manual, Windows Help system, HTML files, and HTML Help system. Maintaining different content is controlled using Doc-To-Help's conditional text feature, which allows authors to mark content for print-only, online-only, WinHelp-only, and so on. In this article we discuss how you control the appearance of the printed manuals and Help using Word templates, and HTML output using cascading style.
ComponentOne (1999). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Documentation
Egoless Writing: Improving Quality by Replacing Artistic Impulse With Engineering Discipline

When technical communicators have a strong personal attachment to the publication they are preparing, this attachment may interfere with the design and testing of the publication itself. Documents developed by solo authors tend to be late, buggy, and exceedingly difficult for others to maintain. 'Ego-less' methods---collaborative and structured---break the proprietary connection between the writer and the book; in so doing they permit the most powerful tools of engineering and testing to be used. But they also reduce the satisfactions of the communicator's job.
Weiss, Edmond H. Journal of Computer Documentation (2002). Articles>Content Management>Documentation
Going Online: A Case Study in the Development and Implementation of Netscape NetHelp 
Computerized Medical Systems, Inc. (CMS) - the worldâ*™s leading radiation therapy planning (RTP) company with over 1000 installed RTP systems and over 400 installed dosimetry systems - decided in late 1996 to move existing FOCUS documentation online. Reasons for this included: the existing documentation set perceived as too difficult to use; increasing printing cost; and customer feedback. Using Netscape NetHelp as a basis, the CMS documentation staff reduced printed documentation size by two-thirds while making the information more accessible. Reactions to FOCUSHelp have been highly favorable. Future plans include migrating to the NetHelp2 framework and reducing topic lengths.
Rupel, Roberta A., Ellard Douglas, Bill Bledsoe and Frank Watson. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Help
Implementing a Document Control System 
Document control is a major component of any quality system. To implement a document control system, first establish Policies/procedures for generating, approving, issuing, and revising documents. The next step is to design and implement forms and a filing system/data base for managing quality documents. Teamwork and established guidelines can help ease the complexities of implementing a document control system.
Matthews, Diane L. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Content Management
Is a Documentation Wiki in your Future?
If we can solicit user participation in a Web 2.0 knowledge community (a volunter wiki documentation, for example), we might have a powerful means for creating high quality content. But how should this process work?
Hackos, JoAnn T. Center for Information-Development Management (2007). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Wikis
Microcontent refers to small, granular, and possibly representative (that can provide a summary of or a navigation to a larger set of information) bits of information, typically available on the Web. An example in the domain of journalism might be headlines and news summaries, small bits of content that can be used on a front page of the news with links to more in-depth articles. The definition has grown in scope as much as in its application.
Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Technical Writing
Moving Legacy Documentation into DITA: An Interview
JoAnn Hackos, content management and information design expert, gives her best advice on what organizations need to know about moving legacy documentation to DITA.
Hackos, JoAnn T. Data Conversion Laboratory (2007). Articles>Documentation>Content Management
The New World of Product Labeling: Alternative Architectures and Approaches 
A discussion of the shift to structured content in pharmaceutical product labeling, which builds upon SPL and PIM regulations and the fundamental concepts of enterprise content management.
Glemser Technologies (2005). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Biomedical
Restructuring Your User Information 
Details a process for improving the usability, consistency, and organization of user information within businesses that maintain medium to large documentation libraries.
Richards, Charles. Intercom (2003). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Usability
Structured Document Processors: Customizing Software to Control Document Development Processes 
Structured document processors (SDPS) enable companies to make document production more efficient and accurate, while improving reliability of documents that must be updated frequently or written to very strict format standards. Achieving these goals requires elaborate and highly technical customization of the SDP. This paper emphasizes the importance of collaboration in customizing SDPS to particular document development processes. Three case histories illustrate the spectrum of ways industry is using SDPS for writing, showing three different approaches to customizing SDPS.
Norman, Rose L. and Daryl A. Grider. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Content Management>Documentation
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
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
Getting FLOSSy: Acrobat Killer Or HAT Replacement?
Some writers truly hate Adobe Acrobat and any tool that can do the job better is worth a shot, particularly if it’s open source and easily navigated. Flossmanuals.net introduces FLOSS which does a lot of the single desktop Acrobat Pro’s job - collaboratively and open source.
Jeter, Charles. Charles Jeter (2008). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Software
It's In The Mix: The Next Generation Of Open Source Publishing
The same principles behind music remixing are at the heart of a hugely important open source software documentation experiment, taking place on the web today. It’s called FLOSS Manuals, a content remixing project that provides its website visitors with the ability to read, write and remix documentation.
Abel, Scott. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Personalization
Consolidating Content Delivers More with Less
Software products have found ways to share content and reuse content to deliver more value with limited resources. For example, fantasy football web sites share player news, injury reports, and game statistics. Security products often reuse security announcements and warnings from trusted sources, and present them as rebranded content. We are also seeing software vendors using Twitter and RSS feeds to distribute information and announcements. The next step is when these information feeds are integrated into the product user interface itself, making it the one stop resource for all the information needs of its users. No more need to use google when your product itself delivers the answers to all your questions from the sources you trust.
Answers for All (2009). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Help
The founder of FLOSS manuals discusses the intersection of books and Web 2.0 and the continuing evolution of publishing and technology.
Hyde, Adam. Intercom (2009). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Wikis
Advantages of Using Microsoft SourceSafe While Writing Your Technical Documents
Microsoft’s Visual SourceSafe was not created with technical communicators in mind. It was created for engineers writing software source code. But it is successfully used by technical writers in offices around the world to control documentation.
Technical Communication Center (2009). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Technical Writing
Authoring Eclipse Help Using DITA
This page contains information about how to use DITA for authoring Eclipse Help.
Eclipsepedia (2007). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>DITA
Editing Modular Documentation: Some Best Practices

The authors have come up with eight guidelines and three concrete suggestions on best practices for editing modular documentation, including ensuring that all topics are standalone, that titles are unique and descriptive, and more.
Strimling, Yoel and Michelle Corbin. Intercom (2009). Articles>Content Management>Editing>Documentation
Hey Rocky – Watch Me Pull a CMS Out of My HAT

When companies decide whether or not to adopt a CMS or continue using a HAT, there are many factors to consider. Perlin outlines elements of both CMSs and HATs that could help you determine which is best for your organization.
Perlin, Neil E. Intercom (2009). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Software
The Many Faces of Content Management: A Primer
None of the technologies mentioned so far support the production of content for purposes of producing technical documentation. Such a system is a specific type of content management that has specialized functions for technical communicators doing multi-channel publishing, yet it hasn't spun off its own specific acronym.
Bailie, Rahel Anne. STC San Diego (2006). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Technical Writing
Wiki-fying Docs: Is Using Customer-Accessible Wikis for End-User Documentation Gaining Momentum?
While the effort to provide more interactivity and power to the end-user seems to suggest that we open up a wiki to allow them to add and edit content, the basic idea of a set of edited documentation is now challenged with a social network of participating customers, all of whom may now edit, add, and delete content. How social can you go? This article is an attempt to look at the process of evaluating the use of a wiki for end-user documentation, if such a thing can exist. Are the two types of customer content — wikis and end-user documentation — mutually exclusive?
Kent, Betsy and Bill Albing. KeyContent.org (2009). Articles>Documentation>Content Management>Wikis
Architecting User Assistance Topics for Reuse: Case Examples in DITA
In this column, I’ll review what user assistance architects mean by reuse and what its benefits can be. I’ll then describe some different scenarios for reuse and offer guidelines that user assistance architects and information developers can follow. My examples show how DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) can be an effective reuse framework. But the principles I discuss go beyond DITA, and you can apply them to any structured information framework or toolset.
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2009). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>DITA
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