Automating Development Tasks for a Large-Scale Help System

Although tools like eHelp's® RoboHELP® Classic can speed up and streamline the process of creating help topics, there are still many repetitive tasks needed to build a WinHelp system that supports a large, integrated application. This article summarizes one of the techniques that Fredrickson Communications used to automate the process of developing online help topics. Once the underlying structure and macros were in place, we were able to generate hundreds of help topics at the rate 15-20 per minute.

Lindsay, Bill. Frederickson Communications (2002). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Adobe RoboHelp

Developing a Single-Sourced Online Help System    

The definition of single sourcing continues to broaden in scope since its first mention in The Society of Technical Communication’s 46th Annual Conference publication. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for technical communicators to understand what single source means and, more importantly, choose a definition of single sourcing that correlates with their specific task. One “type” of single sourcing involves reusing information for multiple products. Several developers at IBM have produced a single-source online help system. Unlike other single-sourcing methods that require a significant investment and a high degree of technical experience, these methods are inexpensive and require a moderate, yet creative, technical aptitude.

Vicek, Keith, Phil Menzies and Andre Evans. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Online

A Quarky New Approach?

Sorry, guys, but what you're describing is "single sourcing" and it's been around for a while. And I don't think redefining "dynamic publishing" is going to work, either, because that term already means something.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Palimpsest (2008). Articles>Document Design>Single Sourcing>QuarkXPress

Single Source Documentation for Today

What happens when the software firm you work for decides it will not deliver large printed manuals any more? Then the request comes to put everything online. Six months later, user profiles shift to the World Wide Web and you're asked to deliver HTML. In the future, a database of SGML information chunks may let us deliver anything, any which way.

Stieren, Carl. Simware (1997). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Online

Managing Digital and Print Deliverables for Aviation Data

This paper discusses the rationale and design behind Jeppesen’s single-source publishing system. With the business needs to single-source publishing capabilities becoming more acute, Jeppesen partnered with Astoria Software to develop a solution. The result is a system based on commercial-off-the-shelf software, XML industry standards, and open-source tools.

Jones, Matthew and Bob Thomas. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Document Design>Single Sourcing>XML

Conditional Text and InDesign CS4

InDesign has always supported the use of layers, but layers don’t always cut it when working with text. You can put a text frame on a layer and turn that layer on and off as needed, but it’s an all or nothing approach. What if you want to show and hide individual words or paragraphs and have the text automatically rewrap when you show or hide those words? With conditional text, it’s a breeze.

White, Terry. Layers Magazine (2009). Articles>Document Design>Single Sourcing>Adobe InDesign