Survey

[Bill Swallow]

Hi Guadalupe,

I'm not an independent contractor nor a translator, but we localize
our Help using FM and WWP into 20 languages. I'll try to answer your
questions as best possible.

> Are you a freelance translator or a company?

No but we do localize our FM files and do single-source into print,
PDF, HTML, and various Help formats.

> How do you receive help files in FrameMaker format? (If not, the survey is
> over)

We author almost exclusively in FM for all our deliverables, and
exclusively in FM for all PDF/print/single-sourced deliverables.

> How have you heard from WebWorks Publisher from FrameMaker?

I've been using it for 8 years now. :-)

> When you receive a FrameMaker file to translate, what is the most part of
> the time?
> (Manuals, Help files...)

It's all single-sourced...

> When do you use Webworks what is generally the template the most used?

We mainly use the HTML Help 1.x and WebWorks Help templates. We do
some work with JavaHelp and OracleHelp but very little.

> Do you often create a WWP template from scratch?

I assume you're looking for whether translators use their clients'
templates or they build them from scratch. We maintain our own
templates and mandate that translators use them (in the event they are
producing the Help themselves... sometimes we just ask for the
translated FM files back and we do our own single-sourcing of the
translated content in house).

> If so, specify the main problems to take into account when creating a
> template for WWP.

You're at the mercy of the FM files and how consistent they are. My
group is fairly rigid with regard to style usage, so there are little
if any overrides to worry about, and no unique styles to worry about.
We use the same WWP templates across all of our books (in the
hundreds).

My advice to you, as a localizer, is to offer tiered pricing for the
work you are performing. Basically, the more work it is to produce
final deliverables, the more you should be charging. Charge a base
rate for actual translation, another for FM content cleanup (remove
overrides and the like), another for single-sourcing the content, and
another for building templates from scratch. Layer the rates as
appropriate. You'll be compensated for your time and it may teach your
clients to be neater about authoring and maybe stick to a template.

Now, with regard to your questions about how difficult it is to use
WWP to create templates, I have to say it's quite easy, provided that
your FM content is consistent in formatting and follows a template. If
your FM content is a mess, using WWP becomes excruciatingly difficult.
But creating templates in WWP is in itself a very simple
straight-forward process, in my opinion. Of course, I've been using
the product for 8 years... but I also have to say that the UI and
capabilities in WWP now are far superior to what we had to work with
back in 1998.

--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
42.8162,-73.7736
http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
============================
I support Char James-Tanny for STC Secretary.