online help

[Peter Gold]

Hi, Donna:

The mechanics, as Gillian noted, once you develop a reliable process 
stream, don't add much effort to creating the output.

However, if your requirements for content that's appropriate for help 
differ from content that's appropriate for your other delivery 
formats, you'll need to learn to mark the content for each, and 
process the outputs appropriately. Again, the hardware and software 
tools can do this without getting tired, but the authors need to be 
mindful of each audience and delivery method while developing the 
content.

You might want to post also to the lists at techwr-l.com, and the 
help authoring tools list, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hatt, for 
opinions on help authoring effort, practices, etc.

HTH
________________
Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

At 12:49 PM -0600 4/11/06, Donna Bodner wrote:
>Hello.  I work in Framemaker version 7.1, soon to upgrade to 7.2.  I 
>am toying with the idea of creating online help for some 
>applications that are currently documented in Framemaker as 
>unstructured files. This documentation is complex, and on average 
>the Frame files vary anywhere from 50 to 800 KB (over 4,000 files 
>for just one version). I am wondering what applications other Frame 
>documenters use to create online help?  Also, were  additional 
>employee resources needed in order to handle the task of online help 
>in addition to the normal documentation work load?