Reasons to Structure

[Maxwell Hoffmann]

Matt,

All of the reasons for migrating to structure listed so far by other
members are excellent. Another consideration is that structure (with
containing elements and "context" for content) makes it much easier to
write more effective FrameMaker plug-ins. To quote a portion of a white
paper on our website:

"The presence of elements corresponding to specific, meaningful blocks
of the FrameMaker document simplifies the process of writing code to
locate or manipulate those blocks. Instead of implementing a complex
search for a specific pattern of paragraph formats or text, the code to
find an element can be much shorter and simpler to write. Attributes
(metadata) associated with those elements can also be used by plug-ins
to specify the nature of changes that the plug-in should make to the
appropriate part of a document."

We have written several customer-specific FrameMaker plug-ins to help
automate formatting and production in post-translation documents. To
read our article "FrameMaker Plug-Ins, Structure, and Localization" by
our lead developer Doug Pearson, go to the following link:

http://www.translate.com/technology/multilingual_standard/framemaker_plu
g_ins_structure_and_localization.htm

(you may have to edit the line endings in the URL if it is broken into 2
lines by e-mail formatting.) I hope you find this helpful.


    >MATT TODD <mtodd at arielcorp.com> wrote:
    >[snip]
    >
    >So tell me...why structure documentation? I don't know enough to
answer
    >that question, and neither do my bosses. What's so great about it?
What
    >capabilities does it offer that demand its use? Right now, I'm just
    >doing what I'm told, but it's always nice to found actions on solid
    >reason.
    >
    >Matt


Maxwell Hoffmann
Manager of Consulting & Training Solutions
ENLASO Corporation
T: 805 494 9571 * F: 805 435 1920
E: mhoffmann at translate.com 
ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise language solutions and
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