Variables based on paragraph tags at the book level

[Alison Craig]

We do a lot of translation, but I have never encountered this - thanks for the warning of something to watch for.

As we were recently acquired and my translation will now be managed through the documentation department at our Danish "sister" company, it's definitely something I'll follow up on with them.


Alison Craig  |  Technical Documentation Lead
Ultrasonix Medical Corporation  |  #130 - 4311 Viking Way, BC, Canada  V6V2K9
T 604-279-8550 ext. 127  |  F 604-279-8559  |  TF 1-866-437-9508  |  www.ultrasonix.com
 


-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of David Shaked
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 12:50 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Variables based on paragraph tags at the book level

> Document titles, product names, and version numbers are exactly the 
> sorts
of things for which you should define user variables. 
> And use them not just in the footer, but on the title page and throughout.
When marketing decides to change the product name, 
> you'll be glad it's a variable.

I couldn't agree more. This is especially important when the vendor has partners who market the product under their own name. The same document might be released with multiple product names. But I have experienced some grammatical issues when using variables. For example:

- The first letter of the original product name was a consonant. The first letter of the partner's proposed name was a vowel. We would have had to change "a" to "an" throughout, or insert "a" and "an" as variables. 

- The original product name was masculine in French. The partner's proposed name was feminine. The grammar of the existing French translation would have been corrupted.

We persuaded marketing to give the partners some naming guidelines. They could select any product name they like, provided that it begins with a consonant and it is masculine in all relevant languages. The partners accepted this, and it worked out fine.

I'm curious: Have others experienced this kind of issue with variables? How did you handle it?

David Shaked (Wernick)

AlmondWeb Ltd.
http://www.almondweb.com
Technical Documentation * Web Development * Word and WebWorks Consultants
 

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