[Framers] Using Frame as a little CMS

[Tornquist, Patti]

We are using insets for reuse (and we use unstructured FM12).  So for content that is used in multiple places, we make it into a text inset and then we can edit in one place and use it in multiple places.

We log the insets in a spreadsheet by fm file name, topic title, writer, and last change date, and then we regularly run a book of books to identify text insets and determine if we're missing any in the spreadsheet.

We have two main problems:
- There is no way, other than our spreadsheet, to see where the text insets are used.  So if inset A is used in book A, B, and C, we can't tell that other than through the spreadsheet. You can't click the text inset and see where it's used.
- Also, if we need to find information and we search the book or books for that string, we can't find it as text insets aren't searchable.  

Also, we are evaluating Flare and looking into structured Frame.  We know that a tool change will not be easy, however, so we want to be certain it meets our needs in doc and helps the business.

Thanks, Patti 

________________________________________
From: robert.lauriston at gmail.com <robert.lauriston at gmail.com> on behalf of Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com>
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2016 11:35 AM
To: Tornquist, Patti; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: [Framers] Using Frame as a little CMS

Could you describe the end result? It's not exactly clear what you're
trying to accomplish. Are you generating multiple versions of a
document with different sets of insets? If so, how many documents and
how many insets?

Generally speaking, I would not try to do that with unstructured
FrameMaker. In that situation I'd be evaluating Flare and other tools
with stronger reuse capabilities.

That said, you could use Subversion or any similar revision control
system to group different sets of insets.

On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 5:53 AM, Tornquist, Patti
<patti.tornquist at teamquest.com> wrote:
> In several posts recently, Framers have mentioned using Frame as a CMS with text insets.  We are using text insets in Frame, but we're really struggling with the CMS part.  We are "managing" the insets in a spreadsheet and that is not very effective and takes quite a bit of maintenance.
>
> Could Framers who are using Frame as a CMS expound on that a bit?
>
> Thanks in advance for the insights --