[Framers] [EXTERNAL] Re: Pros/Cons: Separate file per chapter, or one REALLY BIG FILE for an entire book

[Flummerfelt, Robert]

I agree with Rick Quatro.

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers [mailto:framers-bounces+flummerc=nv.doe.gov at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 1:06 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Framers] Pros/Cons: Separate file per chapter, or one REALLY BIG FILE for an entire book

I thought you were talking about separate .fm files for ease of generating separate PDFs.

Otherwise, individual .fm files for each chapter seem to me like a relic of the days when computers didn't have enough memory to handle a whole book.

If you have to embed the graphics, that might be a special case for multiple .fm files.

On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 12:42 PM, Lin Sims <ljsims.ml at gmail.com> wrote:
> The book PDFs usually run in the 3-10MB range. Individual chapters in
> FM format can run up to 30MB or more. And as Rick said, we're talking
> about a single FM file per chapter in a book, then generating a single
> PDF for the book, not separate PDFs for each chapter.
>
> (I wish we could reference images, but we've got an "interesting"
> hybrid setup that also involves a content management system, and the
> unstructured FM users have to embed the graphics.)
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Robert Lauriston
> <robert at lauriston.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> I always do one file, unless it gets so big that there are download
>> problems. Then everything can be cross-referenced. You can have
>> cross-PDF links, but they're more problematic. As a user, I always
>> find it frustrating when large documents are split up.
>>
>> How big is the file if you generate one big PDF for the book?
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 10:46 AM, Lin Sims <ljsims.ml at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Pretty much what it says in the title. I'm guessing there have been
>> > discussions about this in the past, and I plan to look for those,
>> > but I thought I'd toss this out there anyway.
>> >
>> > We're talking chapters that can run a couple hundred (or more)
>> > pages loaded with tables, graphics, and conditional text so that
>> > they can be used to single-source multiple documents (no, don't
>> > talk to me about DITA, my non-tech-writing boss wants it in
>> > unstructured).
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