<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Hi Gillian<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Why would you have to hire someone to write scripts if you do DITA?<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Just like Art, I'd use FM with DITA-FMx. If you know how to create "unstructured" Fm templates, you can easily learn how to modify the "component templates" that come with DITA-FMx. Actually, the process is quite simple:<br><ol><li>You "map" the formats from your unstructured template to the formats in the DITA-FMx component templates. For example, take the "Heading 1" paratag from your template and rename it to "title.0".<br></li><li>You import the formats from your unstructured Fm template into one or more DITA-FMx component templates.</li></ol><p>Basically, that's it! No scripts required at all. Later, you may want to finetune your component templates, which may imply:</p><ul><li>Customizing the EDD and/or<br></li><li>Buying some (inexpensive) DITA-FMx add-ons, for example to insert (warning) symbols</li></ul><p>Cheers</p>Yves Barbion<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.scripto.nu">www.scripto.nu</a><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 2:55 PM, Art Campbell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:art.campbell@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.campbell@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">I think you answered your own question -- if you do need custom scripts to do DITA and the company can't afford it, it can't afford it.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Given that you probably know FM better than Flare, I'd do FM over Flare because unstructured Flare isn't going to buy you much, if anything, and there's still a steep learning curve.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">If it was me, and it was a newish project without tons of legacy content for conversion, I'd use FM with FMx.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">If there are tons of legacy content, I'd probably run unstructured Frame and convert later when there was time and money available.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><span class=""><br clear="all"><div><div>Art Campbell <a href="mailto:art.campbell@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.campbell@gmail.com</a><br> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson<br> No disclaimers apply.<br> DoD 358<br><br>I support <a href="http://www.TheGrotonLine.com" target="_blank">www.TheGrotonLine.com</a>, hyperlocal news for Groton MA.</div></div>
<br></span><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 8:08 PM, Gillian Flato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gill6034@comcast.net" target="_blank">gill6034@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div>Art,</div><div><br></div><div>What I am trying to decide is if I should go with Tech Comm Suite or Flare/Flare help at a job. If I do unstructured Frame, I can create templates myself. If I do Structured Frame with DITA FMx, I can struggle with it and eventually do it. If I do DITA, I have to hire someone to write scripts which the company can’t afford. I was trying to find out if Flare was a better alternative than Frame/Robohelp.</div><span><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div>-Gillian</div></font></span><div><div class="h5"><div><div><div><br></div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Apr 12, 2015, at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell <<a href="mailto:art.campbell@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.campbell@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">DITA is a standard for producing documentation.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Frame, Flare, and a small herd of other editors can create documents that support the DITA standards.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">So you're kind of asking an apples and oranges question -- one doesn't equal the other; the editors all have different ways of producing content that adheres to one or move of the DITA versions.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">________________</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">And when you're talking about modifying "their" templates, are you talking about DITA templates or Flare? </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Flare's, generally, are based on cascading style sheets with some weird twists; they are customized for the particular output "target" -- online help, PDF, what have you, so an H1 will likely be different sizes, fonts, and so on depending on what output format you're creating</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div>Art Campbell <a href="mailto:art.campbell@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.campbell@gmail.com</a><br> "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson<br> No disclaimers apply.<br> DoD 358<br><br>I support <a href="http://www.thegrotonline.com/" target="_blank">www.TheGrotonLine.com</a>, hyperlocal news for Groton MA.</div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 3:52 PM, Gillian Flato <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gill6034@comcast.net" target="_blank">gill6034@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">How does Flare compare to DITA? It seems like you get all of the advantages of topic-baesd authoring, without having to have someone write scripts for you. Has anyone tried modifying their templates? How easy or difficult is that. How is their help file making product?<br>
<br>
Thanks<br>
Gillian<br>
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