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Subject:RE: Queries on Single Sourcing From:Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- rainbow -dot- com> To:'Maritza van den Heuvel' <MaritzaV -at- stt-global -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 13 Feb 2004 15:45:53 -0500
Maritza van den Heuvel [mailto:MaritzaV -at- stt-global -dot- com] also bragged:
> If I weren't using a database-driven single-sourcing
> tool I would have gone stark raving mad by now.
>
> Yes, it takes time to chunk my information properly, and to
> always think of
> how and where I can embed existing material instead of
> writing new chunks
> from scratch. Also, thanks to the content vs. format split
> advocated and
> followed by single-sourcing tools, I can really focus on the
> content and
> worry about the format once the content is done, or
> inbetween, when I want
> to take a break from writing. I don't have to bother with
> importing and
> converting formats and tweaking until the cows come home to
> get the desired
> effect in the final outputs. I let the output templates (some
> of which I've
> customised or am in the process of customising) take care of
> that for me.
Well dang it! I'll ask you the same question that I asked
that other fella about his XML (and don't see a reply yet,
but I'll check the spam folder just in case...):
What tools are you using, and what is your work flow?
We hear a lot of lovely verbiage about single-source and
content repositories and all that (and I just spewed some
of it), but what I want is to get a feel for how it is
actually being used by somebody who is actually using
it. Concrete examples with circles and arrows and
sidebars about how this or that procedure or software
fits into the next step... and what you'd do differently,
knowing what you know, now.
High-toned arguements are fine, but as the salespeople
know, what sells is stories. Detailed, "you were there"
stories. What's especially important is that when
you get to the big black box in the middle of your
flow chart that says "and magic happens here"... you
pull aside the cover and explain any magic (i.e., any
places where you had to bridge the gap between commercial
software and desired results... say, with scripts and
macros that you wrote yourself).
Feel free to ignore me. I know you are busy. But if
you do have a moment to enlighten us, I'd be pleased
to hear the true-romance story with names.
Ooo! Ooo! Or write it up for Eric's web site and then
publish the link, here.