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My reading of the initial note was that he was tasked to produce *both* a larger format of an updated manual *and* a smaller one. For that purpose, XML/XSLT might make sense...especially for any alterations the instructor might require later.
In addition, it would be nearly certain to increase a grade substantially in the context of a college class on tech writing. In fact, the student could propose to the instructor an extra credit bit, consisting of examples of reformatting the text using XSLT techniques. Short of that, being able to do so by applying a different stylesheet might also be conducive to extra grade consideration.
My advice was based upon the somewhat artificial context of a student project rather than a real-world task of a "one-off" assignment.
David
-----Original Message from David Blyth <dblyth -at- qualcomm -dot- com>-----
Hi all;
>>My first assignment is to update and then produce a smaller version of
>>a user guide that is mostly text and some screen caps.
>Otherwise, yes, you *should* reformat it if the reduction is very severe.
>Personally, I'd be tempted to do the project in XML and use one of the
>XSLT methods to produce both versions.
You can make a much smaller UG by just editing the doc and cleaning up
the screen shots. _Then_ think about reuse.
For as much as I love XML and write both Perl & XSLT, a poorly written
XML doc is.... poorly written. Reusing a trashy XML UG will just
create 2 or more trashy UGs. Hmmm.
David S. Blyth
Staff Technical Writer
QCT Division
QUALCOMM
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