Re: Looking for questions to ask in Arbortext training
I will be going to training September 12-14 for Arbortext Editor.
I haven't used the tool yet, but have installed the 14-day demo. I
plan to try converting existing FrameMaker and Word documents into
Editor's XML to see where I might get stuck.
For those who have used or currently use Arbortext Editor, can you
think of good questions to ask in class, or procedures to have
demonstrated?
From the perspective of an author using Editor vs. FrameMaker, thereisn't much to say. Editor makes different assumptions about
presentation of material to the author than FrameMaker. WYSIWYG is not
a goal. They say, "What you see is enough." Or something like that.
Most of what you (or someone else at your company) needs to know has
to do with the costs/benefits to your overall process, not the details
of how to use Editor. In my experience, Editor is not typically
deployed to a single desktop. Rather it is a component of an
Enterprise publishing system often including a Content Management
system.
I will assume that you will be creating PDF files? How do you plan to
do this? Will you "print" the PDFs locally on your PC using Arbortext
Print Composer? This is an expensive license separate from the Editor.
Will you be using Arbortext Publishing Engine? This is an Enterpise
priced, server-based version of the Print Composer (this is somewhat
of an over-simplification but good enough, probably, for this
discussion). If so, will you be using Adobe Acrobat Server (this used
to be quite expensive, I don't know their current pricing models,
though)? Or will you be using Arbortext's implementation of PDF Direct
(I can never remember if they acquired or licensed this non-Adobe PDF
generating technology)?
When I say "expensive," what I mean is the costs exceed "normal"
end-user application pricing. Sometimes by adding zeros.
If you will be using PDF Direct you will also need to know your own
requirements about PDF file sizes ... meaning how small must they be
to satisfy your end-users download requirements, storage requirements,
etc. Publishing Engine / PDF Direct PDFs far exceed the size of
Distiller generated PDFs. Sometimes by factors of 10.
If you are going to another format instead of or in addition to PDF,
there are questions to ask there, too, but ... am running off to a
meeting.
--
Paul Nagai
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References:
Looking for questions to ask in Arbortext training: From: David Castro
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