Re: in search for better tools

[beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Valerie,

I don't know why people are steering you away from Flare.

Frame is great - I used it for 12 years - but it's not an authoring tool.
Flare gives you a facile XML-based environment to work in and maximum
flexibility in outputs. Flare also does all the other things you mentioned.
It imports Frame files very well. It also supports variables and conditional
text. And if you don't want to go with structured authoring (although that's
a good idea) or XML scripting to create customized outputs, it's built for
that non-corporate, individual-writer, turnkey approach to authoring.

There is, however, a learning curve, so you have to figure out exactly what
you need (PDF? HTML Help? WebHelp? Air? Word? XHTML?) before you make that
investment. MIF2GO / WebWorks / Help&Manual might be enough for you.

I'm not selling it - in fact it looks like I'm going to have to stop using
it and move to XMetaL because Flare is not yet fully DITA-compliant, and I
am in a corporate environment that requires it. But it's a great tool with a
great support organization behind it, and I hate to see it disregarded when
it might be the very thing that would work best for you.

HTH.

Bee

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>wrote:

> In FrameMaker 5.5, the maxium number of variables was 2^24. I don't
> know if it has increased.
>
> I worked on an API reference with thousands of variables (they were
> exported from the source code so any change to the code was
> automatically updated in Frame).
>
> 2009/12/8 Combs, Richard <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>:
> > I've created books that contain well over a hundred variables. I don't
> know if there is a limit, but I'll bet you don't encounter it. :-)
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
> Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
> http://www.doctohelp.com/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing
> --
> generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need
> from just one project. Fast and intuitive.  http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. True single- sourcing -- 
generate 8 different formats and as many different versions as you need 
from just one project. Fast and intuitive.  http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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