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Even though I'm "moving to ID6', I still have QXP8 and there's nothing to stop me from using them both. Also, I mothball all my instructional materials every three years anyway in an attempt to keep things fresh, relevant and to push myself to rethink my own methods (both in terms of providing instruction and - my real interest - creating instructional materials).
However, that doesn't mean that the conversion is an indulgence. There's a lot of formatting I don't want to recreate as well as some content that is stipulated and unchanging. My current cycle is only two years in, so either I go on using QXP along with ID for another year or I switch fully over to ID now. I was hoping to do the latter if there were a conversion program available. I was thinking it might be a useful bit of coding practice to make my own if there was not and I could get some tips on what needs to be done. But since neither seems forthcoming so far, maybe I'll end up using both.
The downside to that is I'm very comfortable with QXP, still a beginner with ID. If push comes to shove (i.e., need to get stuff done in a hurry), I'll naturally default to QXP. I was hoping that if I could convert all my stuff over to ID, not only would this be a good learning process in itself (conversions are never perfect and stuff always needs tinkering with), but it would encourage me to plug away at ID even when it would be easier to use QXP.
On 7 Nov 2012, at 23:21, Tony Chung <tonyc -at- tonychung -dot- ca> wrote:
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> So then, this sounds like you are interested in playing with a solution, not necessarily because the task needs to be done. You like to figure stuff out, and would enjoy the challenge to convert existing documents by extracting the content from its wrapper. That's a good reason to keep searching, and I hope you find something.
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> For me, If the manuals are important, I would be inclined to recreate them from scratch, using my own styles, directly in InDesign.
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> If time was not an issue, I would extend this to benefit future generations. I would explore a solution built on DITA, a specification/process/methodology that I understand conceptually and have had peripheral experience with.
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> This method would accommodate several publishing options, including eBooks, HTML, and even XML to import into InDesign for further layout and control.
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> But then there's iBooks Author...
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> -Tony
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> On Wednesday, November 7, 2012, sphilip wrote:
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> So, to answer Tony's question - how long it would take me isn't an issue. It's more of a case of whether I have the requisite skills - and right now I don't know enough about what is required to know whether it's within my skill set. I would be willing and interested to learn, and I would - if I were successful - be interested in making any script or app open-source for others. However, I don't know enough about what files and formats need converting to make .qxp files open in InDesign. If anyone can give me some pointers, I'd be happy to investigate further on my own.
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