Tech Writing and Relational Theory

[David Blyth <dblyth -at- QUALCOMM -dot- COM>]

Chris Jacobs asks...

>Just returned from a week-long intensive relational database design/theory
>class, and I have some vague notions of how it could be applicable to
>designing technical docs - especially user's manuals and help - maybe HTML
>pages, too.  Has anyone out there done any work along these lines -- using
>data modeling, entity relationships, etc. to structure contents of/sets of
>documentation?  Has any research been done in this area?

I received a flyer on this yesterday at an Internet SIG meeting.  Here's
the relevant section.

  We (Digital Design and Electronic Publishing SIG) plan on
  exploring some of the new _liquid documents_ technology.
  Specifically, "Cold Fusion" by Allaire which allows Web
  page construction _on the fly_ from a database.  It saves
  both space on your server and time spent editing.  This
  is especially advantageous when Web Sites have a Calendar
  of events that constantly need updating.  This same
  technology can also be used with VRML.

  To see an example of data-based created Web pages, visit
  Gayle Kidder's Zoom San Diego and try the Zoom Searchlight.
  <http://www.zoomsd.com>

This is a local (San Diego) group, so yes, I plan on attending.

David (The Man) Blyth
Technical Writer & Web Site Designer
Qualcomm

The usual disclaimers apply - I don't speak for QUALCOMM, they don't speak
for me....