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Subject:Re: Multiple Platforms documentation From:Len Olszewski <saslpo -at- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 18 Jun 1996 16:53:06 GMT
In article <199606171359 -dot- IAA28049 -at- eagle -dot- abmdata -dot- com>, Melonie Holliman
<mrh -at- abmdata -dot- com> writes:
|> Howdy,
|>
|> Pam Shannon writes:
|>
|> >We document a software product that runs on many platforms,
|> >under several different operating systems. Functionality is
|> >more or less the same, and some topics apply to all configurations.
|> >But many do not.
[...]
|> We are going with a modular format. Our documentation includes
|> small paperback modules (booklets of 32-90 pgs), rather than chapters,
|> boxed together.
[...]
We document all portable features - features that do not behave
differently based on the platform on which the products run - in our
primary reference document sets. Our usage material is also all about
portable features only. For each platform our products support, we
produce "companions" which document only those features which behave in
a host-dependent manner, and the nature of the host dependency in each
case. We refer to host dependencies with callouts in the portable
documentation.
As we are moving to online implementations for our documentation, we
intend to ship host-specific features with each version of the product
that runs on that host, in addition to hardcopy companion reference
guides and all the portable information too.
We are moving to a single-source SGML system, BTW, using the same files
to produce books, help, and online documentation. So far, this seems to
be working out pretty well, though we are not yet fully deployed. Hope
this helps.
Cordially,
--
Len Olszewski My opinions; you go get your own.
saslpo -at- unx -dot- sas -dot- com
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