Gryphon Mountain Journals » InDesign

Why I Wasn't Sold on Single Sourcing (and Why I'm Changing My Mind)

Ben — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:43:34 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that one of my technical writing colleagues showed the user education team a spreadsheet where he had taken types of information, such as concepts, tasks, and frequently asked questions and indicated what types of deliverables it made sense to use them in.

Historically, I haven’t been a big fan of single sourcing content because I hate it when the content of the manual is exactly the same as the online help. I particularly remember trying to learn the basics of FrameMaker 7.2 in college, only to find that the lack of answers in the online help was duplicated in the manual on the computer lab shelf. So I think experiences like that—where someone thought single sourcing meant the exact same content in different formats—soured me on the idea of single sourcing.

In one project, we’re having to cut over from an old Business Objects environment to a new reporting environment. I was involved in the meeting where we planned how to manage the cutover. The program manager said that it depended on having a quick reference guide ready, something that described how to do the most important tasks in the new environment, such as scheduling reports, rescheduling, and changing preferences. Having already updated our application’s help on reporting, I could promise the guide would be ready in short order.

My single sourcing technique in this instance leaves a little to be desired, but I generated Word documents from RoboHelp of the topics I wanted in my guide. Then I imported them into InDesign using the Place function because InDesign is still my favored tool for quick reference guides. (This import actually works well if you have all styles accounted for in both documents and map the Word styles to InDesign styles.) It took me some time to massage the layout and edit the content (resulting in some changes to the original, so I admit it’s not true single sourcing), but the guide was done and ready for distribution in less than half a day.

It was with this task as a backdrop that I went to the team project review meeting and my colleague showed this spreadsheet. Because I had just used some help material to create a quick reference guide, I was seeing the merit of the kind of reuse his spreadsheet demonstrated.

So I’m changing my mind about single sourcing content. It’s about serving up different combinations of information to meet different audiences’ needs. It’s not so much about having the same content in different outputs, though that’s involved. I will be a bigger fan when it will mean authoring everything in one tool and being able to mix content and design more equally. Perhaps when I get into new projects with Flare, the templates (or master pages or whatever they’re called) will allow me to design print outputs to my satisfaction.

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Setting up a Table of Contents in InDesign CS3

Ben — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:45:09 +0000

Yes, I know CS3 isn’t the latest version, but due to trying to eliminate unnecessary expenses, our team isn’t getting CS4 at this point. I’m posting this more for myself because every time I need to do a TOC in InDesign, I’ve forgotten the details. (However, a colleague did ask about this today, so I’m posting it for our future reference.)

This procedure involves getting the styles for the TOC entries matched up correctly with various heading levels.

In the .indd file where the TOC will appear, create styles for the TOC entries; for example, TOC Level 1, TOC Level 2. Include any justification and tab leaders. I’ve found that to get the entry to run across the page, you have to choose Right Justify on the Indents and Spacing page of the Paragraph Style Options dialog. On the Tabs page, I also click the Right-Justified Tab button and put a space and a period in the Leader field. (The space keeps the periods from looking jammed together when I generate the TOC later.)
If the TOC is in a separate document from the rest of the content, import the paragraph styles (for example, heading 1 and heading 2) that you want to match to the TOC entries.
Go to Layout > Table of Contents Styles.
Click New.
Enter a name. The Title is the text that will show up at the top of the TOC, so enter something like “Contents.” In the Style box, pick the paragraph style that you want to use for the title—probably the same as whatever your level 1 heading is.
The Styles in Table of Contents section is for telling the TOC what text you want to show up. You choose the paragraph styles, and the TOC pulls in all text in those styles. Click a style in the Other Styles list and click Add. You have to select the styles in the order or hierarchy that you want them to show up in the TOC.
With a paragraph style selected in the Include Paragraph Styles box, set up how the entry should appear using the Style section. Choose one of the TOC styles you created in step one. For Between Entry and Number, I choose the Tab Character so it shows the space and period.
Under Options, I select Create PDF Bookmarks and Include Book Document (if I’m doing a book, of course).
Click OK. Then when you generate the TOC, go to Layout > Table of Contents, pick the TOC setup you just created, and then generate it.

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Tech Tip: Click-and-Drag Image Import

Ben — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:23:24 +0000

I figured this little technique out a while back and have been meaning to post the find. This technique that saves me a few clicks and some time. I stumbled across this because it just occurred to me once to try it with InDesign, and it worked. Later on, I figured if it worked in InDesign, then why not Fireworks? Lo and behold.

In both Adobe InDesign and Fireworks, you can import image files to the file you are currently viewing by clicking and dragging the file from Windows Explorer to the spread or canvas. (I would guess this also works on other platforms that support these programs.) This is a shortcut if you have Explorer open to the directory where you’re manipulating files. It saves going to File > Place (InDesign) or File > Import (Fireworks) and then browsing for the image file.

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