I'm looking at buying Author for Word, and I have some questions, some of
which are "techie." Thanks in advance for any responses!
1) If you paste in ascii text that includes SGML codes (for example the
string "<c level = "item"> <did> <unittitle> Folder Title </unittitle>
</did> </c>" ) will the software know to treat the portions of the string
that are SGML codes as code and the portion of the string that is text as
text? Or, to do this, would one have to "import" such a string? If so,
how difficult is importing a portion of a finding aid?
2) What methodology works best for you when using this product for
retrospective conversion?
3) Does it display hierarchy in a helpful way?
4) The microsoft web site indicates that when one saves a document
instance, Word/Author makes it comply with the DTD and will make and
annotate changes to the document instance. Has this been problematic? (My
experience with Microsoft Word with the "save as HTML" feature is that it
adds all kinds of extra, useless, stupid, and sometimes descructive coding.
I'm very concerned that it will treat my careful SGML coding the same way.)
5) Does it allow one to turn off this validation?
6) Does one have to compile the DTD to another file, such as Author/Editor
"rules" or WordPerfect "logic" file, and if so, does the software allow a
user to do this, or, if a user is in a networked environment, does s/he
have to contact tech support people to create these files? I'm looking for
some experience that might clarify what the microsoft web site says:
"Administrators can use the highly flexible point-and-click management
tools to easily configure SGML Author to work with any Document Type
Definition (DTD)."
Thanks,
Kate
______________________________________________
Kate Bowers
Processing Archivist
Harvard University Archives
Cambridge, MA 02138
voice: (617) 495-2461
fax: (617) 495-8011
email: [log in to unmask]
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