Adobe 65030089 User Guide - Page 225

219 Chapter 10: Conditional text Conditional text basics Conditional text lets you generate subsets of the content within a project for various purposes or audiences. You can create conditional build tags to exclude content from output, and then assign those tags to topics or elements within topics. Customize printed output Online documentation often contains elements that are not useful in a printed manual, such as text describing online features. You can tag these elements as conditional text and exclude them from the output. If the manual is a subset of the online documentation, you can apply a conditional build tag to the topics and topic content to include. Then apply another tag to the other elements. When you generate the project, you can exclude the online-only tag. Target custom content to specific audiences Sometimes topics pertain to products, experience levels, or types of users. Using conditional text, you can reduce the amount of information you deliver to each group. You can also eliminate notes explaining small differences between products. Deliver versions of an application To deliver demo, trial, and shareware versions of the application, you can omit topics in each version. Design and test conditional text 1 Determine the types of output needed, such as printed manuals or online tutorials; consider current and future requirements. Determine whether versions for different skill levels are required. 2 Determine which conditional build tags to apply to each output type. All untagged components are included in the output. Determine whether to apply multiple tags to topics, for varied output types. For example, to deliver a manual for testers of beta software, tag the beta-specific topics with a tag such as Beta. Tag the other topics with a tag such as Printed. Then you can include beta-related topics first, and exclude them later. 3 Use the Topic Properties report or the Conditional Build Tag report to review the tags applied to each topic. 4 Determine whether to apply a conditional build tag to the entire topic or to one or more areas within a topic. For example, if you are creating a printed manual, exclude text that mentions an online glossary. 5 Decide on tag names and colors, especially if the project is large and requires multiple output types. Define tag names that describe the output, such as Print or Online. Tag colors help you differentiate conditional text areas within a topic. 6 When updating a project, determine whether to delete content that is made obsolete by single-sourcing and conditional output. For example, a project contains text (such as "for advanced users") or images that explain which content applies to which users. You can delete these elements or use conditional text to hide them in the output. 7 Determine which TOCs or pages of a TOC to include in the output, as you apply each tag. 8 Determine which indexes to include in the output. You can create multiple indexes in a project and include each one in the appropriate output. Last updated 12/14/2011