Why AuthorIT?

As I mentioned before, we are planning to migrate content from FrameMaker to AuthorIT, staging the migration across two different product sets (and no small amount of time!). I’m in the process of evaluating AuthorIT for, despite having used it before, it has recently been overhauled with a spiffy new UI and some new features.

AuthorIT is a single source system, with content stored in a central database, which can publish to most (all?) of the formats that anyone would ever need. It includes an editor, supports multiple users, and has some additional add-ons for localisation and so on. Their website is very good if you want more information on their product.

After downloading and installing the trial version, which limits your import and publishing but otherwise has all the features available for use, I fired it up and was greeted with the new interface. Based on the ribbons used in the latest version of Microsoft Office, it is quite a shift away from the previous version and it took me a while to get to grips with. However it is a huge improvement over the old version and once you are used to it, like anything, it’s very nice to use. Yes I know there are still issues being dealt with, but I didn’t run across that many during my testing, so I’m happy.

During my evaluation I spoke to their Business Development Manager who was very helpful in delving into some of the issues I had around versioning and set my mind at rest. I’ll outline how we are going to handle maintaining multiple versions of documents in another post, once I’ve given it a dry run or two.

One issue that cropped up was the location and format of the supporting database. You can run AuthorIT on a Jet database either locally or on a network drive although that is particularly performant, or run it on a SQL Server. As we are a small team I did consider the Jet database but our situation suggests a server database would be better. Which introduced another problem, price. SQL Server isn’t the cheapest and we don’t have an installation in-house. Thankfully one of our IT guys suggested SQL Express (a limited free version of SQL Server) as a possibility, and after a quick check on the AuthorIT Yahoo Group, I’ve found that it will run quite happily on that database.

There is a limit of 4GB on the database size but as long as we keep our images elsewhere there is little chance we’ll hit that limit. Our total content at present, including images, tops out under 500MB for one version of the documentation. So we’ll actually be saving space on a server as we won’t be maintaining multiple versions of entire documents. Must remember to point that out to our IT guys!

Aside from versioning the only feature I was unfamiliar with was the batch runner, which allows you to run a batch file (.bat) as a scheduled task. Our current system runs at night, using Webworks to create a Javahelp file which is then included in the software build and AuthorIT will give us similar functionality.

Why AuthorIT? Well, quite simply it gives us what we need.

I spent some time at the X-Pubs conference last year, and throughout the presentations the underlying message was “get your requirements sorted before hunting for a system”. The premise is obvious enough, if you decide on a system first, you end up shoe-horning your processes around how it works rather than getting a system that works you way YOU work.

I also spent some time considering DITA but ultimately switching to an XML-based system is still too cost-prohibitive. AuthorIT is a compromise, allowing us to work how we want to work, whilst giving us single source benefits. We will use DITA as a framework for how we plan and write the content, but the simple fact is that AuthorIT is a much better value proposition than a bespoke system, both in monetary and resource terms. This makes the business case much easier to sell.

If you are considering single sourcing your content, then I’d strongly suggest you investigate AuthorIT as a possibility. It has limitations, including the oft-cited reliance on Word as a publishing engine, but for me the advantages outweight those.

And no, I am not being paid to endorse AuthorIT.

Comments

  1. Hi. I appreciate your comments on Author-it, as I, too, am in the middle of an evaluation with that software, as well as two others.

    I like Author-it’s simple interface and project/memory tracking (for re-use), but I have concerns about the support end being on the other side of the world (literally, we’re in the U.S., on the east coast

  2. Step back in time, AuthorIT. No conditional tagging, rather intensive maintenance and if you are looking for the ability to create useful content, stick with Frame and Adobe products. AuthorIT user

  3. Hi All, I’ve seen the Author-it demo and love the product, but we face one big problem: we’re a Mac shop. With whom does Author-it compete? Anyone know of similar packages that exist for Mac? Thanks!

  4. Sorry, Gordon, should have stated from the outset that getting our numerous writers to flip into Windows as opposed to staying on the Mac would mean they’re stuck in Windows OS ALL the time. Possible, but not desirable and would bring a lot of kickback. Sooooooo, any idea if any competitors have a something similar to Author-it; any ready for Mac apps? Thanks Again.

  5. Anne, sorry I should’ve been more specific. I’m not sure if Parallels is the right thing, but there is software out there that will let you run Windows applications, natively, on the newer Intel based Macs. You don’t flip into Windows, you just run it like a normal app.

    Worth a Google.

  6. I’m just researching some AuthorIT questions and came across this post –

    Anne, Gordon – for what it’s worth, both Parallels and VMWare Fusion have the ability to run Windows apps side-by-side with Mac apps… meaning instead of flipping back and forth in and out of Windows, your Windows apps will appear in the Dock, float in their own windows, and (aside from the look of the application) generally appear as just another app… I’ve not used AuthorIT with either product, but run many Windows apps this way without every having to see Windows (well, except momentarily as Windows boots within VMware).

    FWIW – not sure of anything particularly comparable to AuthorIT on Mac OSX.

  7. nicolai – not that I’ve heard. I’d suggest you contact Author-it directly, they are a friendly bunch and will be able to give you an official answer.

    As for something similar on OSX, I’m not aware of database, based authoring systems. I’d imagine you could craft one using XML (DITA would be the way to go IMHO) and other non-proprietary technologies??

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