Analyzing book content before creating structures

Add and manage content

When you use structured authoring your books are created using a mix of structure rules and an understanding of the content that should be used (based on your company's style guide).

Before you create your structures you need to analyze the content requirements.

  1. Define the requirements for each of your book types. Write a list of rules that describe the content used in the book.
    • What type of information is the book used for? For example, a product guide, a policy and procedure manual, detailed reference material, or a sales presentation.
    • What front and back matter should be used in the book?
    • Will the author use existing content or create new content?
    • How is the book's structure organized?
    • Which templates should be used for different parts of the book?
    • Is there any limitation on the number of items allowed in the book?
  2. Define the structure rules that meet the requirements of the content rules you've identified. When you have a clear understanding of the content used in the book you can easily transfer those requirements to the structure rules.
  3. Test the structure validation against a small selection of books. Check the validation for the content in each of the books. Does the content pass or fail validation? If books fail validation analyze their content to find out why they failed. Decide if the books need to be changed so they pass validation, or should the structure be fine tuned?