I need a Flare/Source Control Primer
Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:39 am
These are some basic questions, but it's the first time I've been solely in charge of a project. I am, essentially, the tech writing department. I am building a brand new help system for an existing software product. There is an extensive collection of KB articles that have been written by non-writers over the years that I will convert into the basis for the help system. SMEs will continue to submit articles on SharePoint, which I will enter into Flare. I'll be the only Flare user, so the problem of having multiple users is not a consideration. We release updates to our product on a quarterly basis, so there will be frequent updates to the help system.
I find I'm confused by several things:
1. How badly do I need source control?
2. What are the risks of not having source control in my situation?
3. Is it practical to try to create my own "version control" by implementing some numeric system into my file naming conventions, and is that just a stupid thing to do?
4. What is the relationship/overlap among Subversion, Source Safe, TortoiseSVN, SmartSVN? Are they all different brands of the same tool, or do the SVN tools only serve to integrate authoring tools to source control tools?
5. Which leads to, what exactly is the whole dynamic structure among authoring tools, source control, and versioning? And does Flare 7 do all of that now?
6. And finally, what do you recommend?
Thanks,
Henry
I find I'm confused by several things:
1. How badly do I need source control?
2. What are the risks of not having source control in my situation?
3. Is it practical to try to create my own "version control" by implementing some numeric system into my file naming conventions, and is that just a stupid thing to do?
4. What is the relationship/overlap among Subversion, Source Safe, TortoiseSVN, SmartSVN? Are they all different brands of the same tool, or do the SVN tools only serve to integrate authoring tools to source control tools?
5. Which leads to, what exactly is the whole dynamic structure among authoring tools, source control, and versioning? And does Flare 7 do all of that now?
6. And finally, what do you recommend?
Thanks,
Henry