Source and Target templates

[jetboy2k]

I'm unclear on some of the information that is provided in the D2H Documents, Templates, and Content Guide, specifically the best way to be using the source and target templates. On p. 24 the guide states:

"...if you select a particular source template, it is a best practice to also select its complementary target template."

On p. 28 the guide states:

"If you are generating online output from Doc-To-Help, you will normally use the primary online template: D2H_HTML.dotx."

Obviously, these two items taken together would mean that I should be using the D2H_HTML.dotx template as both my source and target templates. However...

We are creating both online and PDF output from the same source document. Given that, would I still want to use the D2H_HTML.dotx template? And how would that affect the formatting of the PDF output? Or, would I need to have two different D2H projects, one for the online output and one for the PDF output? Or am I missing the point completely here?

Thanks.

[SKamprowski]

Hi,

D2H has different templates for source documents, printed manual targets listed on page 25, 26, 27, and online targets (see p. 28).
For printed manual targets D2H has more than one template since many years. These templates are complementary to similar named source templates. Complementary templates have identical looking styles.
Since source files and manual files are both Word documents some (or most) users prefer to see their sources in a similar layout, with same set of styles as the manual they produce. But, in source documents D2H users need different functions than in the manual. This is the cause for more than one source template.

Basically, you can take any template for your source documents, regardless of the planned look of your manual target. D2H_HTML.dotx is the template recommended for online targets.

This is a summary of what the manual describes from p. 24 - p. 28.

Kind regards,
Sabine Kamprowski