Sagehill Enterprises

Davis Polk & Wardwell

Mathias Consulting

Sectra Imtec AB

Viasat, Inc.

Johnnado.com

 

 

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Davis Polk & Wardwell

We hired Bob to create for us a DocBook-based publishing system, which included a number of requirements: tools for converting MS Word documents to DocBook XML, a customized DocBook XML authoring environment, XSL and XSL-FO stylesheets, and software and scripts for producing the final HTML and PDF outputs for publishing. In fact, for the PDF outputs, we asked Bob to match samples from both an outside design firm and previously published material.

The project was a total success, and Bob made it all seem incredibly easy from beginning to end. He is clearly an expert in his field and one of the most knowledgeable consultants out there. Beyond that, though, what made working with him such a pleasure were his quick turnaround time (actually, he was ahead of us at most phases of the project), relaxed and friendly personality, sense of humor, and his constant flexibility in accommodating our unique site requirements. I truly hope we'll have the chance to work with him again, and I recommend him without any reservation.

Jason Tomarken
Systems Analyst
Davis Polk & Wardwell
http://www.dpw.com/

 

Mathias Consulting

As a newcomer to DocBook, I found the variety of tools available to be bewildering. Bob guided me right to the tools and techniques that I needed to get going. By outsourcing the XSL development to Bob, I was able to complete several fairly complex projects without too much
pain. If you are new to DocBook, or if you want to leave the XSL to a master, I would definitely recommend Bob Stayton.

Cheryl Chase
Mathias Consulting
http://www.mathiasconsulting.com

Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex Development
http://www.dsdguidelines.org

 

Sectra Imtec AB

We hired Bob Stayton for creating a full fledged DocBook documentation and publishing system. During my time experimenting with our layout for Windows Help and PDF I sent a lot of emails to the DocBook community mailing lists and got help from Bob Stayton and many others. When we decided that we needed help to build a system matching our unique requirements, Bob Stayton was the obvious choice.

Bob helped us in converting complex Word documents to DocBook XML. And based on our vague specifications. he created a very professional and consistent layout for both Windows Help and PDF. Based on our special requirements, Bob helped us select the tools necessary for processing XSL and creating PDF's. Bob has also helped us develop special customizations for Japanese (Unicode) output and the use of external links (olinks) between documents.

Many times I've sent emails or called at off-business hours but Bob has almost always been available. It has been a pleasure to work with Bob, and we're very pleased with the result. We've been able to reduce redundencies and are able to create content more efficiently. The capabilities of the DocBook documentation and publishing system are quite astounding compared to the amount of money we've spent on its development.

At Sectra we have several applications that share much of the User interface. By creating User guides that are modular, we have been able to minimize redundency, and as a direct effect cut translation costs. These guides are distributed by partners that apply their own branding on the content. By using entities and profiling we have been able to automate the branding process and reduced the time to market considerably.

I hope that I'll have the chance to work with Bob again!

Kenneth Johansson
Technical Documentation Manager
Sectra Imtec AB
kenneth.johansson.home@gmail.com

 

Viasat, Inc.

Bob Stayton did a great job for us involving several tasks. He deciphered our convoluted Excel sheet and created a program to export the data into XML. He worked with us to translate our vague requirements into XML schema and output formats. Bob is great to work with, very responsive and professional. We would definitely use him again for XML technology problems.

David Blaine
SEPG Lead
Viasat, Inc.
http://www.viasat.com

 

Johnnado.com

I engaged Bob Stayton of Sagehill Enterprises to create a publishing system that solves the documentation problems that I have repeatedly encountered in the EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software industry.

At previous companies, I used FrameMaker to create training manuals for EDA software. These software products shared many similarities, so the manuals contained a lot of common content. Slide presentations for training courses contained yet another copy of the same content.

Our software evolved very rapidly. Each change to the software required multiple changes to the manuals and slides. Eventually, I could write no more content, because all my time was consumed by maintenance. It was clear to me that SGML (the predecessor of XML) would solve my problem, but no practical solution was available.

At Johnnado, we have a series of manuals for our IC physical design flow software. Our software is consistent and modular, so our manuals share a great deal of content.

I could not allow our documentation to become the maintenance nightmare I saw before. I knew we needed the modularity and parameterizability of XML, but it would have taken way too long for us to implement a solution. We needed an expert to quickly build the right solution.

Bob Stayton realized my vision. At last, I can author content once, and include that content in multiple manuals, parameterized for the software it describes.

Bob listened to my idea, developed a plan, translated our HTML documentation to XML, and created our modular DocBook XML documentation system. Bob set up Corel XMetaL for authoring, and built an XSL processing system to create HTML, PDF, and even presentation slides for training courses. All from the same XML source.

Bob Stayton's system reduces our cost by eliminating useless document maintenance. We expect increased user satisfaction and sales because we can now quickly create new manuals from existing content, while maintaining consistency across the entire documentation set. I wholeheartedly recommend Bob Stayton as the solution for your documentation problems.

John McGehee
http://johnnado.com