Help for a Novice!

manigopal

Hi!

I am very new to Interwoven. I have a bunch of HTML files available which are to be managed. Is there a process by which i can arrive at how many DCT's and PT to be created? I have 300 html pages but all of them follow one of 4 standard structures. Any pointers to this will be highly appreciated. I also heard from developers that it will take 5 days to create a template!! Is it true?

Your help is highly appreciated.

Regds
Mani

Adam Stoller

If there are 4 standard structures - then you probably want 4 DCTs/PTs.
You *might* be able to use fewer DCTs and more PTs - where all the same data fields are filled in within the DCT and different PTs are used to generate the different *looking* pages from that data. (without really *knowing* the content you are dealing with and the organizational environment and requirements - it's difficult to make that call).

The first time you develop a DCT, expect it to take a couple of days at least.
The first time you develope a PT, expect it to take a week at least.

Depending on the level of complexity inherent within the DCT and PT - the above values could easily be doubled - for that reason, if no other, start with someting simple first and tackle the more complex after you've got a couple under your belt.

Once you are familiar with the development of DCTs and PTs, the time it takes to develop them will still vary - but you should be able to estimate it reasonably well based on your experience.

If you haven't already done so - I'd recommend taking some of the courses offered for templating. It may seem costly in terms of money and time - but think about how costly the alternative is if you spend 5 times the amount of effort developing something without understanding it.

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com