Don’t Break the Link: Avoid Four Costly Pitfalls in Linking and Reuse

Brandon Jockman, Senior Consultant

Executive Summary

When it comes to technical publishing, today’s enterprises have an unprecedented ability to create and publish content quickly and cost-effectively. The ability to create content once and publish it in multiple formats that can be accessed through different channels is now standard practice. At the same time, creating links to all types of content from a vast range of sources is an expected feature in technical and Web-based publications. The technical advances that support this new world of business publishing also present significant technical challenges.

Organizations striving to realize the full advantages of dynamic publishing tools face an inherent challenge: deploy a system that conforms to standards and embraces best practices, while also avoiding costly pitfalls that could offset those benefits. Publishing groups, for example, would rather focus on the core tasks of creating compelling content that is accurate and accessible to a wide range of audiences than struggle with the nuances of a cumbersome publishing system. Yet, by failing to address such fundamental issues as ensuring link integrity, they may be deploying a system that ultimately turns out to be unstable. To that end, many organizations are beginning to understand the value of link management as a key component of an overall content management and publishing strategy.

Unfortunately, quality information on link management is hard to find and can be either too technical or too vague. Even with the best intentions, publishing groups can be overwhelmed in trying to manage the complex links and relationships in their documents...