Explanation
No one wants to wait for a 200Kbyte document with graphics to load, then have to spend time scanning or searching it for the small 1Kbyte part of interest. Even at 56kbps, and "best case" internet routing, 200Kbytes can take over 30 annoying seconds to download! Is that what you want in the age of 15 second TV ads?
Slicing a document into multiple topics cuts the average download time, and gains other benefits as well:
Referencing and accessing a topic (from an email message, or from another topic) is as simple as using its own unique URL. Search engine results will have less "noise" (irrelevant hits.) and each hit will bring the user to a focused topic.
Many short topics can share a common page layout, with standard headers and footers, copyright information, etc. Graphics and links can be used to enhance the presentation while still maintaining "quick" downloading overall.
No excessive scrolling is needed to reach links to related topics, table of contents, and searchable indexes, copyright information.
Because topics appear on their own page, the placement of a topic is not constrained into a single placement in a hierarchical document. In fact, all relevant categories can include a link to the topic.
How the RKT Tools Help
By using the [topic] directive, a single source document (which is more easily managed) can be split into multiple topic pages. Macros can be used to define common sections of pages, such as head and tail, tables, and other layout.
New file names are generated as needed, and the RKT tools maintain a persistent "topic to file name map." This ensures that URLs and file names are not re-assigned, and that a URL always references the proper topic.
Copyright 1998, Forrest J. Cavalier III Mib Software High Reuse Software Development
