Imported graphics: best practice?

Jeff,

   In Re: Disappearing FM 2015 File (message 10), you asked "Do all your docs have imported graphics (btw, not best practices) ....?"

I was surprised at the parenthetical remark. Advantages of imported graphics include:

1. They help modularize a publishing process so that a graphic artist can concentrate on drawings without needing to learn an other aspects of the publishing process (such as how to use FrameMaker) while a technical writer need not remember to import new graphics each time an update becomes available.
2. Furthermore, if the publishing organization or its customer requires a database of graphics, it is easy to access graphics from the database or to create a database from the imported graphics in the FrameMaker document.
3. A generated list of referenced graphics makes it easy to confirm that all required graphics are included in a document, that no graphic is unnecessarily used multiple times, and that all graphics are stored at the appropriate location.

Yes, updates to graphics need to be coordinated with the editing/updating process in general, but that is always the case. I make no claim that imported graphics are always the best approach, but they are in many situations.

Looking forward to your response,

      --Lynne