Introduction	Audience	Limitations		Escaping Paper	Navigation Bar
Navigation Map	Virtual Includes	Audience-to-Author		Conclusion	Bibliography

Virtual Includes and Object-based Programming

It has already been asserted that staff time is a major constraint of any documentation process. Object-Based programming in general, and specifically "virtual includes" are a perfect example of optimizing the time and effort involved in updating the content of web pages. Basically, object-based programming is a way to build modular elements that can work alone or be combined with other elements to make a whole. This is especially useful for pieces of information that may be valuable in different contexts. A good example of this is the operating hours and class reservation schedules of the labs. A user may want to see all of the labs and a glance so that they can determine the scope of lab hours across campus. Or, perhaps they have already chosen their favorite lab and they are looking for information about that particular lab. As an author of documentation, I want that information available in both contexts. The problem is that I have a finite amount of time and this particular piece of information must be updated on a weekly basis in order to be useful. Virtual includes, the html version of object-based programming, are the solution.

A virtual include is simply a short line of code that pulls a separate file into the existing web page. This means that I can put the same single line of code into several pages and all of the pages will change whenever I update the one file I have indicated in that line of code. The navigation tool, discussed earlier (and included at the top of every page in this site), is another great example of the usefulness of virtual includes. Every page within the lab web site has this navigation tool at the top. If I change something about the navigation tool, rather than touching every file in the web site, I simply update one file called "navbar.html." this one file is included by the line of code at the top of every web page.

By using the virtual include tool I accomplish a number of things. First of all, I can focus more energy on the content because the design process has been shortened. Next, I can easily ensure that the information contained within the two formats are not conflicting. Where one change is implemented, it automatically carries through to the other format. Finally, I can set up separate modular presentations of the same data to tailor the presentation to the user's needs and preferences. Do you want to look at all of the hardware resources we have available? Or are you interested in seeing all of the resources in one particular lab including hardware, software, operating hours, etc? With virtual includes I can create each piece of content once and quickly create multiple frameworks for different viewers. What's more, I can update the content once and it will carry through to each document that points to that particular piece of information.