Organising a big project with sub-projects

Question

So ,I'm laying out my project now, very large. Easily over 1000 topics, about 1000 images, some embedded, some not, variables all over the place etc., and this is for our generic help file.
I'm thinking of how to proceed with the other versions of this that will come in the future, i.e client specific help files with some sections removed that aren't relevent, images changed etc.
Just wondering what people think.
a) create a new project for each client iteration of the help file and share topics, variables etc using the resource manager? (this is what it is used for correct?)
b) leave everything in one large project, remove topic in each TOC before publishing and maintain everything in one place.
Both are good ideas, maybe. if I have different projects, then I manage things individually and keep prject sizes low and organised. If I keep each topic in one place I don't have issues with importanting resources, keeping them all shared properly and potentially losing things and everything is centralized, though things could become very big and maybe RH will start to slow down......
I also worry about the Resource manager and where its storing things that I import into it, and if they are lost/corrupted then other links etc might die also....
cheers.
Nick

Answer 1

"ah ok then, so to achieve output where I want some topics in and some not  I need to use the conditional tags, and basically I have to apply conditional tags to every topic..."
Not exactly.
To control "some topics in and some not," different TOCs and different layouts can each be used, in addition to conditional tags.
And no, you do not "have to apply conditional tags to every topic." As Peter said, topics with no conditional build tag will be included in every output. You might find variables to be more useful if you're looking at branding or versioning issues (the rest of the topic is identical for every output, and would not need conditionalizing).
Your best bet is to investigate what the output demands are currently, and what they might morph into in the near term and long term, such as whether context-sensitive help will be needed, whether print versions will be supplied, etc. You might find that the largest percentage of topics will appear in every output, with each of them containing a smattering of variables, snippets, and conditionalized segments of content (different screenshots, tables, etc.). You might even structure a merged help project so that certain outputs would eliminate entire project folders.
Bottom line: one solution is usually never the way to go...be good to yourself, and use all the features that RH offers. But again, do your homework now, to save yourself untold grief later on.
Good luck,
Leon