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Our ~1500-page documentation set contains numerous screen shots and related graphics (schematics, flow diagrams, etc). Sometimes the user interface changes and we have to update all the affected graphics. The affected graphics are not necesarily all in one book; they can be spread across several. In short, they could be anywhere, so we rely on writers' knowledge of the doc set and sometimes just paging through the whole thing looking for graphics that are no longer correct. The first is fragile and the second is tedious (and also can be fragile).
Within the XML doc source itself I can (and do) embed internal tags that I can later search for. Think of that as meta-data for the docs. I'm looking for a way to associate meta-data with images, so I can find all the images that show such-and-such feature or such-and-such widget or whatever. I could set up an external index file or database, but that means the meta-data is far from the images and I worry about it staying up to data (will every writer always remember to update the database when he creates or edits an image and its meta-data changes?). Is there anything clever I can do to get the meta-data closer to the data?
Image formats are PNG for screen shots, GIF for line art. Is there any tool that would let us embed, and query, meta-data right into files in those formats?
Our existing relevant tools are: Perforce for source control, DocBook XML for the doc source, Ant for build targets. On the graphics side, we use PaintShop Pro and/or SnagIt for taking/editing screen shots, and mostly Visual Thought for line-art (though we have access to InkScape and can learn it if that would help). Our desktops are Windows (XP now, 7 later this year).
Edit: The screen shots also have text implications -- we usually don't just have a screen shot, but rather a screen shot and text that talks about the options or what you can do with that tool. The screen shots are integral to the documentation, and if a screen shot has to be updated we also have to look at the places where that image is used. Finding those points in the text is easy (I can just grep the source for the file name of each image when I update it), but finding the screen shots that have to change in the first place (because the UI changed) is much harder. This question is about managing that process so we can keep all the documentation up to date.
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Since this is deemed on topic, I'll give my recommendation as a proper answer.
Rather than recommend other tools, judging by your setup (Paintshop Pro, Windows XP or Windows 7), the easiest method is to use these existing tools to do what you need:
Use Paintshop Pro to add meta data to your images. You can do this by going to Image > Image Information. I added metadata to the "Description" field for the image. This way you can add words (maybe even develop your own system of tags) that you will use to search for. You could also add other data like who took the screen shot, the date it was last modified etc. If you plan the metadata, you can build a really good system for organising your images.
Once that's done, you can then use Window XP's built in Search to find the file (same should work on Windows 7, too). Simply specify the directory you need, choose "Pictures and Photos" only, and then select "for a phrase or word in a file". Type in the phrase/tag you're looking for, click search, and it should find the image you're looking for.
I used to work on a project where we wrote a graphical UI to subversion for a group of artists. Though I can't link that particular program.
Subversion essentially should be able to do all that you need.
Example article: www.wensh.net/archive.php/topic/1556.html
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