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The long and winding roads from DITA XML to PDF output

Thursday, August 20, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring

DITA XML is of little use to readers unless it's converted to some kind of output. The DITA Open Toolkit (DITA OT) provides transforms and scripts that convert DITA to PDF output and a long list of other formats.

Producing PDF output from DITA content can be challenging. DITA XML is converted to an XSL-FO file, a combination of content and formatting instructions. You must know XSL-FO to customize the PDF, even just to add simple content such as headers and footers, logos, and so on.

To forgo the programming, you can choose a page layout or help authoring tool, but these tools also have pitfalls. Page layout programs have varying degrees of DITA support. Help authoring tools let you style the PDF through CSS, but you can't fine-tune page layout as you can in page layout programs.

These are just a few examples we discuss in our white paper "Creating PDF files from DITA content." Read the white paper online (in HTML or PDF).

Labels: Arbortext, DITA Open Toolkit, ePublisher, flare, FOP, FrameMaker, PDF, quark, robohelp, white papers, XEP, xmetal, XPP, XSL Formatter, xsl-fo

10:00 AM Permalink | |

 

Error message melodrama

Monday, July 20, 2009 — posted by Alan Pringle

The Shanghai Tech Writer blog has posted a screen capture of a rather ominous error message in FrameMaker:

The licensing subsystem has failed catastrophically. You must reinstall or call customer support.

I have never been the unfortunate recipient of that particular message in the many years I've worked with FrameMaker. If I did encounter that message, I would fully expect it to be accompanied by the shrieking strings from the Psycho shower scene. The use of "catastrophically" is a bit over the top. The fact I need to reinstall or contact customer support sets the tone enough, thank you very much--no soundtrack or scary adverb required.

The editor in me wants "catastrophically" removed from that message. If that bit of text came across my desk for review, I would have pushed back hard on the use of that word. It's bad enough the user has to get a solution to the error, and referring to the problem as "catastrophic" is certainly not doing the user any favors.

Labels: FrameMaker, humor, technical writing

2:38 PM Permalink | |

 

Publishing Fundamentals print/PDF bundle: $24.99 for 24 hours

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 — posted by Alan Pringle

Our big sale on Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 starts tomorrow morning.

From 8 a.m. tomorrow until 8 a.m. Thursday (Eastern time), you can purchase the print and PDF bundle of Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 for just $24.99. That's half off the list price of $49.99 (and cheaper than the cost of just the PDF download, which is $29.99).

You don't need a coupon code to get the special price: just order within the 24-hour window.

Labels: book, FrameMaker

8:17 AM Permalink | |

 

On Wednesday, July 15: big one-day sale

Friday, July 10, 2009 — posted by Alan Pringle

I always laugh when department stores advertise a one-day sale and then have a "preview day" on the day before. Last time I checked, that's a two-day sale.

Well, we're going to have a big one-day sale on Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 next Wednesday, and we really mean a one-day sale. From 8 a.m. on July 15 until 8 a.m. July 16 (Eastern time), you can purchase the print and PDF bundle of Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 for just $24.99. That's $25 off the list price of $49.99--and cheaper than the cost of just the PDF download, which is $29.99.

You don't need a coupon code to get this special price on the print and PDF bundle, and you can order multiple copies, too. Just be sure to order sometime between 8 a.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday.

Please spread the word about this sale!

Labels: book, FrameMaker

2:07 PM Permalink | |

 

Help understanding the new FrameMaker 9 interface

Thursday, February 19, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring

FrameMaker 9 has been redesigned to look like Adobe's other products -- InDesign, Photoshop, etc. The new interface can be downright confounding and disappointing for long-time FrameMaker users. You'll want a good introduction before upgrading.

RJ Vasquez, Senior Product Evangelist at Adobe, will offer a 90-minute e-learning session on FrameMaker's interface on February 26th. For details, go to:

http://blogs.adobe.com/rjacquez/2009/02/elearning_session_on_the_new_u.html

Don't forget to read my review of FrameMaker 9:

http://www.scriptorium.com/palimpsest/2009/02/framemaker-9-review.html

I evaluate the new interface (complete with screen shots) and features such as importing PDF comments, preserving CMYK in PDFs, new book options (section numbering, for one!), and the Adobe AIR interactive online help.

Labels: FrameMaker

1:18 PM Permalink | |

 

Get $10 off two Scriptorium Press titles

Monday, February 16, 2009 — posted by Alan Pringle

We have just lowered prices on two books in our online store:

• Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8: Get both the printed book and downloadable PDF file for $39.99: that's $10 off the cover price of $49.99. (You can still download just the PDF version for $29.99.)
• Technical Writing 101 (second edition): Get the printed book for $25.95, which is $10 off the cover price of $35.95.

These discounts are available only through our online store. Please spread the word!

P.S. We're also offering discounts on these titles through our listings on Amazon Marketplace:

• Technical Writing 101
• Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8

Labels: book, FrameMaker, technical writing

1:23 PM Permalink | |

 

FrameMaker 9 review

Monday, February 02, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring

FrameMaker 9 has been out for a few weeks, and FrameMaker users having been buzzing about the new interface and features. See what I have to say about it before you upgrade.

Read the review:

http://www.scriptorium.com/whitepapers/FM9review.pdf

Labels: FrameMaker, framemaker review

2:00 AM Permalink | |

 

Importing comments into FrameMaker 9 documents

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring

FrameMaker 9 boasts this handy feature: you can import notes and comments from PDFs into FrameMaker docs. First, you must save the document as tagged PDF in FrameMaker 9. Then you mark up the PDF, adding notes and deleting or inserting text. Then you select File > Import > PDF Comments and select the file. The insertions and deletions show up as conditional text in the FrameMaker document, with the familiar red strikethrough for deleted text and blue underline for inserted text. The sticky notes are markers in which the marker text shows the sticky note content.

This is all great, thank you Adobe, and so on, but I'm having a problem with the sticky notes. When I edit the marker text in FrameMaker, I expect that updated note to show up in the PDF after I save the file as PDF again. The note doesn't display at all. I'm wondering now what the point is if you can't "round-trip" notes. Perhaps it's user error, but I don't think so.

Labels: FrameMaker

10:53 AM Permalink | |

 

What's happened to my local FrameMaker user's group?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 — posted by Sheila Loring

The North Carolina FrameMaker User's Network (NCFUN), which became a STC Carolina special interest group, formed over a decade ago to support technical writers in the Raleigh/Durham area. Speakers (local and international) presented on everything from complex autonumbering and FrameMaker plugins to single sourcing and using reference pages. We usually had a topic for beginners and more experienced FrameMaker users.

During the meeting, users had the chance to get advice regarding problems in FrameMaker. We also had the obligatory snacks and refreshments -- not to be underestimated, especially with one sponsor who always served delicious food.

The group also had its own mailing list. Users emailed questions between meetings, and we also sent meeting announcements to the list.

I write in the past tense because the group no longer meets. Over the years, attendance dwindled to a group of 10 and then 5 and then 3 regulars. It became more difficult to get speakers, and toward the end, the few regulars just talked (also not to be underestimated, but still...). I missed having this intimate FrameMaker resource. At every meeting, I learned something and had good geeky fun.

What happened? Did other FrameMaker resources become easier to use? For example, Framers is a very active mailing list with hundreds (maybe over a thousand) subscribers and anywhere from 5 to 20 messages a day. The group has a mailing list, whose archives are a bit difficult to search but are accessible through Google.

Did the time or location make the meeting difficult to get to, were fewer technical writers using FrameMaker, or did the topics no longer have wide appeal?

I suspect the answer is all of the above. Attendance at other STC Carolina special interest groups has also dwindled, and now none of them meet on a regular basis. Perhaps our members had too many groups to choose from each month and just gave up.

Ironically, now that I've been working on some non-FrameMaker projects, I'm less interested in the group, but I'd still like to see what other FrameMaker users are up to. Someone's always using FrameMaker in a creative way.

Have user groups in other parts of the world gone the way of the NCFUN?

Labels: FrameMaker, STC, technical writing, user group

9:59 AM Permalink | |

 

Put the drawing tools down!

Thursday, December 11, 2008 — posted by Alan Pringle

This list of technical writing myths has a decidedly DITA slant; I don't necessarily like the idea of DITA driving what is and isn't acceptable practice for technical writing. That being said, I endorse the information provided about myth #4:

4. The Callouts on Graphics Myth

If you want to reuse the same graphic in multiple publications and even multiple languages, it is a good practice not to put callouts in the source file of the graphic itself. Instead, you place your callouts "on top of" your graphic in your text editor (Word) or DTP program (InDesign, FrameMaker, ...). This is not supported in DITA. Therefore, if you need to use callouts in graphics, try to use language-independent ones (A, B, C...) in the source file of the graphic and put the explanation of these callouts in a table below the graphic in your DITA XML content. [Yves Barbion]

It's not just the DITA standard that doesn't support callouts placed with a document processor's drawing tools. We have a client for whom we created a custom XML structure for FrameMaker content, and that content contains many graphics with callouts. The client translates the content into multiple languages.

In the previous workflow in unstructured FrameMaker, the client placed the callouts in the anchored frame with FrameMaker's drawing tools. However, if you do that in a structured FrameMaker workflow and save content out to XML, FrameMaker by default saves each image with added callouts into a new CGM graphic file that no longer has editable callouts. There can't be complete round-tripping between XML and FrameMaker because the graphics aren't preserved in this scenario.

Therefore, the rule for this client is that an anchored frame can contain just one image file imported by reference. Period. No other text, text frames, or anything. If callouts are necessary, they are included as part of the source graphic; the client adds numbered callouts in Illustrator. A numbered list specifically for explaining those callouts follows the graphic.

The XML generated from FrameMaker points to the image files, and FrameMaker doesn't need to generate new graphic files to include any callouts added with FrameMaker's drawing tools. (If the directory containing XML files includes a CGM file that FrameMaker created during export, that usually means there is an anchored frame somewhere that contains something more than just a referenced image file.) Another huge plus: because the callout explanations are part of the text, they are translated without changing the original graphic.

Separating callouts from your images and making them part of the text is smart for any workflow because of localization issues, and it pretty much becomes mandatory when you're establishing an efficient structured authoring environment (and not just those based on DITA).

P.S. One other thing to think about with graphics in structured authoring environments: if you use XSL to transform your XML into online formats, determine if web-ready graphics (such as PNG files) will work in your print/PDF and online content. If so, you eliminate the need to convert images to formats for online viewing.

Labels: dita, FrameMaker, localization, structured authoring

9:00 AM Permalink | |

 

Unstructured Documents in Structured FrameMaker

Tuesday, December 09, 2008 — posted by Sheila Loring

A few days ago, there was a thread on the Framers mailing list regarding working in the structured FrameMaker environment. Someone commented that editing unstructured documents in the structured interface does not affect the unstructured documents. I found this to be untrue recently when FrameMaker 8 crashed. I had about 30 unstructured FrameMaker documents open in the structured interface -- only because I'd previously been working in a structured document. When I restarted FrameMaker after the crash and opened a recovered file, FrameMaker displayed an error that the file contained structured information. Great. FrameMaker saved some kind of structured information in the file during the recovery effort.

We all know that crashes in FrameMaker are not infrequent, so this could easily happen to you. Save yourself a painful lesson and work in the structured interface only when necessary.

Labels: FrameMaker

3:38 PM Permalink | |

 

Shrinkwrapping Equations in FrameMaker

Monday, December 08, 2008 — posted by Sheila Loring

Recently, I created several complex equations in FrameMaker 8/Windows XP Pro. I was very proud of myself for faithfully recreating the original equations imported as graphics from Word. When I went back to check my work, however, the equations were all wrong. Some of the characters had changed to question marks. My bubble suddenly burst! I knew I'd inserted the correct symbols! I had no idea what they meant, but they did look right.

Luckily, an Adobe knowledge base article (http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=319076&sliceId=2) addressed the problem in an older version of FrameMaker on the Mac. Characters displayed incorrectly after I shrunkwrapped the equation. After resizing the anchored frame a bit, the correct characters returned. The article also explained that this was strictly a display issue, and the equations would print correctly. Whew! My bubble quickly returned to its intact state.

Labels: equations, FrameMaker

1:20 PM Permalink | |

 

Presentations on features squeezed into FrameMaker 8

Thursday, November 20, 2008 — posted by Terry Smith

Just two weeks ago I was in an elementary school gymnasium working as an election official. Fourteen straight hours with no breaks for meals because officials aren't allowed to leave the polling area (which is why your ballot may have crumbs on it, sorry about that). In my precinct one candidate received only one vote more than the opponent; in another race, the difference was six votes. A very long and exciting day.

Bleary-eyed but pleased to have served my precinct, I spent the next two days attending the DITA/TechComm conference. Perhaps not the heady stuff of this year's election, but definitely worthwhile. This conference had two themes: DITA and the tools in the Adobe Technical Communication Suite (although Madcap Flare was definitely represented, too). The place where those two topics meet is FrameMaker.

I was scheduled to speak on two FrameMaker topics for the conference. FrameMaker 8 now has built-in DITA authoring capabilities, which I demonstrated. I had a few slides to keep the demonstration on track. The slides, which I have included here, are brief.



My recommendation? If you want to get the most from FrameMaker's conditional text capabilities, use structured FrameMaker and install the free ABCM product instead of using FrameMaker 8's Filter By Attribute feature.

Labels: adobe, conferences, dita, FrameMaker, PDF, presentations, xmetal

11:49 AM Permalink | |

 

Looking Fear Straight in the Eye

Monday, November 03, 2008 — posted by Simon Bate

Have you ever been really scared? I don't mean just the Halloween kinda scared, but really scared. That's how I felt at the Burlington Marriott when the hotel employee delivered the box containing the workbooks for my Introduction to XMetaL and DITA workshop. He stood in the doorway, smiled, and handed me a very beat up, bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated FedEx box.

The box looked like the driver had had a flat on Route 128 and used it to prevent the truck from rolling back while jacking up the front end. It was nice and damp too. With much trepidation, I opened the box and -- to my relief -- found that the materials were undamaged. Whew.

Following that, Wednesday's all-day workshop on XMetaL and DITA was smooth sailing. OK, we had a bit of a problem with powerstrips, but the helpful DocTrain folks got that taken care of. In retrospect, many of the questions I fielded in the workshop weren't so much about DITA or XMetaL itself. Instead many of the questions were about generating output. The fact is that unless you're willing to spend some quality time with CSS and the DITA Open Toolkit, your output from DITA will look very generic. XMetaL has a number of hooks that ease some of the pain in generating XHTML output. But even those hooks won't save you from FO issues if you want to generate PDF output.

In my presentation on Thursday comparing XMetaL and FrameMaker support in DITA, the questions returned once again to output. Of course, this time the focus was on using FrameMaker 8.0 as a PDF engine. In workflows where content is created and maintained in XML, but then has to be delivered in PDF (or print), FrameMaker 8.0 looks like an attractive possibility. There are a few flaws in this solution (such as translating xref elements for intra-document links into live links in PDF), but users are closer to a solution than they were six months ago.

We've posted PDFs of the slides from both sessions on SlideShare.

You can find the Introduction to XMetaL and DITA workshop slides at:

http://www.slideshare.net/Scriptorium/xmetal-dita-workshop-presentation

The slides for the session on DITA Support in FrameMaker and XMetaL are at:

http://www.slideshare.net/Scriptorium/dita-support-in-framemaker-and-xmetal-presentation

When you're done browsing the slides, take a look on our site for information about how we can help you with your FrameMaker, XMetaL, OT, PDF problems.

It's not that scary.

Labels: dita, doctraineast08, FrameMaker, xmetal

4:41 PM Permalink | |

 

InDesign CS4 = Hannibal?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 — posted by Sarah O'Keefe

Last year, small fish started disappearing from my aquarium. Suspicion fell on a rowdy zebra danio, who we promptly christened Hannibal the Cannibal. We put Hannibal in an isolation tank ("fish jail"), but even with Hannibal confined, the little guys kept disappearing. So, we released Hannibal with apologies, but the name stuck.

I'm just reading through the discussions of InDesign CS4's new features, and it looks to me as though InDesign is about to make mincemeat of FrameMaker. It seems impolite to eat one's own family members, but there you have it.

Past discussions of InDesign CS3 versus FrameMaker can be condensed to the following:

FrameMaker has cross-references, InDesign doesn't, although there is a third-party tool.

FrameMaker has conditional text, InDesign doesn't.

FrameMaker supports XML-based authoring (structured authoring), InDesign doesn't.

InDesign has some very lovely other features, but they can't outweigh the preceding three show-stoppers.

(Detailed thread on the frameusers list)

Today, Adobe has released information about CS4. Take a look at the official feature list. Highlights include:

Conditional text

Enhanced nested styles and style group management

GREP support for character styles

Live preflighting ("continuous preflighting alerts you to potential production problems in real time")

InDesign Markup Language, an XML-based file format

Synchronized master pages across multiple documents or a book

Cross-references

Support for interactive PDF files (SWF import, buttons, page transitions, hyperlinks)

No support for structured authoring with validation, but that's about it that's left on the "destroy business case for FrameMaker" to-do list. Not only that, the list of enhancements is tremendous. Long-time FrameMaker users have become accustomed to minimal updates -- InDesign users are getting all sorts of niceties.

Over at cap-studio.de (German), Michael Mueller-Hillebrandt has a similar reaction. He sees three major developments: conditional text, cross-references, and InDesign Markup Language and notes that InDesign is not suitable for use as an XML editor.

Frans vd Geest has some screen shots on his blog (Dutch, but the visuals are from the English interface).

The graphic mac has a first look and an enthusiastic endorsement ("virtually no excuse not to upgrade").

The Creative Pro likes CS4, too. Interestingly, the graphic design community has very little interest in the items that the FrameMaker people are panting over. Cross-references get a short paragraph with a use case that is not related to long documents (repeated text on invoices); conditional text and IDML are relegated to bullet items. At Quark vs Design, we read that "most workflows will still be better served by saving multiple versions of the document or using layers to differentiate between print and digital content." Not most of my workflows. But anyway...

The majority of our customers are doing XML-based content development. Many of them are moving to "vanilla" XML editors, such as XMetaL or Oxygen. (Note: Scriptorium is an XMetaL Services Partner. We're also an Adobe Authorized Training Center, FWIW.)

For customers in unstructured workflows, the business case for FrameMaker now boils down to better integration with single-sourcing workflows (Tech Comm Suite, ePublisher Pro, or MIF2GO). In that arena, there's competition from Author-IT, Flare, and others. Or I could use InDesign as a starting point for a single-sourcing workflow by exporting to XML and then using the XML to produce HTML or help formats.

InDesign's print output is better than FrameMaker's. The typography is better, and InDesign will actually output proper CMYK (four-color) files.

Based on what I'm seeing, I expect a strong move to InDesign, both as an unstructured content authoring tool, and as a publishing engine for XML content (which is authored elsewhere).

Your thoughts?

Labels: FrameMaker, InDesign

2:19 PM Permalink | |

 

Wacky wiki

Monday, September 08, 2008 — posted by Sarah

We recently made our FrameMaker 7 workbook content available in a public wiki. We simply don't have the time to make the needed updates to get the content to version 8, so we thought that we'd let you, the general public, have editable access to it.

The results have been enlightening and, at least to me, unexpected:

1. Nobody is making updates. We have a significant number of people who have registered as users on the wiki, but they aren't making changes to the content.
2. Sales of the fully formatted, not-free PDF versions of the workbooks have increased significantly.

According to Chris Anderson, this second effect is actually what we should have expected for a Web 2.0 platform. He describes the "freemium" model "where 90% of the users get the basic product for free and 10% chose to pay for a premium version."

One of my coworkers thinks that people are using the wiki to window-shop. They verify that the content looks useful and then go ahead and pay for the official version. So the wiki provides reassurance about the paid product's quality.

Your thoughts?

Labels: FrameMaker, web 2.0, wiki

2:13 PM Permalink | |

 

Can this relationship be saved?

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 — posted by Terry Smith

For 15 years, I was a lovesick FrameMaker groupie. Ask anybody. As a founding member of the North Carolina FrameMaker Users Network (NC-FUN), I went to meetings regularly for ten years to talk about everything FrameMaker: plug-ins, database connectivity, scripting, single-sourcing, structure, obscure features, you name it. I couldn't get enough. FrameMaker was the great desktop publishing love of my life. When I joined Scriptorium Publishing earlier this year, I was given the task of updating Publishing Essentials: Unstructured FrameMaker 8. Yes! FrameMaker and I were inseparable.

But then FrameMaker 8 absolutely refused to produce an acceptable PDF file.

Whatever anybody might say about FrameMaker, one thing was always true: FrameMaker produced top-of-the-line PDF files. If you needed good PDF files, you included FrameMaker in your workflow. Now, PDF files produced from FrameMaker were a mess. Sure, some PDF problems had cropped up with earlier versions (and what relationship doesn't have a few PDF problems?), but it was worse now. Much worse. Undeterred, I tried a lot of things. I found some workarounds, but the problem was never really fixed. I could get text and high-quality pictures or I could have hypertext links, but not both. I felt angry and betrayed.

Pfft. Why not dump FrameMaker completely and just move my content to a dedicated XML editor? After all, XSL-FO could also give me a lot of trouble followed by lousy PDF output. I was this close to telling FrameMaker to hit the bricks.

Then Microsoft released a hotfix that patches the problems with Windows that are apparently the root of FrameMaker's PDF problems. So it's not all FrameMaker's fault after all. I applied the hotfix and FrameMaker is back in the house...

...but sleeping on the couch. I'm still miffed about the new conditional expressions. That's a post for another day.

You have to request the hotfix to get it: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=952909.

Labels: cranky, FrameMaker, humor

2:34 PM Permalink | |

 

Interesting times...

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 — posted by Sarah

First, some bad news. I have decided to postpone release of our structured FrameMaker title. This decision was due to several factors, including the following:

• Disappointing sales of the unstructured FrameMaker 8 book. Frankly, based on the level of interest shown before the book was released, we expected a lot more sales at this point.
• Resource allocation. I need the people who were working on the book to focus on client projects. I suppose this is a good problem to have.
• Historically, FrameMaker has been on an 18-24 month release cycle. We're about a year into FrameMaker 8 already, which means we're looking at a lifespan of 6-12 months for this next book. And that's if we made it available TODAY. And the content is not ready.

We have a similar problem with our FrameMaker training workbooks. Our original plan was to update the unstructured book content, then the structured book, and then tackle the workbooks. Thus far, we haven't touched the workbooks to make the needed version 8 updates.

So we've decided to try something different, and that brings us to what I hope is the good news part of this post.

Today, we are launching wiki.scriptorium.com. Our new wiki currently includes the training content from our FM 101 (unstructured/accelerated introduction) and FM 201 (structured/introduction to authoring). We will also add the content of our other three FrameMaker workbooks as soon as possible. Our workbook content is for FrameMaker version 7, which means that about 90 percent of it is accurate for version 8.

As of today, you have access to free FrameMaker tutorial content. The sample files needed to complete the exercises are included on the wiki. Furthermore, we have licensed the content under a Creative Commons license, which means that you can reuse and repurpose the content as long as you provide attribution.

We hope that you will consider registering on the wiki and contributing to the needed updates.

Meanwhile, we will continue to offer live, web-based training on FrameMaker. You can also purchase PDF and printed versions of the workbooks from our store. The commercial versions have much nicer formatting than the wiki content does. For more details about the difference between the commercial and the wiki versions, see the front page of the wiki.

I know that some of you have been looking forward to getting the structured FrameMaker book, and I apologize to you for this change in plans. I hope that you'll find the wiki option a worthwhile substitute for the time being.

We are also looking at releasing some of the structured content (especially the DITA-specific information) as a stand-alone technical brief, but I don't want to commit to that approach at this point.

Labels: business, FrameMaker

3:10 PM Permalink | |

 

Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 is now available

Friday, May 30, 2008 — posted by Alan Pringle

As of a few minutes ago, you can buy our latest book, Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8 from our online store.

You can purchase the printed book and PDF file combination for $49.99, or you can buy just the PDF file for $29.99. You get instant access to the PDF file--available exclusively through our online store--with either option. (Printed books will be shipped in the middle of June.)

On Sunday, I'm off to the STC conference with Matt and Sarah. Hope to see some of you there.

Labels: book, FrameMaker

3:41 PM Permalink | |

 

Getting close on FrameMaker 8 books

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 — posted by Sarah

We have nearly finished the content updates for the new unstructured FrameMaker 8 book (Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8). That leaves proofreading, production, and indexing.

Barring any unforeseen problems (and there are always unforeseen problems), the book should be available as a PDF download in mid-May when we ship it to the printer. The printed versions will be available a few weeks later.

Highlights:

• We are offering print and PDF versions. If you purchase the print version, the PDF version is included. In addition to search and live links, the PDF version offers instant gratification (you can download it) and is free of extortionate international or express shipping charges (because you download it).
• We explain how to use the new Unicode support for text and dialog boxes.
• We updated the workflow and output chapters.
• We nipped, tucked, and generally improved the content, and hopefully did a better job than this.
  
• We have rewritten the conditional text chapter to cover the new complex conditionals. I believe that Terry Smith is now the only person in the world who actually understands how to use this feature.
  
• We refreshed screen shots.
• We corrected errors and embarrassing spelling errors. (And probably introduced some new ones. Oh well.)

Email us at books@scriptorium.com before May 9 for a 15-percent discount code on orders of Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8. You will receive the code along with the announcement of availability in mid-May.

Labels: book, FrameMaker

3:28 PM Permalink | |

 

FrameMaker 8: The Case of the Missing S

Thursday, April 24, 2008 — posted by Alan Pringle

I have been reviewing the content in Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8, which we plan to release next month. While reviewing the chapters, I have been reminded about some FrameMaker features I had forgotten, but I've also discovered a few puzzling things in the interface of version 8.

For example, there is a toolbar for the new feature that tracks text edits. To see the toolbar, select View > Track Text Edit Bar. The Track Text Edits toolbar is displayed. If the toolbar has Edits in its name, why does the View menu choice show just Edit?

I think this is a case for The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I bet they could track down that missing s.

Labels: FrameMaker

8:28 AM Permalink | |

 

My beautiful Flash movie shows up as a big gray button in FrameMaker 8

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 — posted by Terry Smith

With FrameMaker 8, you can embed Flash (.SWF) files directly into FrameMaker. From there, if you use Save As PDF to create the PDF file, then your users can play Flash movies right from the PDF. Import the Flash file, Save As PDF, and go.

Except that the result is not quite as advertised.

According to Adobe, the first frame in the Flash file appears where you insert the Flash file. Uh, no. What actually appears is a picture of a big gray arrow button like this:


The gray button is not what I expected or wanted. Frankly, the first frame of the Flash movie is often not great to show either.

So how can you set a poster for the Flash movie that will show up in print and in the PDF? The solution is not elegant, but it works:

1) Create a picture (probably a screen capture from the Flash movie) and place it on top of the embedded Flash file in FrameMaker (both are in the same anchored frame).

2) Add callouts such as "Click here to play movie" if you want. Here's a sample of a picture you might place over a Flash movie:



3) Select File > Save As PDF.

In the resulting PDF, the picture (and text, if any) that you placed on top of the Flash movie act like a big button. Click anywhere on the picture to play the Flash movie. The Flash movie comes to the front and covers the picture, so you can use any kind of picture and it won't affect how the Flash movie looks when it plays.

Here is a FrameMaker 8 sample file that shows the big-gray-arrow-button problem and the workaround to create a poster for the Flash movie. Also, here is the resulting PDF. This file was tested on Windows with FrameMaker 8.0 p273 (also known as the “Fat Tuesday patch” for its release date).

Want more? See this article by Jeff Freeman about importing Captivate Flash into Acrobat for tips that also apply when importing Flash into FrameMaker.

Labels: Acrobat, Flash, FrameMaker, PDF, SWF

12:06 PM Permalink | |

 

No help for you!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 — posted by Alan Pringle

I was saving a structured FrameMaker 8 book out to XML and encountered an error in the structured application I was testing. I knew I had a flaky read/write rule, so I went to the Help menu to select the Complete FrameMaker Help choice, which displays a web page with a link to the structured application documentation.

Imagine my surprise when the Complete FrameMaker Help choice was grayed out. I was very puzzled by this because I had used that very option just last week. I then opened one of the files in my FrameMaker book and checked for that menu option, and it was no longer grayed out.

On my laptop running Windows Vista, it seems that FrameMaker 8.0p266 lets me select the Complete FrameMaker Help choice only if a document file is open (or if no file at all is open). If a book file is the active file, the choice is unavailable.

Is this Adobe's way of telling us book files are beyond help?

Labels: FrameMaker

3:39 PM Permalink | |

 

Wherefore art thou, custom structured application?

Thursday, December 06, 2007 — posted by Alan Pringle

If you have added a structured application to the default ones provided by FrameMaker 8, proceed with caution before you install the patch for FrameMaker 8.0p266. The install will replace your applications definition file (structapps.fm) file without making a backup version.

I had customized my structapps.fm to include applications I created for a client. I tried to use one of those applications yesterday, but it wasn't in my list of applications. Sure enough, those applications were gone from the definitions file. Sarah had the same thing happen to her definitions file, too.

Moral of the story: make a backup version of structapps.fm before you upgrade to version 8.0p266. (And I think Adobe should have known better than to do something like this.)

Labels: FrameMaker

8:34 AM Permalink | |

 

Reactions to the TechComm Suite

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Bloggers are starting to comment on the TC Suite. Here are a few I spotted this morning:

Bill Swallow ("TechCommDood") writes on waxing techcomm:

I'll admit, I'm both impressed at the package (the monetary deal for the payload of technology is quite appealing) and at Adobe's direct acknowledgement of the techcomm market. [...]
The workflow is still unidirectional; FrameMaker to RoboHelp to online output. There is no going back from RoboHelp should you make changes (which you can, since RoboHelp also remains an authoring tool) once you import the FrameMaker content.
This is where the similarities between RoboHelp and the likes of WebWorks Publisher and Mif2Go end. RoboHelp allows you the option to continue to edit content in the built-in (or external) HTML editor after import.

This is an important point (and a highly problematic one). If you link your FrameMaker content into a RoboHelp project and then make changes to the FrameMaker-sourced content in RoboHelp, then you end up with two copies of the content. Not good, and the temptation to just "tweak a few things" is always there. (I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this point.)

Bob Doyle writes on his techwr-l.com blog:

You can include Help in FrameMaker projects, eLearning in RoboHelp and in Frame, 3D animations in Help and Frame and in PDF documents, RoboHelp screen captures from Frame, etc, etc. All the tools include direct access to aspects of the others from within the tool. You do not have to leave one tool to “Edit with…” another tool. And no longer are conversions needed to reuse assets.

This is the first reference I've seen to reusing RoboHelp content in FrameMaker. I don't believe that this is actually possible.

Another positive initial review from Ron Miller:

[...] Adobe appears to have taken care to put integration on the front burner to make it easier for training and tech writing departments to share content.

[... T]hey appear to have answered all the criticisms I had of RH6 and then some with RH 7. What's more they have integrated it with Frame to create a fully featured publishing environment.

Until I take it through its paces with a project, it's hard to judge but the first impressions were good and it appears clear that Adobe wants to claim a place in the tech writing market.

Dan Ortega of Astoria (via Charles Jeter) clearly identifies the strategic problem with the Suite:

[...] Adobe still appears to be focused on a desktop paradigm. [... W]hen they reference workflow, they refer to workflow integration between the products in the TC Suite. [...]

If Adobe plans to succeed in the enterprise, they have to take a much broader view of how technical documentation teams work by moving beyond the creation perspective. They need to adopt a perspective that encompasses the entire production cycle[...].

Adobe's products are evolving and becoming more integrated, but they are doing so inside the Adobe walls. Conveniently, FrameMaker and RoboHelp are now neighbor, where before they were more like rival gangs with a turf war. But the XML and XSL barbarians are at the gates, and it's time to let them in and accept them as citizens. (This metaphor has clearly run, er, amok.)

The era of proprietary content files is over. Baseline content needs to be in XML because of the "production cycle" that Mr. Ortega describes. XML is:

• Supported by content management systems
• Advantageous for localization workflows
• Enforceable (that is, you can enforce your preferred structure)
• An excellent starting point for automated content production (via XSL, FrameMaker, or even InDesign)

Authoring tools aren't going anywhere, but the FrameMaker- or RoboHelp-centric universe is not going to last.

Labels: FrameMaker, robohelp, TechComm Suite, xml

10:45 AM Permalink | |

 

eWeek analysis of TC Suite

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 — posted by Sarah

They misspelled Michael Hu's name, so minus points for sloppiness.

Introducing: Adobe's Software for the Technical Writer (eWeek)

I have some issues with this article. For instance:

• The lead-in: "Determined to earn revenues beyond the Web developer market, Adobe Sept. 25 released its Technical Communication Suite [...]." Hmmm. Creative Suite is for web developers? Acrobat?
• "The new suite comes almost as an afterthought to the company's Flash, Flex and the AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime, formerly code-named Apollo) Web development technologies, whose futures were discussed Sept. 20 at the FlashForward conference in Boston." That's just a weird editorial comment. Creative Suite 3 was released this spring, so was Flash/Flex/AIR an afterthought to CS3? Different release cycles do not necessarily equal "afterthought." Also, I don't think the audience for FFA and for TC Suite have much (if any) overlap.

I think the addition of support for Flash into Acrobat is important -- it will allow us to create much more interactive PDF files. But I'm afraid that I'm not quite on-board with the hyperbole from Adobe (sorry, Mike)?

"We're going to change the dynamics of this industry and change how people are creating content and change how people consume this content," Wu [sic] said.

Here is the unauthorized translation:

This TC Suite is going to hurt our competitors, who are all providing point solutions. Even if you concede that, for example, Flare might be better than RoboHelp, when we put FrameMaker and RoboHelp in a single box with an attractive price point, it makes purchasing FrameMaker and Flare separately less appealing.

ePublisher Pro's integration with FrameMaker is probably better than RoboHelp's, at least for now, but licensing RoboHelp as part of the Suite is going to be much easier than justifying two separate purchases.

If we can piggy-back Captivate onto the big authoring tools (FrameMaker and RoboHelp), we'll get incremental revenue from people who might have otherwise not bothered with buying a simulation tool.

In short, the losers are going to be:

• MadCap, which makes Flare (RoboHelp competitor), Mimic (Captivate competitor), and, someday, Blaze (alleged FrameMaker competitor).
• Quadralay, which makes ePublisher Pro (conversion tool for FrameMaker to HTML, sort-of RoboHelp competitor)
• Qarbon, which makes Viewlet Builder (Captivate competitor)
• TechSmith, which makes Camtasia (Captivate competitor)
  

Lots of Captivate competition on that list. Makes you wonder if this is really about Flash and Acrobat, rather than FrameMaker/RoboHelp integration.

And one other random note: MadCap already has a suite called MadPak, which includes Flare (help authoring), Mimic (simulation), Capture (screen captures), and Echo (audio). No great print solution, though.

Labels: FrameMaker, madcap, robohelp, TechComm Suite

12:57 PM Permalink | |

 

Not-So-Creative Suite

Monday, September 24, 2007 — posted by Sarah

According to Cherryleaf (via Cap-Studio), Adobe has announced the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.

This suite will contain FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate and Acrobat 3D, and it will cost $1599 (a 56% saving over the full price). [Note: I do not know whether this is U.S. or international pricing.] Upgrades from any component of the suite would be less.

Some thoughts...

If you in need of several of the components, you'll obviously save money over licensing them individually, so a definite customer win there.

This is not good news for Quadralay/ePublisher Pro. Even if we assume that the FrameMaker/RoboHelp integration isn't as powerful as FrameMaker/ePublisher Pro, it's likely to be good enough for many.

A monolithic suite with cross-product integration (I assume) seems like the wrong direction in the current market. Our customers are asking for lightweight XML solutions. They are looking for ways to reduce their dependence on proprietary systems. We are currently working one project that's moving from Word to DITA with an assortment of editors and extensive customization of the DITA Open Toolkit for output. Another project is moving from unstructured FrameMaker/ePublisher Pro to structured FrameMaker/XML/XSL; output is various flavors of HTML and of course PDF/print. I just don't see the TC Suite as a contender for these customers.

We do, however, have another customer who is currently authoring in Word and RoboHelp and is deeply displeased with the quality of printed output and the amount of work required to produce online help. For them, the Suite provides the right set of tools; they do not need XML at this time. But how many similar workgroups are out there?

What do you think? Is the new TC Suite appealing to you?

Labels: FrameMaker, robohelp, TechComm Suite

12:08 PM Permalink | |

 

Instant gratification -- FrameMaker 7 book

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Our massive FrameMaker reference, Publishing Fundamentals: FrameMaker 7, is now available for download from our shopping cart.

The download is $39.99. Site licenses are available; contact us for details.

After much discussion, screaming, blood, and tears, we have made the PDF available without DRM. Please do not share or redistribute it.

We are currently working on updates to the book for FrameMaker 8 and hope to have unstructured FrameMaker content ready before the end of the year. When you purchase the FrameMaker 7 PDF, you will receive a coupon good for $20 off the FrameMaker 8 content when it is released.

Note: Currently, our plans call for FrameMaker 8 content to be paper, not digital.

Labels: book, FrameMaker

1:40 PM Permalink | |

 

Deja vu all over again

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 — posted by Sarah

The recent discussion about RoboHelp's presence (or lack thereof) in Adobe documents, along with discussions about staffing changes, feels awfully familiar.

But first, a clarification. In an earlier post, I wrote this:

The "Other" segment, which includes the infamous "Classic Publishing" (aka "We Don't Give a $#$#@ About These Products"), accounts for just under 10 percent of total revenues. Source: Adobe presentation, PDF format, page 10)

I should have been more specific. Page 10 of the quoted PDF says that “Other” accounts for less than 10 percent of total revenues. (No mention of RoboHelp as being part of that group. The bit about RoboHelp being part of Classic Publishing came from elsewhere. Note that the same product management team runs FrameMaker and RoboHelp.

Meanwhile, I took another look at the business segment chart that Mr. Jeter mentions. He's quite right that RoboHelp is not on the list. But take a look at Adobe's complete product list. There are many, many more products there than on the business segment chart. RoboHelp is not the only product omitted from the business segments. (One interesting note, though -- in the product list, RoboHelp is listed under Developer Tools, and then shows up again under eLearning and Technical Communications.)

Back to deja vu.

In 2005, Adobe announced the creation of the "Print and Classic Publishing" business unit, which would be run by Adobe India. Some time before that (I think around 2000, but I can't find specifics), Adobe had moved FrameMaker development from San Jose to India.

There was much anxiety around the product -- would development continue? Was FrameMaker dead? (See Microtype's FrameMaker press site)

The discussion around RoboHelp right now feels exactly the same. (And I should note that I'm probably a little more objective about RoboHelp because I rarely use the product -- and I don't know the engineering or tech support team personally.) I had dinner with Lee Richardson (formerly FrameMaker engineering manager) just after his responsibilities were, um, reassigned. He seemed to be handling the change quite well, but I was upset on his behalf. When you are acquainted with the people whose careers are being shuffled about, it's personal.

In the RoboHelp case, it doesn't help Adobe's cause that MadCap Software has a marketing strategy that revolves around issuing cheeky press releases.

With the benefit of several years' perspective on the FrameMaker issues, it looks to me as though Adobe is using the India office to continue development on products that are not commercially viable with US-based (i.e., more expensive) software developers.
I've built relationships with the new FrameMaker team, but given the choice between their jobs and the development of FrameMaker 9, in say, China, I'll take FrameMaker 9. (sorry, guys!) (And, for the record, it was the Adobe India team that build Unicode into FrameMaker 8, which is a remarkable achievement.) For those of you looking at the RoboHelp situation, you have to decide whether the same is true for you. Does your personal loyalty to the former RoboHelp team outweigh your need for the product?

Labels: FrameMaker, robohelp

11:19 AM Permalink | |

 

Politest rebuttal ever

Thursday, September 06, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Charles Jeter has written up a general lack of information about RoboHelp in various SEC disclosure statements filed by Adobe.

Although I'm also a great fan of conspiracies, I'm afraid that the answer in this case is quite simple. RoboHelp's revenue is not material in the general scheme of things. The "Other" segment, which includes the infamous "Classic Publishing" (aka "We Don't Give a $#$#@ About These Products"), accounts for just under 10 percent of total revenues. Source: Adobe presentation, PDF format, page 10)

The Mobile and Device Solutions segment is even smaller, at 2 percent, but Adobe foresees huge growth in that area. Not so with "classic" publishing, which includes RoboHelp, PostScript, FrameMaker, and a bunch of other nerdy kids generally picked last on the playground.

What's more amusing, though, is that the Adobe TechComm blog was updated this afternoon with a cheery missive from Vivek Jain about cross-product integration:

With FrameMaker 8, we began our journey towards closer integration among Adobe products for technical communicators. With four products, FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate and Acrobat 3D, catering to the needs of technical communicators, we have best in class products for each requirement. Now with much closer integration among these products, we are enabling new workflows.

No mention of the RoboHelp kerfluffle. Very polite.

And I find myself unable to resist this gratuitous video:

Labels: FrameMaker, robohelp

2:20 PM Permalink | |

 

Updating our books for FrameMaker 8

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 — posted by Alan Pringle

We've had a few inquiries about our plans for the Publishing Fundamentals book and workbook series now that Adobe has released FrameMaker 8. We do plan to update the book and workbooks for version 8: in fact, we've just started work on updating Publishing Fundamentals.

After we've completed that update, we'll start work on the unstructured workbooks, and then we'll focus on the structured workbooks. We don't have firm release dates yet, but we'll keep you posted on our progress here in Palimpsest and in the newsletter.

Labels: book, FrameMaker

3:44 PM Permalink | |

 

FrameMaker vs. InDesign

Friday, May 18, 2007 — posted by Sarah

For InDesign, you can get a plug-in to create Sudoku puzzles.

FrameMaker has a plug-in to solve Sudoku puzzles. (h/t Content Wrangler and others)

That sums up the difference between the two tools quite nicely.

Labels: FrameMaker, InDesign

6:50 PM Permalink | |

 

FrameMaker 7.2+x at STC

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Adobe provided a series of "sneak peeks" at products under development at the STC conference.

But first, a message from the legal beagles:

The features presented during the Technology Sneak peak contain proof of concept features and features in the development pipeline. They are not final for the next release however [Adobe] want[s] to take this opportunity to show the general direction of where we are taking the products.

No details on ship dates, but as they are recruiting for beta testers for the next version of FrameMaker, I think we can assume in the Not Too Distant Future.

New FrameMaker features shown:

• Unicode
  
• DITA support
• Flash and 3D support (can embed into FrameMaker and have live in PDF or HTML)
  
• Vista Support and docx import
• Track Text Edits
• Attribute based filtering /output (show/hide based on attributes)
  
• Import of XML and CSS files
• Conditional Text Enhancements (Boolean conditions)

Here are some details posted on the Adobe forums by Russ Ward.

(h/t CAP Studio)

Labels: FrameMaker

8:22 PM Permalink | |

 

More FrameMaker 8 tidbits

Tuesday, May 08, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Michael Müller-Hillebrand at cap-studio.de reads the tea leaves of Adobe's public announcements about FrameMaker 8. First, in What has Adobe promised us (German), he makes the following points:

• In a document posted in July 2006, Adobe promised a new release "in the next 12 months."
• They refer to a "major new version," which is code for 8.0 as opposed to 7.x.
• They recognize the lack of support for non-Western languages as a major issue.
• They will focus on structured authoring features.

Second, in a post about the beta test announcement from Adobe, he explains what makes this news so important:

• The announcement technically meets the earlier promise of a new release by July 2007.
• Adobe is adopting a more open culture, which is likely due to influence from the Macromedia merger. By announcing an upcoming release, Adobe may lose a few sales over the next couple of months, but they also freeze purchasing decisions -- it's unlikely that new customers will purchase a competitive product before they see details on the new release.
  

On a cautionary note, Michael points out that Adobe is unlikely to recruit a significant number of new beta testers because it requires too many resources. And meanwhile, he (and I) are waiting to see what, if any, product details are announced next week at STC (see sneak peek announcement).


PS Translations (and errors) are mine.

Labels: FrameMaker

1:45 PM Permalink | |

 

Apocalypse Now

Monday, May 07, 2007 — posted by Sarah

Last week, I suggested that The end of the world is approaching because Adobe had made some comments about upcoming release.

Today, I suggest we all hide in our backyard bunkers, because of this:

The FrameMaker product team is looking for volunteers to participate in FrameMaker Prerelease Beta 2.

It's a publicly announced beta for FrameMaker 8. No details on new features or other information, and I do not know whether participants will be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement.

Off to buy canned food and water purification tablets...

Labels: FrameMaker

11:55 AM Permalink | |

 

The end of the world is approaching

Wednesday, May 02, 2007 — posted by Sarah

What other explanation is there for Adobe, nicknamed The Cone of Silence, making this announcement:

If you are planning to attend the [STC] Conference [in Minneapolis], you now have added incentive. We will be providing technology sneak peeks of the features of the next versions of FrameMaker, RoboHelp and Captivate.

For details, see Vivek Jain's blog entry on the Adobe TechComm blog. No mention of a requirement for a non-disclosure agreement, so I assume any information shared at these sessions will be public.

I won't call Adobe "transparent" just yet, but this reduction in opacity is quite welcome.

Update (May 3, 2007): Over at Core Dump, a post on the same topic entitled Hell is Freezing Over.

Labels: FrameMaker

9:59 AM Permalink | |

 

Pre-New Year's Resolution

Friday, December 29, 2006 — posted by Sarah

Remember, Publishing Fundamentals: FrameMaker 7 is currently available as a secured PDF through the Adobe Document Center. Access will expire at year-end.

To access the book, click here. For access details, read Alan's original post.

Labels: book, FrameMaker, secured PDF

4:53 PM Permalink | |

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