From the monthly archives: August 2002
Improving Writer Productivity with Structured Documents
Use of structured documents in FrameMaker is often motivated by a requirement for working with XML or SGML. Even without such a requirement, FrameMaker’s structured approach to documentation (based on XML element structure) provides writers with a user interface that allows them to be even more productive than does FrameMaker itself. "Improving Writer Productivity with Structured Documents" starts with an overview of structured documents for an audience that is already familiar with FrameMaker. After the introduction, editing instructions are given to two users, one using an unstructured version of a document and the other using a structured version of the same text. Tasks include rearranging sections, reviewing index markers, and changing cross-references after a long chapter is split in two. The users’ monitors will be projected so that the audience can follow their progress as they work. When editing is complete, the users will describe how they approached each task and answer questions from the audience.
Continue Reading →Choosing a Single-Sourcing Workflow
This session explores several workflow options that let you create multiple outputs, such as print, PDF, and online help, using FrameMaker or structured FrameMaker as your print publishing engine. It includes an overview of structured authoring, XML round-tripping, third-party conversion applications, and built-in FrameMaker save as HTML or XML functionality. Each of these options has advantages and disadvantages; come and learn which workflow is right for your situation.
Continue Reading →Getting Started with Structured FrameMaker
This session includes the following:
- The differences between FrameMaker and FrameMaker+SGML
- Creating an EDD from Scratch
- Creating an EDD from a DTD
- Adding formatting information to the EDD
- Importing Element Definitions into a Template
- Creating an Application file
- Creating a Structured Document
- Creating a Rules file
- Importing SGML
- Exporting SGML
Printing and PDF Workflow: How-To-Do-It
For the third time, we will get down deep and dirty into what it takes to produce reliable, high-quality output from FrameMaker, both directly to print and to PDF. Surprisingly enough, this is not the impossible dream, but it does require some knowledge of the oral traditions.
We will give and take with the usual gnawing and controversial problem areas including choice of operating systems, fonts, image and artwork formats, driver versions, driver options, Acrobat versions, distillation options, printers, displays, and how they all get installed, configured, and hopefully work together.
Come prepared with questions! Almost nothing (at least nothing associated with printing and PDF workflow) is too controversial to be discussed in this session. You might even stump Dov with some extraterrestrial printing and PDF problems that he hasn’t yet heard of. No one has ever fallen asleep during one of these sessions!
Continue Reading →Documents as Software: Using FrameMaker to Support Compiled Document Development
FrameMaker provides features, primarily conditional text and file and format importing, that can be used to dynamically manage content. Technical writers who are responsible for the documentation of several related products can use these features to generate product-specific documents from a virtual document. A virtual document is a single-source file structure from which multiple document images, each containing different product-specific content, can be generated. Typically, the file structure of a virtual document comprises multiple book files, conditionally-tagged document files, and uniformly named instances of unconditional structured document files called information objects.
Continue Reading →Flexible Formatting using FrameMaker+SGML
While unstructured FrameMaker is a great technical document tool, it can be unwieldy during the document design phase. FrameMaker+SGML provides techniques that allow you to make wholesale changes to the document design without manually changing every paragraph format.
In this session, Bill Harris shows you some of the formatting tricks that you use to easily reformat entire books. Using techniques such as inheritance, relative formatting, attribute-reading, and context-sensitive formatting, he will show you how to construct EDDs that allow you to play with the design during construction and easily make changes to existing designs.
Continue Reading →Migrating to Structured FrameMaker
If your organization is migrating to structured FrameMaker for XML publishing, you must decide how to migrate your existing content. In this session, Alan Houser will discuss techniques to minimize the effort of migrating legacy ("unstructured") content to structured FrameMaker. He will present techniques for migrating other file formats (such as Microsoft Word) to FrameMaker, and will present a detailed overview of how to make the best use of FrameMaker conversion tables for migrating unstructured content to XML.
Continue Reading →A Walk Through the Simplest Useful EDD
FrameMaker+SGML(tm) requires an Element Definition Document (EDD). The EDD defines the valid structure for the content of a document. In addition, the EDD establishes the formatting for the content document.
In this session, Bill Harris takes you on a guided tour of an EDD that he has deliberately made as simple as possible, but one that could still serve as a useful basis for a document. He guarantees that this EDD has fewer features than any other EDD, the better to teach you the basic principles of EDD construction.
Continue Reading →Fill out the form below to receive your AdobeÆ FrameMakerÆ 7.0 Enterprise Solutions CD by mail. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery. This interactive CD (in English) includes:
- The comprehensive, 119-page FrameMaker 7.0 Solutions Guide, a complete resource for deploying FrameMaker to solve the information authoring and publishing problems of today’s businesses
30-day tryout version of FrameMaker (for MicrosoftÆ WindowsÆ and Macintosh)
- Links to FrameMaker and FrameMaker Server product information on Adobe.com
- Information on how FrameMaker and Adobe AcrobatÆ combined can accelerate your time to market
Adobe FrameMaker has been entered into a special XML tools competition that XML Journal is running. You can find the contest at:
http://www.sys-con.com/xml/index.cfm
You can vote under the following categories:
XML Editor category
Most Valuable Vendor
The voting ends on September 15.
Continue Reading →FrameMaker References
