FrameUsers.com

(Goochland, VA) – Finite Matters Ltd. (FML) today announced that PatternStream® works with Adobe® FrameMaker® 8 and Adobe FrameMaker Server 8 software to achieve a high level of automated publishing. On July 23, 2007, Adobe announced that Adobe FrameMaker 8 is expected to ship worldwide by the end of July, 2007.

PatternStream provides FrameMaker users with an efficient method of acquiring data from databases, XML and HTML files and other sources to automatically create data-driven budgets, catalog, directories, financial reports, reference books, and an infinite range of pattern based information for print and electronic distribution. PatternStream uses a patented process that views data-driven publishing projects as the merging of a data structure with a document hierarchy.

“PatternStream continues to integrate directly with FrameMaker and FrameMaker Server through its application programming interface (API) and is the only software that does so for this type of programmatic information creation,” said Ben Slone, President and CEO of FML. “Now our customers will be able to upgrade to FrameMaker 8 and FrameMaker Server 8 and be assured that they will receive the same high level of publishing performance.”

“We are excited that PatternStream supports Adobe FrameMaker 8 and FrameMaker Server 8,” said Karl Matthews, Group Product Marketing Manager, Print and Classic Publishing Solutions at Adobe. “For years PatternStream has been one of the leading applications for setting up complex database publishing projects using Adobe FrameMaker.”

About FML

FML offers quality, cost-effective database and automated publishing and information management solutions for the private sector, government and organizations. FML has extensive experience and expertise in implementing a wide variety of complex database and automated publishing systems.

Customers include Amcor Sunclipse, Columbia Books, eMap, F+W Publications, Health Net, Inc., Honeywell, Hutton Communications, IMI Cornelius, MediQual, MFS, Mayo Foundation, McGraw-Hill, New Zealand Exchange, Nicor Gas, RAAF AIS, Square D Company, Standard & Poor’s and the University of San Francisco.

FML is the leader in state and local government budget database publishing and is used to publish city, county, school district, and state budgets and other financial information by governments in more than 15 states and Canada.

PatternStream is also used to publish budget, financial and statistical information for federal government departments and agencies including the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

FML has working relationships with Adobe, CACI, CGI, IBM, Oracle and other OEM and third-party resellers to resell and support PatternStream implementations and enhancements.
PatternStream will continue to revolutionize automated publishing. For more information, contact Marjorie Mayo at 888-230-1365 and visit www.patternstream.com.

Adobe FrameMaker 8 software is a powerful tool for technical communicators that combines word processing and XML-based structured authoring with template-based publishing.

Unicode support (New)
Edit and create content in multiple languages, and author content for global audiences with dictionary and hyphenation support for most languages.

Support for rich media (New)
Create more engaging online documentation by incorporating 3D models, rich Adobe Flash® Player compatible animations, and simulations created with Adobe Captivate™ software. Generate Adobe PDF files with live 3D models.

New DITA support (New)
Use a prebuilt DITA application to author, publish, and distribute topic-oriented information in XML and create DITA maps.

Fully integrated authoring tools
Create, edit, and publish technical content with powerful features for automatic numbering, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, books, and more. Automate formatting via templates and integrate tables, graphics, and images.

Flexible authoring environment
Work in a familiar style-tagging word processing mode or in a fully structured environment optimized for editing and producing valid XML and SGML. Manage your content entirely in XML, use XSLT during editing, and conform to industry standards such as DITA and DocBook. Easily convert existing documents to structured content through conversion tables. And import content from many other formats, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, QuarkXPress, and Adobe PageMaker® software.

Powerful, scalable single-sourcing
Effortlessly single-source variations of the same document for different channels and purposes by building complex Boolean expressions for defining output filters in structured and unstructured mode. Easily distinguish multiconditional text through improved color coding. Use attributes to control conditional output in structured mode. Manage and rename conditional tags through a convenient new dialog box.

Rich Media Enhancements and Unicode Support Anchor FrameMaker 8 Release

SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 23, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® FrameMaker® 8 software, a complete authoring and publishing tool that combines the simplicity of word processing with the power of XML. New support for broader file formats including Adobe Flash® Player compatible .SWF files and 3D empowers technical communicators, experts and trainers to enhance static documents with rich media to create more engaging and interactive content. In addition, industry-leading integration of XML accelerates the creation, localization and distribution of content for output across operating systems, devices, and platforms and new Unicode support enables authors to effortlessly publish a single document in multiple languages.

“The valuable content generated by technical authors should not be constrained by language, geography or device,” said Naresh Gupta, senior vice president and managing director, Print and Classic Publishing Solutions at Adobe. “Integrating content created with Flash software, 3D and Unicode makes FrameMaker 8 a milestone release that will simplify the delivery of high-impact documentation, no matter what the language or technology platform.”

Relied on by technical authors, documentation specialists, trainers and professionals that require high-quality long document multi-channel output from a single source, FrameMaker 8 builds on a rich product heritage that has powered the delivery of complex documents worldwide.

Master Complex Documents in a Flexible Authoring Environment
Adobe FrameMaker 8 lets technical communicators work in a familiar, style-tagging word processing mode, or in a fully-structured authoring environment optimized for producing XML and SGML. By incorporating accessible authoring tools and ready-made customizable templates, FrameMaker 8 streamlines the technical documentation process. Support for industry-standard Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) simplifies writing, reviewing, publishing and exchanging topic-oriented information in XML and the creation of DITA maps. Technical documents are now easily maintained and updated with powerful book authoring and layout features, including automatic numbering and cross-references. A new feature enables technical writers to highlight edits made to the text of documents, streamlining the review process.

“At last, with Adobe FrameMaker 8, the industry has an XML editor with 100 percent DITA support that’s easily customizable and is also a complete publishing solution,” said Thomas Aldous, President, Integrated Technologies, a U.S. company focused on technical training, document management and customer application development. “Any other major DITA editor requires a costly additional print server purchase.”

Incorporate 3D Models and Adobe Flash Player compatible .SWF files for Visually Dynamic Documentation
With FrameMaker 8 software, authors can integrate 3D models and rich media contained in Adobe Flash Player compatible .SWF files directly into their Adobe PDF documents. This enables anyone with Adobe Reader® software to experience dynamic and interactive assets such as 3D, video and animation directly within the document. These new features can be leveraged to easily integrate screen recordings, simulations, tutorials, and quizzes created with Adobe Captivate® 3 software, the latest version of the company’s innovative eLearning product.

Support and Publish Materials for a Global Audience
Adobe FrameMaker 8 supports Unicode text encoding, enabling authors to publish technical documentation in multiple languages. Combined with a multilingual dictionary and hyphenation support tools, FrameMaker 8 creates an efficient and flexible environment to manage technical documentation for businesses that need to offer multi-language support.

In conjunction with this announcement, Adobe also introduced Adobe FrameMaker Server 8 software, which integrates the printing and Adobe PDF publishing features of Adobe FrameMaker with server-based applications.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe FrameMaker 8 is expected to ship worldwide by the end of July 2007 at an estimated price of US$899 for Windows® and US$1,329 for Solaris™ Unix®. Localized versions in French and German are expected to ship at the same time. Registered users can upgrade to Adobe FrameMaker 8 for an estimated price of US$299 for Windows and US$429 for Solaris Unix. Adobe FrameMaker Server 8 is expected to ship in October 2007 at an estimated price of US$7,999 and registered users can upgrade for an estimated price of US$3,999. To learn more about Adobe FrameMaker 8 and FrameMaker Server 8, please visit www.adobe.com/framemaker or participate in a complimentary on-demand eseminar at www.adobe.com/go/techcom_eseminars .

Dear Framemaker users:

I am a senior technical writer from the Washington, DC (USA) area. I request assistance converting Framemaker files to HTML online help. Over the past eleven years, I used FM extensively, and loved it, but I haven’t used it much for approximately five years because many companies in my area aren’t interested in introducing a new skill set to their staff. Recently I began using FM again, but I haven’t kept up with its web/help conversion capabilities. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised at how few advances have been made in that area over the past five years.

I am currently writing a user guide and online help system for a software application used by an agency within the United States government.

I am using Framemaker 7.2 as the authoring tool and the methodology is single source documentation where I use the same content for printed material (user guide) and online help. The content will not change, but two outputs will be used (printed/PDF and HTML Help).

Originally, I planned to convert Framemaker files to HTML help files using “Webworks Publisher Standard Edition.” Unfortunately, WWPSE does not provide a search feature or split screen layout where navigation buttons (TOC, index, search, and favorites) are on the left pane, and content is on the right.

Quadralay, the company that makes WWPSE, offers an upgrade to WWPSE, but it costs approximately $2,000 (US dollars). I am looking for a single source tool, for less than $500, that converts Framemaker files to HTML Help, and provides a search feature and split screen. It can be something that works with WWPSE (a template, for example), or it can run as a separate application without using WWPSE at all.

About two weeks ago, I sent an email to a list of mostly Framemaker consultants, and five of them recommended Mif2Go by Omni Systems. In fact, Mif2Go was the only recommended tool within the stated price constraint of $500.

Shortly thereafter, I got an evaluation copy of Mif2Go, but unfortunately, the results have not been positive. The setup seems overly elaborate, and the user guide is close to 1,000 pages – a little overkill, in my opinion, for what should be a relatively simple product. Mif2Go appears to be more of a programmer’s tool than a writer’s tool because it has no GUI. I’ve run several conversion tests, exchanged a bunch of emails with Omni Systems’ tech support, but so far I have been unable to generate any usable help outputs from a Framemaker source document. And I just discovered that only one of the five consultants who suggested it has actually used it. The others have only *heard* good things about it.

I’ll keep plugging away at Mif2Go because it theoretically does what I want it to do, but my interest and patience are quickly evaporating.

I’m considering Robohelp as a slightly more expensive alternative. I understand that it now imports FM files in a similar manner as Webworks.

Is there anyone out there who is knowledgeable of Adobe’s latest release of Robohelp, and has also used Mif2Go?

If someone has tips to share on *any* product, I would be most appreciative.

Thank-you.

Dave Sharp
Technical Writer/Consultant

North Potomac, Maryland
Email: dsharpwriter2@yahoo.com

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=700382&loc=en_us&trackingid=ZQGM

You’re invited to participate in a free live online seminar series to learn about the latest developments regarding the next version of Adobe FrameMaker—one of several Adobe products like Adobe RoboHelp® 6, Adobe Captivate™ 3 and Acrobat® 3D targeting technical communicators.

Sneak Peek at FrameMaker.Next!
Thursday, July 26, 10:00 A.M. PDT
Take a peek at what the FrameMaker team is working on. Learn about potential new features and provide feedback during this eSeminar. See features like DITA topic-based authoring, create documents with live 3D models and Flash®, XML single-sourcing features, track text changes and other review workflow improvements, and much more.

FrameMaker Deep Dive: DITA topic-based authoring and single sourcing
Thursday, August 9, 10:00 A.M. PDT
Take an in-depth look into new support for DITA topic-based authoring, advanced single sourcing features, and improvements to the review and collaboration workflow (e.g., track text edits).

Benefits of FrameMaker for Structured and Unstructured Documents
Thursday, August 23, 2007 10:00 A.M. PDT
Learn about FrameMaker’s capabilities to create structured and unstructured content. Should you migrate to structure? If you do, what should you consider? How do you structure your content? Learn some of the terms used in structured application development (e.g., EDD, XSLT).

In addition, you can participate in a series of OnDemand seminars covering topics like Adobe RoboHelp 6 (Visual Studio Magazines 2007 Readers Choice Award Winner for Help Authoring), Migrating from Word to FrameMaker, and more.

Adobe is looking for more beta testers. FrameMaker 8 is currently in beta and you can apply to participate in the Beta.

Send an email request to framemaker-beta@adobe.com.

GOOCHLAND, VA — (MARKET WIRE) — 02/06/2007 — Finite Matters Ltd. (FML) today announced that PatternStream version 2.3 is available.

This upgrade includes a full range of dynamic graph capabilities and improved XML importation, processing, and generation capabilities. Other functional enhancements simplify automated publishing setup and control. A newly revised and comprehensive PatternStream user manual and new on-line help are included with the upgrade.

In addition, PatternStream 2.3 will include FML’s new DataProber™ software release 1.0. DataProber allows users to connect to any ODBC data sources and OLAP for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services and view data structures, query data, and view and copy result sets.

These enhancements are the product of customer input and requests and FML’s vision for PatternStream.

“We really listen to our users and are constantly working to keep PatternStream the leading software solution for automated database publishing,” said Ben Slone, FML’s President and CEO. “Continual implementation of user suggestions helps FML meet and surpass our customers’ publishing expectations and needs.”

PatternStream integrates with Adobe® FrameMaker® and FrameMaker Server to enable users to publish to print and electronic files. PatternStream can be used on computers ranging from laptops to intranet servers to provide any level of data-driven publishing required by small to enterprise entities. Output file formats include PDF, Adobe PostScript®, HTML, and XML.

About FML

FML offers quality, cost-effective database and automated publishing and information management solutions for the private sector, government, and organizations. FML has extensive experience and expertise in implementing a wide variety of complex database and automated publishing systems.

Customers include Amcor Sunclipse, Columbia Books, eMap, F+W Publications, Health Net, Inc., Honeywell, Hutton Communications, IMI Cornelius, MediQual, MFS, Mayo Foundation, McGraw-Hill, New Zealand Exchange, Nicor Gas, RAAF AIS, Square D Company, Standard & Poor’s, and the University of San Francisco.

FML is the leader in state and local government budget database publishing and is used to publish city, county, school district, and state budgets and other financial information by governments in fifteen states and Canada.

PatternStream is also used to publish budget, financial, and statistical information for federal government departments and agencies including the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

FML has working relationships with Adobe Systems, Inc., CACI, CGI, IBM, and Oracle to resell and support PatternStream implementations and enhancements.

PatternStream will continue to revolutionize automated publishing. For more information, contact Marjorie Mayo at 888-230-1365 and visit www.patternstream.com.

Welcome to the updated FrameUsers.com. We are still in beta, but think we’ve fixed most of the major bugs. It’s been a long time in transition, but the move should make keeping content up-to-date much easier. We have also totally redone the FrameUsers Resource Guide. You can enter your own information and update it at any time. Help us kick the tire on the new site and please let us know if you are having any problems. Let us know at listadmin@FrameUsers.com.

We’re working on a new archive system for Framers that will be fully indexed and searchable across the entire archives.

AIIM to Facilitate ISO Standards Process for Leading Electronic Document Format

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 29, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that it intends to release the full Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, for the purpose of publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

PDF has become a de facto global standard for more secure and dependable information exchange since Adobe published the complete PDF specification in 1993. Both government and private industry have come to rely on PDF for the volumes of electronic records that need to be more securely and reliably shared, managed, and in some cases preserved for generations. Since 1995 Adobe has participated in various working groups that develop technical specifications for publication by ISO and worked within the ISO process to deliver specialized subsets of PDF as standards for specific industries and functions. Today, PDF for Archive (PDF/A) and PDF for Exchange (PDF/X) are ISO standards, and PDF for Engineering (PDF/E) and PDF for Universal Access (PDF/UA) are proposed standards. Additionally, PDF for Healthcare (PDF/H) is an AIIM proposed Best Practice Guide. AIIM serves as the administrator for PDF/A, PDF/E, PDF/UA and PDF/H.

“Today’s announcement is the next logical step in the evolution of PDF from de facto standard to a formal, de jure standard,” said Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and chief software architect at Adobe. “By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardization, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness. As governments and organizations increasingly request open formats, maintenance of the PDF specification by an external and participatory organization will help continue to drive innovation and expand the rich PDF ecosystem that has evolved over the past 15 years.”

Adobe will release the full PDF 1.7 specification as defined in the PDF Reference Manual available at www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html to AIIM for the purpose of submission to ISO. The joint committee formed under AIIM will identify issues to be addressed, as well as proposed solutions, and will develop a draft document that will then be presented to a Joint Working Group of ISO for development and approval as an International Standard. AIIM holds the secretariat for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 171 and 171 SC2 for Document Management Applications, and is the administrator for the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO TC 171 that represents the U.S. at international meetings.

“As the administrator for several specialized ISO standard subsets of PDF, AIIM is pleased to receive this proposal from Adobe,” said John Mancini, President, AIIM. “Over the last several years we have seen and in many cases helped facilitate a range of ongoing market and customer focused efforts around PDF. These efforts have grown so broadly that it now makes sense for Adobe to let the full specification serve as a unifying umbrella and submit it for approval under the formal ISO standards process.”

About AIIM
AIIM, the international authority on Enterprise Content Management (ECM), is leading the way to the understanding, adoption and use of ECM technologies. These technologies, tools and methods are used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content across an enterprise in support of business processes. As a non-profit association for more than 60 years, AIIM provides industry news and information, educational events and professional development, market analysis, industry standards development, publications, regional chapters, and executive networking. Complete information about the AIIM, is available on the Web at www.aiim.org .

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com .

The email interface

Every mailing list has a set of email addresses to which messages can be sent. There’s always one address for posting messages to the list, one address to which bounces are sent, and addresses for processing email commands. For the Framers mailing list called framers@lists.frameusers.com, you’d find these addresses:

framers@lists.frameusers.com – this is the email address people should use for new postings to the list.

framers-join@lists.frameusers.com – by sending a message to this address, a new member can request subscription to the list. Both the Subject: header and body of such a message are ignored. Note that framers-subscribe@lists.frameusers.com is an alias for the -join address.

framers-leave@lists.frameusers.com – by sending a message to this address, a member can request unsubscription from the list. As with the -join address, the Subject: header and body of the message is ignored. Note that framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com is an alias for the -leave address.

framers-owner@lists.frameusers.com – This address reaches the list owner and list moderators directly. This is the address you use if you need to contact the person or people in charge.

framers-request@lists.frameusers.com – This address reaches a mail robot which processes email commands that can be used to set member subscription options, as well as process other commands. A list of members’ email commands is provided in Appendix A.

framers-bounces@lists.frameusers.com – This address is used in Mailman’s automatic bounce processing.

framers-confirm@lists.frameusers.com – This address is used for processing confirmation messages for subscription and unsubscription requests.

There’s also an ADMIN address which also reaches the list administrators – listadmin@frameusers.com.

For changing options, we use the LISTNAME-request address (for example, framers-request@lists.frameusers.com).

Commands can appear in the subject line or the body of the message. Each command should be on a separate line. If your mail program automatically appends a signature to your messages, you may want to put the word “end” (without the quotes) on a separate line after your other commands. The end command tells Mailman not to process the email after that point.
The most important command is probably the “help” command, since it makes Mailman return a message full of useful information about the email commands and directions to the web interface.

Email commands quick reference

confirm CONFIRMATION-STRING
• Confirm an action. The confirmation-string is required and should be supplied within a mailback confirmation notice.

end
• Stop processing commands. Use this if your mail program automatically adds a signature file.

help
• Receive a copy of the help message.

info
• Get information about this mailing list.

lists
• See a list of the public mailing lists on this GNU Mailman server.

password [ ] [address=