Technical Communication

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,DITA Authoring,PDF,Hotfix,Publishing,Microsoft

Dear Framers

Today I am talking about the old good news but I am sure this will do good even now! Yes, I am referring to the Microsoft Hotfix which was released by Microsoft last year.

I keep getting some queries on the issues which are already taken care by the hotfix and hence I thought that let me make a new post and give you the links for downloading this utility again.

Details on this hotfix's benefits are copied verbatim from my old post and it states:

"This Hotfix should fix almost everything for which you used to delete 'Fntcache.Dat' as a workaround.

http://support.microsoft.com/Hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=952909&kbln=en-us (Direct Download Link)"

Hope you are enjoying FrameMaker 9 and/or Technical Communication Suite 2. Please do share your feedback.

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker and RoboHelp Integration was first introduced in TCS 1 in order to enable online publishing workflows for FrameMaker authors. In TCS 1 a user could maintain a live link of a FrameMaker document in RoboHelp and convert it to HTML topic(s) to be published in various output formats like WebHelp, AirHelp etc. In TCS 1 an initial version of this feature was released which included basic workflows for achieving this objective.

After the feature gained popularity and we received users' feedback, this feature has been entirely revamped in TCS 2 to support a wider range of workflows around this feature and to make this feature more flexible and user friendly.

This blog covers the major highlights of newly introduced features in this area.

New Easy to Use User Interface
TCS 2 provides an entirely new User Interface to specify FM documents to RoboHelp topics conversion settings. This UI is easy to use and allows for a central control of all the settings related to this feature.
The Conversion Settings dialog can be invoked in RoboHelp as follows

• Go to File‐> Project Setting


• Click on "Import" tab


• Click on "Edit" button for Conversion settings of FrameMaker documents

New Efficient Workflow
Now, users can separate the tasks of linking FM documents in a RoboHelp project and specifying conversion settings. In other words, now it is possible to link a FM document in RoboHelp without converting it to topics and mention the conversion settings later on.

Sharing settings across projects
All the conversion settings can be shared across projects by using the Export/Import settings feature. So, settings once done in one RoboHelp project can be exported to a settings file. This settings file can then be imported to another project without needing to do all the settings from scratch.

Style Mapping Workflows
TCS allows mapping of FrameMaker styles with new styles in RoboHelp during conversion through several new workflows. It is no more a pain point for FrameMaker users who are not conversant with RoboHelp CSS styles.
For FM Users:
FM Template Workflow: Users can define their styles for mapping in a FrameMaker template and specify the template in RoboHelp. This template is applied on all the linked FM documents in RoboHelp before their conversion to RoboHelp topics.
Import CSS Workflow: Users can also choose to import a pre‐created CSS into their project for style mapping.
For RH Users:
CSS Workflow: Users, who are conversant with CSS styles, can design their own styles in RoboHelp and then map individual FrameMaker styles with RoboHelp CSS styles.

Mapping of Table Styles
FrameMaker table styles can now be replaced with RoboHelp Table styles in one go thus modifying the entire look and feel of tables in the document.

FrameMaker Autonumber to RoboHelp List Conversion
Now, RoboHelp is powered to support complex and hierarchical list styles. TCS now allows for easy conversion of FrameMaker autonumbers to RoboHelp Lists while maintaining the list formatting and definitions.

Support for Markers
Markers present in FrameMaker documents are now preserved in RoboHelp XHTML topics in the form of PIs (Processing Instructions). These PIs can be exploited to implement lot of functionalities around them through scripting. Please refer my recent blog post "Scripting in TCS unleashed" for such an example.

Image Settings
RoboHelp now provides various image related settings (e.g. Image dimensions margins, format, quality etc.). These settings are applied to the images generated through conversion of anchored frames present in FM documents.

Pagination Settings
There are two workflows available for TCS users to paginate their large FM documents to smaller RoboHelp topics.
Based on FM Styles: Users can now specify FM styles (e.g. Heading1, Heading2) for pagination.
Based on Marker: Users can also specify a marker in FM document based on which pagination can be done in RoboHelp.

Support for DHTML Styles
Users can now specify text in FrameMaker itself on which DHTML effects are to be applied. FrameMaker in TCS has a new menu item named "Adobe RoboHelp" which allows for applying these effects. Once, these effects are applied in FrameMaker, the corresponding text in RoboHelp Topics has the particular DHTML effect applied to it after conversion.

There is a long list of enhancements done in this area. Please refer TCS help and keep visiting this blog to explore further and deeper into various TCS features.

Posted by Mayank Agrawal at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,DITA authoring,PDF,Summer XML Conference,Publishing,Raleigh

Dear Framers

Technical documentation is becoming more and more granular and distributed across the globe.

The key drivers for topic based documentation are:

1. Distributed Authoring
2. Content Reuse
3. Multi-channel Publishing

The best methodology to implement the concept of topic based authoring is through XML and XML based standards. XML provides ways of separating the structure and the content which greatly helps authors and at the same time it maintains consistency among the contributions made by different members of the distributed team.

TCS2 allows authors to create new XML and DITA based content and it also provides the unique ability of seamless aggregation of unstructured and structured content together for publishing. FM9 books help in harnessing True XML power and in addition, leveraging the strengths of FrameMaker. The authored content can also be re-purposed into multiple formats with live FrameMaker document linking functionality in RoboHelp.

The upcoming Summer XML2009 conference seems a promising opportunity for discussing and sharing thoughts around XML.

I too plan to attend and present at this conference and very soon will be flying out of India for this Raleigh, North Carolina confluence.

I look forward to meeting all of you who plan to attend. The URL is http://www.aboveandbeyondlearning.com/xmlconference.html

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker,DITA,Technical Communication,XML authoring,PDF,Migration,Publishing

Hello!

Yesterday, I went to a music concert and after the concert I decided to talk to the guitarist who had nearly taken a control over my senses. This person has been playing guitar for past many years. During the conversation, he revealed that initially he used to play inexpensive guitars as he didn't consider himself as an expert and secondly he was afraid that his parents would scold him if he damages the sophisticated ones. This continued for many years but he was still an unknown name in the field of fame.

But within a few years he realized that it was a must to play a sophisticated tool for carving his own niche in the path of success. He had to move beyond the basics. Though there was some amount of training required but the right selection of the tool was also very critical in the path of success.

Similarly, for a few pages document, a letter or a memo, it's common to work with tools like Microsoft Word but then as soon as we talk about technical communication, there is an expectation of being more professional, sophisticated, robust and organized.

You folks already know about the robust structured document support in FrameMaker. This could be native structured, XML or specific XML standard based like DITA. FrameMaker 9 Hierarchical books provide great flexibility in aggregating legacy content with the newly created documents and ...

I think I should stop here otherwise I'll start giving you tips and tricks on migrating content to structured FrameMaker. Well, I said that I will stop here but you should definitely do a deep dive into it by attending the upcoming seminar by RJ Jacquez on Migrating to and Benefiting from Structured Authoring using Adobe FrameMaker 9

Details for this 90 minute live eSeminar are available at

http://blogs.adobe.com/rjacquez/2009/07/migrating_to_and_benefiting_fr.html

I highly recommend that you make full use of this opportunity!

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker, Technical Communication, Adobe Technical Communication Suite, Toolbars

FrameMaker9 introduces new toolbars to the framers. These toolbars are new to the user in the sense that--they have a new look-n-feel and allow more flexibility. Also, the older .ini model of toolbar has been done away with, with the new .XML model. New toolbars could be of great use as they can enhance user's productivity in an easy way. One may place toolbars nearer to the work-area, or dock them to the nearest dock, or change orientation vertical/horizontal, or choose customized icons for any toolbar or create customized toolbars.

Toolbars Dockable at top and sides:

Graphics, Quick Access Bar (QAB), Table Formatting, Object Alignment, Object Properties, Track Text Edits. When any of these toolbar is docked on the sides and dragged out to float. A small arrow icon appears at the top dark-grey area. When this is clicked one may change the orientation of the toolbar from vertical double-column to vertical single-column to horizontal.

Toolbars dockable at top only (control bar):

Text Formatting, Parargraph Formatting Bar

FrameMaker8 had a QuickAccess Bar, Formatting Bar and Track Text Edit Bar. A sidebar above the vertical scrollbar also served as a bar for frequently used icons. With the new design in FrameMaker9 those icons were adjusted in Quick Access Bar (QAB).

Earlier we used to have one .ini file ($FMHOME\fminit\fmtoolbr.ini) to define all the toolbars. Now the fmtoolbr.ini has been changed to a more modular architecture.

1. The toolbars now exist in the $FMHOME\fminit\toolbars AND <FM9-User-Area>, i.e. %appdata%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9\toolbars\. The toolbars present in the <FM9-User-Area> supersedes those present in $FMHOME just like the maker.ini. So, multiple users using one FrameMaker build may design their own toolbars by storing the toolbar files in their user area.
2. Also if one needs to add a new toolbar, he just can create another XML file and add its entry in fmtoolbar.xml. The usage of toolbars is defined in tag-description.xml.

If one desires some frequently used icons of the toolbar to stand out, one may do so by tweaking the .xml file of the respective toolbar. Here is a small change that is done to make the Enable/Disable icon (first icon in trackchanges.xml) stand out:

1. Open the .XML file of the toolbar you wish to change. One may edit the file present in <FM9-User-Area>. The $FMHOME toolbars would serve as a backup.
2. In the XML file interchange the "rollover" name with the "normal" name. This would bring the bright image as normal and the grey image on rollover.

- Before: <images normal ="P_EnableTrack_18x18_N.png" rollover ="P_EnableTrack_18x18_R.png" dark_normal="P_EnableTrack_18x18_N_D.png" dark_rollover="P_EnableTrack_18x18_R_D.png"/>

- After: <images rollover ="P_EnableTrack_18x18_N.png" normal ="P_EnableTrack_18x18_R.png" dark_normal="P_EnableTrack_18x18_N_D.png" dark_rollover="P_EnableTrack_18x18_R_D.png"/>

1. If this doesn't make the desired difference, one may go on to creating new custom icon images. Those icons can be kept at any custom defined path too. Icons can be kept at:

- User area

- Custom Path

- A custom dll file with the full name being <DLL path>\<image-name>.<extension>. At present the icons are kept in fmcustom.dll present in $FMHOME\fminit. Its entry is present in maker.ini as: AlternateResources=fminit\fmcustom.dll

Some more information:

• User can create any number of toolbars.
• All the menu items\Commands that end up executing an FCODE can be used here
• Only Formatting toolbars cannot be docked in vertical orientation - Text Formatting, Para Formatting. Rest other toolbars may be oriented to vertical or horizontal position.
• Graphics toolbar doesn't have its .XML file, it was not customizable even in earlier versions.

Posted by Amit Agarwal at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)