Technical Communication

Dear RoboHelp Users,

This is the third post of the 'RoboHelp 8 List' blog series. In this blog we will focus on 'Paragraph Autonumbering' functionality.

1. What is Paragraph Autonumbering?
Many times we need to create captions with numbering for images or tables, or simply number the sections etc.; for example in this blog heading of all the sections are auto-numbered. Paragraph Autonumbering can prove to be very effective in such cases.

Paragraph Autonumbering allows user to define a paragraph style with numbering or bullets. When the user applies paragraph style to pre-selected text, RoboHelp adds pre-defined paragraph numbering to the text. Auto numbered paragraph content is similar to a multilevel list content. The scope of Numbering is at the topic level.

2. How to create Paragraph Autonumbering?
You can create an auto numbered paragraph style using button. 'List for Autonumbering' dialog will popup.

To make auto numbering (as shown above), do the following
• Select 'Numbering'
• Do the required prefix formatting
• Apply 'Prefix Style' (Optional)
• Press 'OK'

RoboHelp allows you to auto-number paragraph in multilevel scope too. To create paragraph Autonumbering in multilevel scope (as shown below), do the following

• Select the 'Inherit Numbering Property from Multilevel List' check-box
• Select 'List Class'
• Select 'List Level'
• Press 'OK'

3. How to apply Autonumbered Paragraph style?
To apply this 'Autonumbered paragraph' style,
• Select the content in your topic
• Click on 'Apply Style' combo, and select the Paragraph Style (e.g. "1. Heading 1" in the below   image)

4. Why Paragraph Autonumbering?
• Different users may visualize their document structure differently. When you visualize the   content as paragraph not as a list you should create paragraph Autonumbering.
• When you need to create a list repetitively, then using Autonumbered Paragraph takes single   step to auto number it.

Hope you found this blog series on 'RoboHelp 8 List' functionality useful. Please continue to share your valuable feedback with us.

Thanks,
Amit Jha
RoboHelp Engineering Team

Posted by Amit Jha at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A multilevel list has lists within lists, in which you can have many levels, or layers. Here is a simple example

Article 1. Level 1
   Section 1. Level 2
      Paragraph 1.a. Level 3
   Section 2. Level 2 again
Article 2. Level 1 again

Multilevel lists can be either single level or multiple levels. This feature is probably much richer than what many of us think.

Creating multilevel list
Select paragraph or any existing list or put the cursor where you want to create your list.

1. Either press (Create a Multilevel List) or go to Format > list -> Multilevel list
2. A dialog will appear. Choose a list style or template and press ok.
3. The selected content will be changed into chosen list style. If selected content has a list with levels then its level will be update based on the selected style.
4. Press tab or shift tab to change the level of selected list items.

List structure:
Multilevel list can have up to 9 levels. Each level can have the following properties and they get applied to the selected paragraph.

These properties can be modified using the List style definition dialog as mentioned below

Numbering Behavior:
The scope of 'numbering' of Multilevel list is defined at the topic level. Multilevel list items need not be adjacent or contiguous to retain the numbering sequence. Different items of the same Multilevel list can be in different blocks within a topic and its number is sequenced. You can also write any content between two items of multilevel list without having to choose to restart or continue numbering.

List Indentation & Margin control
User may control the margin space and indentation space of the Multilevel list as shown below.

User may control the margin spacing using buttons present in the style dialog or through the Style sheet (.css) file
Let's take the following example of multilevel List

The style of this Multilevel list is defined in style sheet (.css) as

Multilevel Prefix
Any Multilevel list prefix can have text in the following format in list style dialog.

<text><x|1-9><text>

<x|1-9>: This denotes level number. These will be replaced with sequence value with specified list style like (1,2,3, ...) or (a,b,c, ...) or custom sequence. This could be <x> or <1> or <2> or <3> up to <9>. <1> means first level, <x> means current level of list item.

<text>: Here text could be anything arournd level number. This text will appear as it is in the prefix.

Following are some examples of required 'list numbering' and its correponding 'prefix
text':

Custom Sequencing:
RoboHelp provides five numbering sequence options in list style (viz. decimal, upper-alpha, lower-alpha, upper-roman, lower-roman) and 30+ bullet options. In addition, RoboHelp also allows you to define your own custom sequence. To create a custom sequence, use the List style dialog:

1. Press 'New...'
2. Press 'Add Sequence' and name it



3. Type entries in 'Edit Sequence'
4. Press 'Add' to add more entries in the sequence.
5. Press 'OK'.

List style dialog will automatically choose the sequence you had defined. If the number of list items exceeds the number of entries in the sequence, then the sequence will get repeated.

Restart/ continue numbering
You may restart/continue numbering of any multilevel list items by following these steps:

1. Right click on list item.
2. Select "List Style..." option
3. A dialog will popup, select "Restart numbering at" check box and choose a number from where you want to restart. If you want to continue just deselect "Restart numbering at" check box.
4. Close the dialog

As always, please continue to share your feedback and suggestions.

Thanks,
Amit Jha
RoboHelp Engineering Team

Posted by Amit Jha at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's web-friendly writing style requires authors to use lists heavily and in different styles and formats. In earlier versions (RH7 or before) of RoboHelp, list <li> was tightly integrated with paragraph <p> tag. This was done to achieve same 'look and feel' of paragraph and its numbering, single place style editing and ease of use for a normal user. Sometimes users face numbering, indentation and margin challenges with these lists.

In RoboHelp 8, we have streamlined and enhanced the list feature. You can now create style based simple bulleted and numbered lists in standard HTML format. You can also create multilevel list, which supports a high degree of customization like prefix text control, auto numbering, custom sequencing, list mingling, indentation and
spacing control.

In this blog, I will explain the differences between these lists based on different parameters. I will also explain how to migrate a list from one format into another.

1. Bulleted and numbered (HTML) List
In earlier version (RH7 or before), If you create a list it would
be like this

<ol type="i">
<li><p>HTML List (HTML standard)</p></li>
<li><p>Multilevel List (Proprietary list)</p></li>
</ol>

In HTML standard, list <li> can be created without paragraph <p> tag. If a list is created without paragraph <p> tag then it would have same 'look and feel' of paragraph, it's numbering and single place style editing.
In RH8 user can create a standard list<li> style (in style pod or CSS editor dialog by New >List Style), and using this list style user can create a list without paragraph <p> tag. This can be achieved in following way

• Type some paragraphs
• Select those paragraphs
• To apply list style, either

• double click the list style in style pod listed in List styles , or
• go to format > List > bullet numbering. A dialog will popup select the custom tab, Select the style listed and press OK.

To check your HTML list if it is with or without paragraph <p> tag, position the cursor in the list and look for the style in Apply style combo. In the example below "(none)" indicates this list is without paragraph <p> tag.
You may apply "(none)" style to your HTML list to remove paragraph tag from the list.

2. Multilevel List
This is new list introduced in RH8, to achieve high degree of customization which is not available in standard HTML list.

Features	HTML List	Multilevel List
Design	It is a container element which can contain any HTML content like paragraph, table, list, text box.	It is part of paragraph. It adds calculated prefix into the paragraph to create a list.
Numbering Scope	Block level - List numbering is continuous within a block. It is not easy to add content between two list entries with continuous numbering.	Topic level - You may add any content between two list entries without losing the continuity.
Prefix Text Control	HTML list does not have such functionality.	You may add any text around the numbering.
Paragraph Auto Numbering	RH 7 (or earlier) version achieves Autonumber list by bundling paragraph <p> and list<li> styles. The same functionality in RH8 is achieved using Multilevel list.	User can create an auto numbered paragraph style using button. Autonumbering dialog will popup.
Custom Sequencing	HTML list does not have such functionality.	This functionality is available in Multilevel list.
List Mingling	HTML list does not have such functionality.	Different list entries can be mingled. Like Table list, figure list, heading list can exist simultaneously.
Indentation and Spacing Control	User can control indentation of list. Incase list element has paragraph with tag, and paragraph also has some indentation, then different browsers may render it differently. Technically user can achieve spacing between prefix and text, but this can sometimes be complex and different browsers compatibility might be a challenge.	Multilevel list is part of paragraph, hence, the list indentation, if provided, will override paragraph indentation. Thus it has single point indentation control. User may control spacing between prefix and text into the list.

Limitation: - As multilevel list is not a HTML standard list, it generates hard space (&nbsp;) to make required spacing between prefix and text.

Migration of lists
HTML list can be converted to multilevel list and vice versa. This can be achieved by selecting the list and applying another list style to it.

I will provide more details on the Autonumbering and multilevel list functionality in RH8 in my next blog. Please stay tuned and continue to provide your valuable feedback.

Amit Jha
RH Engineering team

Posted by Amit Jha at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,DITA authoring,PDF,DITA,Image,UI,ScreenCapture

Dear Framers

I hope that you are enjoying working with the RoboScreenCapture software. If you are not much familiar with this tool, then let me explain about it briefly. It is a lightweight screen-capture and image editing tool which comes free with any FM9 and/or TCS2 license.

This post will give you an overview of the RoboScreenCapture tool functionality. Thanks to Rajat, FrameMaker Engineering Manager, for preparing this blog.

Screen Capture has always been an integral part of technical authoring workflows and with FrameMaker 9, you get RoboScreenCapture out of the box for the same. RoboScreenCapture is a powerful screen capture application that provides various options for capture like Full Screen, Window or Control, Active Window, Region, Freehand etc. Apart from Screen Capture it also contains basic image editing features like cropping, scaling etc to edit the captured image.

Embedded below is a small demo which shows the power of RoboScreenCapture.

Integration with FrameMaker

With FrameMaker 9, RoboScreenCapture is integrated with FrameMaker and is included in the box. You can launch RoboScreenCapture from FrameMaker itself by using "File-> Launch RoboScreenCapture" option. Also for basic image editing, you can use "Graphics->Edit With RoboScreenCapture" option or "Right-Click Context Menu" to edit the graphics in RoboScreenCapture.

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical Communication Suite,XML,Technical Documentation,Topic,PDF,DITA,Publishing,UI,Reviewer's Guide

Dear Technical Communicators

I met some of you during Tekom conference and it was wonderful interacting with you. I must thank you all for the great positive feedback you shared for TCS2 and FM9.

Your enhancements requests are definitely in my consideration set. Obviously, as a strategy guy, I am looking at the short term next release as well as the longer term roadmap.

You mentioned that more information is needed regarding TCS2 features. I am sharing the link for TCS2 Reviewer's guide again. It has many tutorials on the suite workflows as well as point product value additions. The Reviewer's Guide was developed as a pdf portfolio. I am sure you have already explored this new feature of Acrobat 9. TCS2 also gives you this value addition. You can also see the portfolio below:

If you wish to download the portfolio, please visit the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=7d63376d-4298-4e66-b399-9249aac022ba

Try It exercises for FrameMaker mentioned in the guide can be found at the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=9339409a-b884-49ae-a06d-157d69b17b8d

Please keep sharing your feedback...

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear RoboHelp Users,

Thanks for the feedback that you have shared with us on RoboHelp 8. We have tried addressing the pressing issues via RoboHelp 8.0.1 patch. In addition to resolving the RoboHelp issues, this patch also improves the FrameMaker-RoboHelp interaction for the Technical Communication Suite users. Robohelp 8.0.1 patch is live now and is available through Adobe Update Manager (AUM). RoboHelp 8 users can check for updates through Help>Update Menu in RoboHelp 8.

List of major issues resolved in this update:

1. Slow loading of topics in display panel
2. Data loss on spell checking project when all topics are closed and 'User Defined Variables' (UDV) Pod is open
3. Popup showed blank on applying a CSS to multiple topics after importing a topic from previous version of RoboHelp.
4. Popup Window for related topics not opening near the related topics button when a large topic is created.
5. Table loses its width setting in Printed Documentation
6. Table with straddled rows and columns are lost on mapping it with any RoboHelp table
7. User defined indent changes and gets incorrect in case of a multilevel list
8. Table displays an extra column in some situations
9. Vertical alignment not shown properly when explicitly set using CSS.
10. RoboHelp HTML crashes when executing sample script for "UDV converter with UI"
11. All the panes are not visible in Browser based AIR Help using startpage.htm#path/targettopic.htm url.
12. RoboHelp 8 does not add space between the expanding Hotspot and the expanding text.
13. Dropdown text not suppressed by Conditional Build Tag in Printed Documentation
14. Different options e.g. Font, font size, zoom etc stop working on changing the image of any icon on the formatting toolbar and restarting RoboHelp.
15. Remove Unused Index Keywords menu item was disabled and hence the functionality wasn't available
16. Show/Hide in a MiniTOC in a Topic placed inside a folder works only in Internet Explorer
17. Clicking on Home breadcrumbs in child project in Browser Based Merged AIR Help opens up default topic of child project.
18. Incorrect order of topics displayed or RoboHelp HTML crashes on toggling between folders and TOC on TOC page layout when multi level Folder architecture is present in Project Manager.
19. RoboHelp 8 Compiler not working properly with the RoboHelp 8 Command Prompt.
20. CSH call of offline help for non-Unicode applications doesn't work for second time

Issues related to RoboHelp - FrameMaker Integration (Technical Communication Suite) resolved in this update:

21. Slow response time to Link multiple .fm files (e.g. two 7 MB files) as compared to linking single (14 MB) .fm file
22. Some images set in the FrameMaker's Anchored Frame missing in RoboHelp.
23. Some of the cross references not getting converted into hyperlinks for FrameMaker Book9
24. Multiple instances of FrameMaker launched on generating FrameMaker book with multiple big documents.
25. CBT is applied wrongly in RoboHelp if the conditional expression is applied on any anchored frame in the FrameMaker document.

RoboHelp 8.0.1 resolves few other issues in addition to the ones listed above. Please apply this patch, and continue to share your feedback with us.

Thanks,
Ankur
ankujain@adobe.com

Posted by Ankur Jain at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,Topic,PDF,DITA,Publishing,UI,Review

Dear members of the TCS family

Many of you write to me about getting more information on the XML power present in TCS2.

This year I presented at the summer XML conference and talked about topic based documentation using TCS2 in XML way. This complete solution lets you author, review and manage content effectively whether you want to work in an unstructured fashion or want to work with XML or standards based on XML like DITA.

My presentation below gives more details on these workflows.

If you wish to download the presentation along with attachments, please visit the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=3dc8f616-2d88-4ea8-8c77-cf69da5b6a7f

Amit Agarwal from our engineering recently conducted an e-seminar on what's new in FrameMaker. It focuses on key enhancements like the user friendly new UI, DITA, Hierarchical books and Review workflow.

I recommend that you watch this recording which is available to you at http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p61231065/

I am really excited to meet all of you who'll be present at Tekom. Even if you are not, please be in touch.

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)