Technical Communication

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication Suite,DITA,PDF,Trial,Publishing

Dear Users

In my engineering days, I used to study Quantum Physics where we also used to discuss going beyond the speed of light. Hard to imagine and really hard to measure but I many times believe that the speed at which technology is moving will soon replace the 'c' in the Einstein's equation E=mc2

How about trying the trial in a virtual environment?

Well, it may sound cryptic but if I decode it for you, it is very simple. You can now try out our products even if you don't have the trial copies on your machine. Technology and our efforts have made it possible for you.

I recommend that you please watch RJ's demo watch this short recording on how to navigate around the TestDrive platform and the tutorials.

You may want to refer to RJ's blog as well at http://bit.ly/DMRbm:

I am sure you'll love this experience. Please do share your feedback.

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 1:04 AM | 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,DITA,XML authoring,PDF,CMS,Specialisation,MIF,cross-reference,WebDav,reltable,Publishing,Patch,Facing Pages

Dear Framers

I hope all of you have comfortably installed 9.0.2 by now. Though this was difficult to accommodate in our tight schedule but my first objective is to remove your pains and I feel satisfied that 9.0.2 fixed the issues which crept in through the mega 9.0.1 patch.

Let me briefly describe the fixes of 9.0.2

1. Commands drop down in the designers work NOW and numbering building block in Para designer do get populated NOW if FM is launched afresh and the designers are present in the workspace.


2. FrameMaker DOES NOT crash on inserting any file of a type other than the type defined for the column in a reltable.


3. FrameMaker DOES NOT crash while opening a file with view->options set as "Facing Pages"

Now let's talk something about the new trends. You know that FrameMaker 9 provides innovative, robust, forward-looking and complete support for DITA. With the complete technical communication solution in form of TCS2, the cross-product integrations add to the power of your workflows.

DITA as a standard and FrameMaker as the DITA tool are great to adopt. The tool allows you to leverage the power of DITA Specialization. But some users ask for something more. That "something" is expert help on specializing  DITA in FrameMaker.

We spent lot of time writing, reviewing and polishing expert help and published a white paper named "Integrating DITA Specialization with ADOBE® FRAMEMAKER® 9".

You can download this paper from http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FrameMaker/9.0/DITA/framemaker_9_dita_integration.pdf

I am also including it below.

Based on popular demand and criticality of the need, we'll keep working on such information packages. Please keep sharing your feedback with me at mahesh@adobe.com

Take care

- Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe,FrameMaker,UI,PDF,DITA,Technical Communication,Publishing,Structured authoring,STC

Hello Framers!

Hope things are going great with you. It’s been a while since I met some of you.

Like every year, this year too I had planned to meet you personally at various conferences but it seems that the first half of 2009 didn’t want me to meet you at conferences.FrameMaker Chautauqua didn’t take place this year; then due to some urgent business meeting, I couldn’t attend WritersUA. Then the stage was all set for the grand STC conference but my STC program was hacked with the alert ‘H1N1’ forcing the sudden cancellation. And then unfortunately, DocTrain conference too got cancelled.

But this was for the first half of 2009! As per game theory, if I look at the second half of 2009, it should look more positive giving me ample opportunities to meet you, our Adobe Technical Communication Family!

I am sure you are enjoying working with FrameMaker 9 either as a point product or as a part of TCS2. We also released a couple of patches for the issues reported by you. Initially some of you reported that you were not comfortable adjusting with the pleasant changes brought in FM9. This was natural and now I am sure that with lot of e-seminars, tutorials, white-papers and engineering blogs, you have become experts in working with the new release.

Since change is inevitable, there have been some other changes too which you might not be aware of. Let me share a couple of them with you. I was blessed with a daughter less than an year ago. People say that in the year of global slowdown, my body has seen a sharp growth in adipose tissue which I have validated with weighing machines!

I am including a picture from STC 2008. When I meet you next, it would be easy for you to relate the change!

Please keep sharing your feedback and I hope to meet you soon.

Take care

Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker 9,9.0.1,PDF,DITA,Technical Communication,STC

Dear Framers

Welcome back!

I hope most of you would have taken a break during the vacation.

At my end, I also keep working on getting the breaks fixed :-) . Yes, I am referring to the patch activity.

I appreciate that you experts find out the issues and report them in time to me. Since there were some known and unknown issues which you found with FrameMaker 9, I decided to get them fixed on priority.

The patch 9.0.1 was released some time back and it addresses a large number of key issues. The issues fixed with this patch are:

1. Type-ahead functionality of Control Key shortcuts (Ctrl+0 and Ctrl+9) is fixed.

Note - When focus is on type‐ahead area, with a tag displayed in it, clicking in the document applies that displayed tag. “ESC” key should be used to exit from the status bar’s type‐ahead area.

2. When the starting letter is pressed the fly‐out menu of the status bar DOES NOT APPLY the value automatically NOW if there is a SINGLE entry.

3. Now, index “see” characteristics with DITA indexterms can be completely controlled by you.

4. DITAVal filter works correctly NOW even if there was conditional text applied on some elements.

5. In Save as CMYK Pdf functionality, rendering of imported PDFs can be done as a CMYK preview.

6. The crash issue occurring when specifying a wrong file name in browse dialog at the time of inserting a new topicref (using element catalog) in a Map/BookMap file is fixed.

7. Para Designer doesn’t get updated in the minimized mode now.

8. In German locale, messages appear correctly in XML Schema Log.

9. File‐>preferences‐>interface‐ > Hide Panel on Close; will be checked OFF by default NOW. This boosts performance.

10. The issue of graphics getting dropped in CMYK PDF is fixed now.

The ReadMe can be downloaded from
https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=26e86a52-1056-4a40-82b5-0aa23adcd37e

You may find some change in behavior when you apply this patch but please do no worry. We are aware of these and there are simple workarounds for these. Let me discuss these in detail.

• Command popups in Designers (Paragraph, Character and Table) may not open on mouse click. You may also find empty building block list.

Tips

1. Make sure "Hide Panels on Close" if OFF in File->Preferences->Interface dialog (once it is done , this setting will persist for all subsequent FM session)

2. Close the Designer (Para,Character or Table) once and reopen. This will fix the issue. (need to be done once for FM session)

Please keep giving your valuable feedback.

I am really excited that at STC in Atlanta, I will get an opportunity for discussion with you all!

Thanks and regards
Mahesh

Continue reading "Understanding the 9.0.1 FrameMaker Patch" »

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker 9,User Interface,PDF,DITA,Technical Communication,WritersUA

Hello Framers

You kept asking but till 8, we said wait! Now 2009 ends this wait with 9.

Yes, I am referring to the enriched User Interface of FrameMaker 9. I am sure you are enjoying the power of this power pack which boosts your productivity and efficiency with your existing workflows and also brings new functionality which you can leverage to create new workflows which you could just conceive earlier but couldn’t implement.

But I do understand that after working with the same interface for a really long period, the new interface might mean some change for you. A few of you wrote to me that you need more education on the new interface. A couple of you found the interface a bit confusing.

This makes me think of an interesting change I made some time back. That was about my new mobile phone. My old phone had a crude interface, no profile setting and limited functionality. I wanted to use new features offered by the latest technology in the market. I evaluated and upgraded to a new phone. This new phone came with smart looks, new features and tools but getting used to it took me some time. Believe me, for initial two days, I used to keep the phone back in my drawer thinking that it’s difficult to learn, this is not for me. But gradually I started playing with the phone, explored the features, got help from product help and started enjoying the enhanced and new productivity benefits brought by this phone.

A month back, somebody asked me if I had a phone for donation. I searched and found the old phone. Out of curiosity, I inserted my SIM Card, charged the phone and started typing an SMS. Oh my God!! How difficult and cumbersome… I just couldn’t come to the agreement with truth that this was the phone I didn’t want to change. I smiled and said to myself… Mahesh! You made the right move of initiating, accepting and adjusting to the change which now I am enjoying thoroughly!

With newer technological developments, I might want to change to a newer phone in the future but I don’t have the fear of change as I know this only ‘constant’ will be for good only…

I am sure you would like to know more about the FrameMaker 9 User Interface. A small demo on working with conditional text through new UI is shown below.

RJ Jacquez, Senior Evangelist, will be explaining the new UI in detail to you. I recommend that you please attend his elearning session on Feb 26th.

Details are available at http://blogs.adobe.com/rjacquez/2009/02/elearning_session_on_the_new_u.html

This time FrameMaker Chautauqua conference didn’t materialize but I plan to be present at WritersUA in Seattle. We can discuss more on FrameMaker and Technical Communication Suite in person if you are attending the conference. We can plan a meeting in advance. You are always welcome to write to me at mahesh@adobe.com

-Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical Communication,FrameMaker,Authoring,Conference,DITA,XML,Tekom

Hello Framers!

I plan to attend Tekom 2008 conference this year scheduled to be held in Wiesbaden, Germany.

As I always look forward to meeting you, our valued customers, I plan to reach Wiesbaden, Germany by November 3rd. Conference period is November 5th – 7th.

Please let me know if you would like to meet and share your thoughts, suggestions and feedback on FrameMaker. Meetings can be planned in/around Wiesbaden on Monday evening and Tuesday.

Once the conference begins, meetings can be held at the conference venue itself.

Please write to me at mahesh@adobe.com

I again look forward to this opportunity!

Thanks and regards

Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RoboHelp,Learning,Technical Communication Suite,Integration

Kevin Seigel from Iconlogic has started a new Adobe RoboHelp 7 eLearning course. You can view samples here: http://www.iconlogic.com/RoboHelp7Demos.htm.  As a reader of this blog, you can get a discount of 15% by using the coupon code - "xg3p0".

Posted by at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Training,Adobe Technical Communication Suite

On August 6, Iconlogic is offering a one-day online course on Integrating Adobe's Technical Communication Suite, which will cover Adobe Framemaker, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Captivate and the many neat integration points of the Technical Communication Suite - "you'll put the pieces of the puzzle together and learn to integrate the Technical Communication Suite the way it was intended." Find out more or register at Iconlogic.

Posted by at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe,FrameMaker,PDF,Text,DITA,Technical Communication,Publishing,Structured authoring,STC,Hotfix,Microsoft

Hello FrameMakers

I have some good news for you!

Some problems which you have been facing for long and have been informing me on the same are fixed now – courtesy Microsoft. Yes, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Microsoft for fixing some of our issues in a recently announced Hotfix.

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

To summarize, the following problems have been taken care of with this fix:

• Save as PDF leading to a crash.
• Text dropping out of PDF created from FrameMaker.

This Hotfix is available at the following location:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=952909  (Gives details on the Hotfix)

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

-Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe AIR,RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Cross platform,Online Help,Knowledge bases

RoboHelp Packager is a solution for anyone (not just developers) who wants to build any type of online information systems in Adobe AIR format and not just online help systems.  For example in eLearning, the packager can used to create Performance Support Systems, Searchable Knowledge bases, electronic libraries, electronic Catalogs or just a way to package Captivate movies into a single file deliverable (.air); in Technical Communication, the most obvious ones are creating Online Help systems, searchable knowledge bases or just a way to package mechanical 3D models and deliver them as a .air file.

The Training video includes exercise files in case you want to go through it yourself : http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p23511269/  

Please feel free to share your feedback.

Posted by at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe Technical Communication Suite,Technical Communication,RoboHelp,FrameMaker,HAT,Online Help,XML,Training,Videos

Adobe Senior Product Evangelist, RJ Jácquez, has created three On Demand training videos to help customers get started with Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  A large number of customers have been asking us for training material on the Suite. I hope you will find this useful.  Please see the details below-

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 1 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p29205929/)

In Part 1, you will learn about leveraging live and interactive 3D models from virtual any CAD/CAM/CAE software in your technical and instructional documents using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  This training video includes all exercise files needed for you to follow along with the presenter, and experience first-hand how to convert a 3D CAD file into a highly compressed 3D PDF document and how the included 3D Toolkit software allows you to reuse this model in FrameMaker and then generate an interactive and rich PDF document, that you can distribute to anyone using the free Adobe Reader. The video also guides you through the steps on how to further polish your 3D models using 3D materials and by adding animation that shows your end-users how to disassemble the model.

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 2 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p25426010/)

In Part 2, you will learn how to supplement your technical and instructional design documents with engaging Adobe Captivate demonstrations, simulations and quizzes in the Flash format using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  This training video includes all exercise files needed for you to follow along with the presenter and experience first-hand how to create engaging Captivate demonstrations, simulations and quizzes that can be imported into FrameMaker documents and saved as PDF files, that end-users can playback using the free Adobe Reader.  The video also guides you through the steps needed to add a printing poster in FrameMaker and how to generate a single .SWF file from Captivate, which includes the playback bar in the PDF file, as well as other best practices.

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 3 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p13101233/)

In Part 3, you will learn about adding FrameMaker books and documents in RoboHelp as live links and reusing FrameMaker content for creating Online Help systems, Searchable Knowledge bases, Performance Support systems and even Policies and Procedures.  Just like the first two, the exercise files are also included in case you want to go over the integration features yourself.

Besides Adobe Technical Communication Suite, there are training videos for Adobe FrameMaker 8 and Adobe RoboHelp 7 available on Help Resource Center.  Adobe Certified Trainers (for example, John Daigle is a certified trainer for RoboHelp and Captivate) can help you with formal training, if required.  If you are looking for formal training, you can locate Adobe Authorized Trainers in your area from Adobe site.

Posted by at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tutorials,Adobe RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Adobe FrameMaker,Adobe Captivate,Help Center

I am not too sure if you are aware that the Help for Adobe RoboHelp 7 and Adobe RoboHelp Server 7 is posted on Adobe Help Resource Center (http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/). You can visit this page and access it even if you do not have Adobe RoboHelp license. Please visit this page for browsing latest Help, Getting Started Guides, Installation guides and other resources. We recently posted some Video tutorial showcasing the new Adobe RoboHelp 7 features on the Help Resource Center. Here is a list of tutorials posted on the website:

Explore the RoboHelp 7 interface
Get a feel for the new look of Adobe RoboHelp 7. Learn about the Multiple Document Interface, which lets you work simultaneously on multiple topics.
Video (3:21 minutes)

Personalize the RoboHelp 7 user interface
Get a feel for the new look of Adobe RoboHelp 7. Learn how to group pods, customize the user interface and save your custom environment.
Video (4:32 minutes)

Import Adobe FrameMaker files into RoboHelp 7
Learn how to map styles when importing FrameMaker files into Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (5:55 minutes)

Unicode Support
Learn about Unicode support and localization feature in Adobe RoboHelp 7, which helps create content in 35 languages.
Video (4:16 minutes)

Snippets
Learn how to create, insert, delete, and manage Snippets in RoboHelp projects.
Video (2:06 minutes)

Enhanced end-user experience
Learn about new features in Adobe RoboHelp 7 like Synonyms, Search Highlighting, and Breadcrumb Navigation, which enhance user experience.
Video (3:02 minutes)

New HTML editor
Learn how to improve productivity using features like color coding, enhanced Find / Replace, and Intellisense in the new HTML editor in Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (3:12 minutes)

Multiple tables of contents, indexes, and glossaries
Learn how to effectively single source content by defining and managing multiple Table of Contents, Indexes, and Glossaries in a single RoboHelp 7 project.
Video (4:08 minutes)

Integration with RoboScreen Capture
Learn how to use RoboScreen Capture for capturing and inserting screenshots into Adobe RoboHelp 7 HTML. RoboScreen Capture ships for free with Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (2:31 minutes)

Integration with Adobe Captivate
Learn how to create powerful and engaging simulations in Adobe Captivate, and import them into Adobe RoboHelp 7 HTML.
Video (3:22 minutes)

I hope you will find these tutorials informative and useful.

Regards,
Akshay

Posted by Akshay Madan at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical Communication,Suite,FrameMaker,RoboHelp,Captivate,Acrobat 3D,HAT,Help Authoring,Knowledge Base,Policies and Procedures

If you are interested in learning more about Adobe Technical Communication Suite and Adobe RoboHelp 7, you can participate in the Adobe eSeminars on Technical Communication (Registration required).

Posted by at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical,communication,Adobe,E-seminar,robohelp,FrameMaker,Captivate,Acrobat 3D

Recording of the Adobe on-demand seminars is available online. Please use the go url to access them :http://www.adobe.com/go/techcom_eseminars

Current ondemand seminars recorded from a past live sessions include:

1) What's new in Adobe RoboHelp 6?
2) Intro to Adobe RoboHelp Server 6 and Adobe FlashHelp Pro
3) Benefits of Structured Authoring and Migrating in Preparation for XML
4) FrameMaker and DITA
5) Have You Looked At FrameMaker Lately?
6) Adobe FrameMaker 7.2: Writing for Global Audiences
7) Increase ROI when migrating from Word to Adobe FrameMaker

Also, a live eseminar "Adobe RoboSource Control" is planned for broadcast in May.

Posted by at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RoboHelp,Help Authoring Tool,HAT,RoboHelp 7,Technical Communication,Adobe,Online help

On 25th January, my marketing colleagues Michael and RJ hosted an eSeminar on Adobe RoboHelp 6. If you missed a chance to participate in the eSeminar, you can register and view the recorded version. Here is a link

RoboHelp 6 eSeminar

Posted by at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)