RE: MIF File Import
Hi Grace, Actually you can start with a MIF file which was saved from FrameMaker. However, you must delete _everything_ which is not relevant to the formats which you want to change. Use a regular text editor for this. You must import such a MIF snippet (that's the term which is used for such parts of a MIF file; you can search for this via any search engine) by File | Import | File. Then select the MIF snippet and select Copy into Document. Then import the changed formats via File | Import | Formats into the other files of your book. Here is a sample, which updates some of my system variables and cross-reference definitions after translation (as Trados presents only those variables to the translator which are actually in use; those which are defined but not used, will not be translated). (I deleted most of the formats to keep it short for this e-mail.) MIFFile 7.00 # Generated by FrameMaker 7.1p116 VariableFormats VariableFormat VariableName `Table Continuation' VariableDef ` (Forts.)' # end of VariableFormat VariableFormat VariableName `Table Sheet' VariableDef ` (Abschnitt $tblsheetnum\ von $tblsheetcount\)' # end of VariableFormat # end of VariableFormats XRefFormats XRefFormat XRefName `figure: number, page' XRefDef `$paranumonly\ auf Seite $pagenum\' # end of XRefFormat XRefFormat XRefName `heading: number, text, page' XRefDef `$paranum\ \xe3 $paratext\\xd3 auf Seite $pagenum\' # end of XRefFormat XRefFormat XRefName `table: number, page' XRefDef `$paranumonly\ auf Seite $pagenum\' # end of XRefFormat # End of MIFFile Best regards Winfried -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of KChebe Grace Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:40 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: MIF File Import I am currently using a MIF file to make changes to a book. I want the file to change some of my paragraph styles to small font and the color to white. At a later point I want to have the mif file change some of my variable settings. This would allow me to make one set of files work for multiple locations by importing a different mif file. The problem that I have is that when I import the mif file, which now only contains the code to change paragraph styles is overwriting the existing variables in the book. It is my understanding that I should be able to keep the mif file as small as possible and use it to only have code to change the things that I want to change without having to account for parameters that are not being changed. Can someone provide some assistance as to why this mif file is behaving this way? ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Frame's File Comparison Feature
Hi Steve, I do not use XML yet. Therefore I may be wrong. Please correct me, if this is not correct! My understanding is this: o Of course the translation memory system can import XML as easily as FrameMaker. Some systems charge additionally for a FrameMaker filter. Or XML (depending on the EDD/DTT) might need a special definition in the translation memory system to identify the part which needs to be translated (e.g. attributes). o When you give XML files to a translation agency, the resulting translation memory could be re-used with other translation memory systems (via TMX) better than when you use FrameMaker files. FrameMaker files contains lots of information which is handled differently than XML. Therefore the number of pretranslated segments and fuzzy- matches would increase, _if_ you switch the system. (That's just an assumption. This could be wrong.) o Translation cost saving calculations with XML are mostly based on chunking. That means only those chunks are translated which are actually changed. As DITA is supposed to split a FrameMaker file into more XML files as compared to a regular FM file, the files to be translated are smaller. This might save money. However, I could also use FrameMaker insets to have smaller files. Additionally, make sure that you will be notified of terminology changes. Such changes must also be done in already translated files. o When you use XML as your primary storage format, infos like table column widths or graphics scaling get lost. I want to have this information present after translation. Therefore I would prefer to use structured FrameMaker and not XML. But that's my oppinion. (Possibly FrameMaker does store such information in processing instructions. Or someone wrote a plug-in for this. I do not know.) Best regards Winfried -Original Message- From: Steve Johnson [mailto:chinask...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 4:27 AM To: Reng, Dr. Winfried Cc: FrameMaker Forum Subject: Re: Frame's File Comparison Feature Can't translation vendors do memory diffs just as easily on Frame files vs. XML files? I don't see the advantage there. On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 3:04 AM, Reng, Dr. Winfried wr...@tycoint.com wrote: Hi, What you're considering is (or should be) neither necessary nor desirable. Your translation vendor should be using a translation memory (and you should request a copy of it, since you've paid for it, so that you're not locked into this vendor because it's holding your translation memory hostage). When you send an updated set of files for a book that's already been translated once, the unchanged paragraphs will match the translation memory. Only the portions that are new or changed need to be translated. If your vendor isn't using translation memory, find a new one. If it is using translation memory, there's no point in you trying to dissect files and reassemble them -- you'd gain nothing and risk all kinds of problems. Of course almost all translation agencies use a translation memory system nowadays. If the vendor uses a translation memory system, such a system can easily check the number of non-translated segments (a segment is a translation unit) and segments which can be pretranslated or translated with the help of fuzzy-matches. However, the vendor will still charge for pretranslated segments. The reason is that often the terminology must be changed with new text. Or references to a previous segment will not be correct any longer, because e.g. you inserted another segment. The reference may still be correct in English but not in a foreign language. The costs per pretranslated segment depend on your vendor, mostly around 25 % of non-translated segments. Best regards Winfried ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Frame's File Comparison Feature
Hi Dr. Reng, You're right in some of the things you said, but other things need a little tuning. I've salted some responses and corrections in below. Kevin Hi Steve, I do not use XML yet. Therefore I may be wrong. Please correct me, if this is not correct! My understanding is this: o Of course the translation memory system can import XML as easily as FrameMaker. Some systems charge additionally for a FrameMaker filter. Or XML (depending on the EDD/DTT) might need a special definition in the translation memory system to identify the part which needs to be translated (e.g. attributes). All TM tools I've used come with a filter for FrameMaker. I don't know of any that charge extra for filters, but none should. My opinion is translation memory technology is still in version 1.0, with only filters to differentiate tools. (Okay, maybe some segmenting is better, but really, the process is just comparing bytes, and the bytes have been pretty standard since, well, computers were invented. No flames, please) All TM tools will also handle XML, but you're right that it is more difficult because XML is random as an input. Even standards like DITA can be used in wildly different ways. Users must define their own filters, which might result in a setup fee at the beginning of a project. However, once the filter is built, a word of FrameMaker should cost the same to translate as a word of XML. It's worth mentioning structured FrameMaker filters just like unstructured FrameMaker. The structure parts are outside the text definition parts of the file, so any filter that works on one will work on the other. If you want to move to structure within FrameMaker, it shouldn't alarm your translation vendor much. The one exception, when last I looked, was Alchemy Publisher, but that was over six months ago. o When you give XML files to a translation agency, the resulting translation memory could be re-used with other translation memory systems (via TMX) better than when you use FrameMaker files. FrameMaker files contains lots of information which is handled differently than XML. Therefore the number of pretranslated segments and fuzzy- matches would increase, _if_ you switch the system. (That's just an assumption. This could be wrong.) TMX is a bit of a sham, actually. True, it is a standard interchange, but tools don't necessarily have the same internal markup. A TM created in one tool might be unusable in another. TMX would make the TM legible to the second tool, but the database itself would not be. A six millimeter square peg would not fit a six millimeter round hole, even if a team of physicists agreed the standard millimeter was used. You are right FrameMaker has a lot of information that is handled differently or not at all in XML, but the same is true going the other way. No DTP format compares well with any other, and none compares well with XML. Any sentence with no internal markup will be the same, but toss an an index marker, cross-reference, etc., and fuzzy match rates start climbing. OpenTag, and subsequently XLIFF, made an effort to address this, but they suffer the same weakness as TMX. A standardized way of capturing disparate information doesn't help humans move the information around. I have had much better luck fixing TMs outside of TM tools. Changing formats is not easy, but removing index markers from FrameMaker segments, for example, will make them match XML segments, which don't have markers of any kind. This is a through-the-looking-glass kind of process, but it results in better TM matching. The minimum gain has been10% and my record is 28%. With moderate word and language counts, the process pays for itself many times over. o Translation cost saving calculations with XML are mostly based on chunking. That means only those chunks are translated which are actually changed. As DITA is supposed to split a FrameMaker file into more XML files as compared to a regular FM file, the files to be translated are smaller. This might save money. However, I could also use FrameMaker insets to have smaller files. Additionally, make sure that you will be notified of terminology changes. Such changes must also be done in already translated files. Insets, absolutely! I wouldn't move to another format until the one you're in is exhausted. The drill these days is a rote prescription of DITA plus a content management system to solve all problems, but a few shared chapter files and a few insets and a variable here and there might solve the problems just as well with no additional purchases. I'm all for XML, and mostly for content management, but neither should be used without a good reason. FrameMaker actually comes out of the box with a lot of good reasons not to move to XML. Translation cost is the main part of localization, but keep formatting in mind. Automated formatting with XML tools also
RE: MIF File Import
I may have missed something in this thread, but if you are using FrameScript, it makes the MIF snippet technique obsolete. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-659-8267 r...@frameexpert.com *** Frame Automation blog at http://frameautomation.com You're going to have to script it. A MIF file is a text representation of a Frame file. Instead of importing the MIF file you'll probably need to write a script that will remove the formatting in the MIF file with your content and replace the formatting as desired. Someone can probably point you to a utility that will do this. I've started to do something similar in FrameScript, not too easy. On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:40 PM, KChebe Grace kgrace4...@aol.com wrote: I am currently using a MIF file to make changes to a book. I want the file to change some of my paragraph styles to small font and the color to white. At a later point I want to have the mif file change some of my variable settings. This would allow me to make one set of files work for multiple locations by importing a different mif file. The problem that I have is that when I import the mif file, which now only contains the code to change paragraph styles is overwriting the existing variables in the book. It is my understanding that I should be able to keep the mif file as small as possible and use it to only have code to change the things that I want to change without having to account for parameters that are not being changed. Can someone provide some assistance as to why this mif file is behaving this way? ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: FrameMaker 3 files
Wow! It is interesting to see the Release Notes from FrameMaker 3. This is the first version of FrameMaker that I used. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-659-8267 r...@frameexpert.com *** Frame Automation blog at http://frameautomation.com -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Shlomo Perets Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 6:34 PM To: subscr...@cuff.ca Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: re: FrameMaker 3 files I was able to open FM3 files (from 1992...) in FM9, without any problems/messages, so it may indeed (unfortunately) indicate that something is wrong with the files themselves. Here is a sample FM3 file, in case you want to try opening it in your system: http://www.microtype.com/resources/FM3-RELNOTES.zip Shlomo Perets, http://www.MicroType.com FrameMaker training consulting ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as r...@rickquatro.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rick%40rickquatro.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
FrameMaker 3 files
Thanks to everyone for their help. You've all been generous with it! =-= to: Jeremy H. Griffith Thanks for the tip about file length. As it happens, all five files have sizes evenly divisible by 1024 bytes. I also examined a couple of files to see if they ended (or even began) with a spurious 0D 0A (or either, singly), and that's not the case either. Good thought, though. I'm going to add this tip to my toolbox. =-= to: Frank Stearns I'm betting you're right; the files are corrupt. At least I have been able to resurrect some of the information, even if I haven't been able to fully recover the files. I asked the developer who supplied the files how the files were stored, and he told me that the files were stored on hard drives (no further information; see next paragraph), in a CVS repository. There's more--the CVS repository was imported from an older revision history system. The history for the older system notes that the files were added to the system in 1993, but doesn't have information on modifications. (Which could mean either no modifications or no tracking.) The files were checked in to the older system by someone other than the original authors. The files have not been modified since they were added to CVS. Given all that, our developer notes that it is perfectly possible that the files were corrupted before they were introduced to the older system, with the usual caveat about CVS's habit of messing with CRs and LFs. (I did try altering the files to compensate for this, with no result.) One additional complicating factor is that several of our file servers used to be on-site, and that quite a lot of them are now networked drives in distant cities. Sorry if this isn't quite the information you were hoping for. =-= to: Shlomo Perets Thanks for the FM3 file. It opened easily enough without my having even to resort to heroic open. As far as I'm concerned, this is the final nail in the coffin--the files are corrupted. The good news is that the preliminary work I put into resurrecting data from the files hasn't been wasted. In the end, only the diagrams have been lost, and some of the context of the largest file is a little tricky to reconstruct. That's not too hard to bear at all. =-= to: all those who wrote me off-list Thanks! I will reply soon if I haven't already. (I'm temporarily separated from my mail client, and am relying on webmail.) Doug ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Ann: MIF File Import and save in fm or mif
Make changes in your fm files (or mif files) and save your one or more documents or books in mif or re-save it in fm again: Take TOOLBOX for FrameMaker: Save FM-MIF or Document/Book Transfer FM-MIF (www.toolboxforme.com) This plug-in transfers FrameMaker documents (including cross-referenced graphics and text inserts) to another directory and convert to MIF or back to fm. GEorg ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Survey: Considerations for Using DITA
html head titleDITA Survey/title /head body h3Survey: Considerations for Using DITA/h3 pTo help potential users decide whether to use DITA and how much effort doing so would involve, Text Structure Consulting, Inc. is conducting a survey to better understand the documentation projects for which DITA is appropriate. If you are using or considering DITA (or have done so), please take the time to share your experience by completing the survey. Partial and anonymous responses are welcome. You can send your response (embedded in an email message, in Microsoft Word, RTF, Adobe FrameMaker, or PDF) to a href=mailto:dita.sur...@txstruct.com;dita.sur...@txstruct.com/a. If you prefer to answer by phone, you can write to the same address to schedule an interview./p pPlease forward the survey to other documentation professionals you know who might like to participate. If you are involved in multiple relevant projects or would like to add to an earlier response, feel free to complete the survey multiple times. Answers from different people working on the same project will gladly be received./p pSince the survey is being distributed largely by forwarded email, statistically significant results are not expected. Nevertheless, survey responses should help existing users re-evaluate their projects and possibly learn about new tools, potential users evaluate the relevance of DITA, and consultants decide when to recommend it. If an interesting number of responses are received, the results will be summarized on www.txstruct.com and submitted for possible presentation at Balisage: The Markup Conference in early August, 2010 (see www.balisage.org). If at all possible, please respond by June 15 so that information can be prepared for the conference./p pThe survey questions are available at a href=http://www.txstruct.com/dita.survey/questions.htm; http://www.txstruct.com/dita.survey/questions.htm/a and are repeated here: /p h4Personal Identification/h4 ol li style=margin-top: 6ptWhat is your name, affiliation, and name of your project?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptWhat is your personal role in your project (e.g., author, editor, manager)?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptAre you an end user, consultant, or tool vendor?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptIs this a new survey response or a replacement for an earlier response?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptDo you give permission for your responses to be quoted in a summary of the results of this survey? Do you want such quotations to be anonymous or attributed to you? /li /ol h4Project Identification/h4 ol start = 6 li style=margin-top: 6ptWhat industry does your documentation represent?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptWhat type of processing does your project involve (authoring, publishing, translating, indexing, analyzing, etc.)?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptHow many documents or pages do you process annually? How much of this material is new and how much revised?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptHow do you publish documents (paper, PDF, Web, CD, etc.)?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptHow many document tool users do you have?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptHow many people use your finished documents?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptAre your documents translated to multiple languages or localized in any other form? Are all documents localized or only some? How many languages do you support? /li li style=margin-top: 6ptAre your documents revised and republished?/li /ol h4General software considerations/h4 ol start = 14li style=margin-top: 6ptWhat documentation software does your project use:? Consider DITA-specific tools, XML tools, content management, word processing, desktop publishing, text editors, database management, project management, spreadsheets, and any other relevant tools./li li style=margin-top: 6ptDo you have software that enforces that writers follow your organization's conventions?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptDo all groups within your organization use the same tools? All people in your group?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptIs authoring geographically distributed?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptHow are editing tasks assigned to individual writers or editors? For example, is a writer responsible for a document or document component through multiple revisions, or is an available writer assigned whenever a change is needed? Do writers need specific expertise, such as knowledge of a documented product, to maintain particular pieces of content?/li li style=margin-top: 6ptDo you reuse all or parts or your documents? What size units do you reuse? In how many documents does a typical reusable component occur? What percentage of a typical document is comprised of reusable segments?/li /ol h4DITA Considerations/h4 ol start = 20 li style=margin-top: 6ptFor what types of documents (user manuals, online help, test plans, requirement specifications, journal articles, technical books, technical reports, interdepartmental memos, etc.) ol type=a li style=margin-top: 6ptDoes your project use DITA?/li li
Re: FrameMaker 3 files
On 6 May 2010 at 11:10, subscr...@cuff.ca wrote: I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.1.1, and no joy. That far back, the heroic open doesn't even exist. I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.5.6, and the heroic open fails just as it does for FM7.1. I have some FM3 files from a demo diskette - which open well (File Open) in both FM 7.2 and FM 8.0 slthough they do not have a .fm extension (Activities, Financial, Intro and TravelForm). Of course I get messages about old version and missing fonts. Klaus Daube ~~ Docu + Design Daube; Schäracher 11; CH-8053 Zürich Technical documentation consultancy; On-line and paper F: +41-44-422 86 25 E: d...@daube.ch W: www.daube.ch ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
FrameMaker 3 files--SOLVED
With the help of Simon BUCH, I have recovered all the files. Mr Buch successfully converted the first of the files. With his sample, and the knowledge that it was possible, I converted the remaining files. The core of the problem is to replace CR/LF (0D 0A) with LF (0A). That much I had already tried. But apparently it's crucial to reinstate the CR/LF after the MakerFile 3.0F line at the start of the line. That much I missed! Thanks to you all for your help, plus an extra doff of my cap to Simon Buch. Final score: all 5 files recovered, including diagrams Doug ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: FrameMaker 3 files
Doug, you didn't mention and it would probably be too good to be true, but if you have PDFs of these files, you can export those PDFs as HTML, which will not only give you your text but also create separate files of each image. This has probably already crossed your mind :) FWIW, Leigh From: s...@leximation.com CC: framers@lists.frameusers.com To: subscr...@cuff.ca Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 12:05:53 -0700 Subject: Re: FrameMaker 3 files Hi Doug... Got your files, but unfortunately I've been unable to open them in FM4. When I try I'm told that they are damaged. I tried using a heroic open, but that doesn't seem to have existed in FM4 (when I use it I end up with a H in the current document, which indicates that the Esc o H key sequence isn't defined). I suppose that it *is* possible that these files are in fact corrupt. When I open them in a text editor, they have the basic chunks of stuff that you'd expect, but there could be some extra binary bits at the end that may be causing the problem. FM4 doesn't have a SaveAs FM3 option so I can't compare a good file against yours. You can open them in a text editor and pick out some of the words in plain text, but that's probably not terribly useful. Perhaps someone else actually has a copy of FM3 .. or if you're lucky you could find one for sale on eBay. Sorry I wasn't able to help! ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 subscr...@... wrote: Just for those who might someday have to tread this path: I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.1.1, and no joy. That far back, the heroic open doesn't even exist. I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.5.6, and the heroic open fails just as it does for FM7.1. Since Scott Prentice of Leximation _ The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendarocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5 ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Question about flow and background text frames
Hi everyone, I have unstructured FM 8, fully patched, on Vista. I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? Thanks, Andy ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Question about flow and background text frames
Andy Kass wrote: I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the rule. :-) The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without significant change in how FM works. A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the background text appeared. If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. The workaround is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Question about flow and background text frames
Thanks, Richard, for confirming that that's just how FM works. I still don't see the technical limitation. Master pages are applied to the body pages, which in my mind implies being copied into the relevant body page. So it would be possible to compute the page that the text frame appears on and link to it in the TOC. If a text frame is used repeatedly, it should just get several TOC entries (indexing would work similarly). To me, it just seems that disconnecting a text frame is overloaded with the meaning of making it background as well. I'm thinking it should work just like a text inset, just stored on the Master pages instead of in a separate file (because it will never be shared with another file). But I'm new to working with Body/Master/Reference pages, so maybe I am misunderstanding them. Andy - Richard Combs richard.co...@polycom.com wrote: The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the rule. :-) The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without significant change in how FM works. A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the background text appeared. If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. The workaround is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) Andy Kass wrote: I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: eBooks
Hi Diana... This may not be exactly what you're looking for .. but I've been successful at using the dita4publishers DITA-OT plugin to convert DITA content (authored in FM or other XML editors) to the ePub format. If you'd like more info on this, let me know. Cheers, ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 Diana Stock wrote: Wondering if anyone within the list has attempted to repurpose one of their FM manuals to an eBook format (Smartphone) with success. Would like to contact off list for techniques and software recommendations. Diana Stock 214-792-2744 *** CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE *** NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message from your system. Thank you. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Question about flow and background text frames
Andy Kass wrote: Thanks, Richard, for confirming that that's just how FM works. I still don't see the technical limitation. Master pages are applied to the body pages, which in my mind implies being copied into the relevant body page. So it would be possible to compute the page that the text frame appears on and link to it in the TOC. If a text frame is used repeatedly, it should just get several TOC entries (indexing would work similarly). To me, it just seems that disconnecting a text frame is overloaded with the meaning of making it background as well. I'm thinking it should work just like a text inset, just stored on the Master pages instead of in a separate file (because it will never be shared with another file). But I'm new to working with Body/Master/Reference pages, so maybe I am misunderstanding them. I suppose the app could be coded to work in a way somewhat analogous to text insets, but with complete frames instead of flows. But I suspect that if each body page contained a frame inset for each instance of every background text frame (header, footer, etc.), it would add considerable overhead and complexity. And the frame inset management/UI issues -- I shudder to think. Besides, a text-inset-like implementation still wouldn't solve the unique destination problem. Since each occurrence of the frame inset would be an exact copy of the master page source, the hypertext destination marker in the source would still be replicated in each frame inset, and there would still be the disambiguation problem. I'm not sure what you're getting at with disconnecting a text frame is overloaded with the meaning of making it background as well. But there are completely legitimate reasons for using disconnected text frames and/or multiple flows in the body pages of the doc -- newsletters are one example. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Question about flow and background text frames
To add to Richard's excellent summary of why you can't do what you want the way you want... I recommend the following to students and template dev clients to ensure ease of use and consistency in headings like TOC and IX: Set the autonumbering of your TOC_Title paragraph tag to display the phrase Table of Contents. Do the same for any other generated TOC or IX. You'll still have to add it manually, but it'll be consistent, and will show in your TOC (as long as you define the TOC so that you display the $paranum instead of the $paratext building block. -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training 714 960-6840 714 585-2335 cell /txt/sms skype: mattrsullivan http://www.grafixtraining.com http://blogs.roundpeg.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/roundpeginc -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Combs, Richard Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 12:35 PM To: 'Andy Kass'; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Question about flow and background text frames Andy Kass wrote: I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the rule. :-) The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without significant change in how FM works. A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the background text appeared. If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. The workaround is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as m...@grafixtraining.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/matt%40grafixtraining.co m Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: Question about flow and background text frames
That is a nice workaround, unfortunately, my paragraph tag is named Heading GlossaryIndex and I use it in both files. I might try it out though. One extra step you didn't mention: tweaking the Running H/F variable to use $paranum as well. For maintenance reasons, I want my template files to differ in the least number of ways, and unfortunately, that's seems to be an unobtainable ideal. Thanks, Andy - Matt Sullivan m...@grafixtraining.com wrote: To add to Richard's excellent summary of why you can't do what you want the way you want... I recommend the following to students and template dev clients to ensure ease of use and consistency in headings like TOC and IX: Set the autonumbering of your TOC_Title paragraph tag to display the phrase Table of Contents. Do the same for any other generated TOC or IX. You'll still have to add it manually, but it'll be consistent, and will show in your TOC (as long as you define the TOC so that you display the $paranum instead of the $paratext building block. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
FrameMaker 3 files
I was able to open FM3 files (from 1992...) in FM9, without any problems/messages, so it may indeed (unfortunately) indicate that something is wrong with the files themselves. Here is a sample FM3 file, in case you want to try opening it in your system: http://www.microtype.com/resources/FM3-RELNOTES.zip Shlomo Perets, http://www.MicroType.com FrameMaker training & consulting
MIF File Import
Hi Grace, Actually you can start with a MIF file which was saved from FrameMaker. However, you must delete _everything_ which is not relevant to the formats which you want to change. Use a regular text editor for this. You must import such a MIF snippet (that's the term which is used for such parts of a MIF file; you can search for this via any search engine) by "File | Import | File". Then select the MIF snippet and select "Copy into Document". Then import the changed formats via "File | Import | Formats" into the other files of your book. Here is a sample, which updates some of my system variables and cross-reference definitions after translation (as Trados presents only those variables to the translator which are actually in use; those which are defined but not used, will not be translated). (I deleted most of the formats to keep it short for this e-mail.) # Generated by FrameMaker 7.1p116 > # end of VariableFormat von <$tblsheetcount\>)'> > # end of VariableFormat > # end of VariableFormats auf Seite <$pagenum\>'> > # end of XRefFormat \xe3 <$paratext\>\xd3 auf Seite <$pagenum\>'> > # end of XRefFormat auf Seite <$pagenum\>'> > # end of XRefFormat # End of MIFFile Best regards Winfried > -Original Message- > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com > [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of > KChebe Grace > Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:40 PM > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: MIF File Import > > I am currently using a MIF file to make changes to a book. I > want the file to change some of my paragraph styles to small > font and the color to white. At a later point I want to have > the mif file change some of my variable settings. This would > allow me to make one set of files work for multiple locations > by importing a different mif file. > > The problem that I have is that when I import the mif file, > which now only contains the code to change paragraph styles > is overwriting the existing variables in the book. > > It is my understanding that I should be able to keep the mif > file as small as possible and use it to only have code to > change the things that I want to change without having to > account for parameters that are not being changed. > > Can someone provide some assistance as to why this mif file > is behaving this way?
Frame's File Comparison Feature
Hi Steve, I do not use XML yet. Therefore I may be wrong. Please correct me, if this is not correct! My understanding is this: o Of course the translation memory system can import XML as easily as FrameMaker. Some systems charge additionally for a FrameMaker filter. Or XML (depending on the EDD/DTT) might need a special definition in the translation memory system to identify the part which needs to be translated (e.g. attributes). o When you give XML files to a translation agency, the resulting translation memory could be re-used with other translation memory systems (via TMX) better than when you use FrameMaker files. FrameMaker files contains lots of information which is handled differently than XML. Therefore the number of pretranslated segments and fuzzy- matches would increase, _if_ you switch the system. (That's just an assumption. This could be wrong.) o Translation cost saving calculations with XML are mostly based on chunking. That means only those chunks are translated which are actually changed. As DITA is supposed to split a FrameMaker file into more XML files as compared to a regular FM file, the files to be translated are smaller. This might save money. However, I could also use FrameMaker insets to have smaller files. Additionally, make sure that you will be notified of terminology changes. Such changes must also be done in already translated files. o When you use XML as your primary storage format, infos like table column widths or graphics scaling get lost. I want to have this information present after translation. Therefore I would prefer to use structured FrameMaker and not XML. But that's my oppinion. (Possibly FrameMaker does store such information in processing instructions. Or someone wrote a plug-in for this. I do not know.) Best regards Winfried > -Original Message- > From: Steve Johnson [mailto:chinaski69 at gmail.com] > Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 4:27 AM > To: Reng, Dr. Winfried > Cc: FrameMaker Forum > Subject: Re: Frame's File Comparison Feature > > Can't translation vendors do memory diffs just as easily on Frame > files vs. XML files? > > I don't see the advantage there. > > On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 3:04 AM, Reng, Dr. Winfried > wrote: > > Hi, > > > >> What you're considering is (or should be) neither necessary > >> nor desirable. Your translation vendor should be using a > >> translation memory (and you should request a copy of it, > >> since you've paid for it, so that you're not locked into this > >> vendor because it's holding your translation memory hostage). > >> > >> When you send an updated set of files for a book that's > >> already been translated once, the unchanged paragraphs will > >> match the translation memory. Only the portions that are new > >> or changed need to be translated. > >> > >> If your vendor isn't using translation memory, find a new > >> one. If it is using translation memory, there's no point in > >> you trying to dissect files and reassemble them -- you'd gain > >> nothing and risk all kinds of problems. > > > > Of course almost all translation agencies use a translation memory > > system nowadays. > > > > If the vendor uses a translation memory system, such a system can > > easily check the number of non-translated segments (a segment is a > > translation unit) and segments which can be pretranslated or > > translated with the help of fuzzy-matches. > > However, the vendor will still charge for pretranslated segments. > > The reason is that often the terminology must be changed with > > new text. Or references to a previous segment will not be correct > > any longer, because e.g. you inserted another segment. The reference > > may still be correct in English but not in a foreign language. > > The costs per pretranslated segment depend on your vendor, mostly > > around 25 % of non-translated segments. > > > > Best regards > > > > Winfried
Frame's File Comparison Feature
Hi Dr. Reng, You're right in some of the things you said, but other things need a little tuning. I've salted some responses and corrections in below. Kevin >Hi Steve, > >I do not use XML yet. Therefore I may be wrong. Please >correct me, if this is not correct! My understanding is >this: > >o Of course the translation memory system can import > XML as easily as FrameMaker. Some systems charge > additionally for a FrameMaker filter. Or XML (depending > on the EDD/DTT) might need a special definition in the > translation memory system to identify the part which > needs to be translated (e.g. attributes). All TM tools I've used come with a filter for FrameMaker. I don't know of any that charge extra for filters, but none should. My opinion is translation memory technology is still in version 1.0, with only filters to differentiate tools. (Okay, maybe some segmenting is better, but really, the process is just comparing bytes, and the bytes have been pretty standard since, well, computers were invented. No flames, please) All TM tools will also handle XML, but you're right that it is more difficult because XML is random as an input. Even standards like DITA can be used in wildly different ways. Users must define their own filters, which might result in a setup fee at the beginning of a project. However, once the filter is built, a word of FrameMaker should cost the same to translate as a word of XML. It's worth mentioning structured FrameMaker filters just like unstructured FrameMaker. The structure parts are outside the text definition parts of the file, so any filter that works on one will work on the other. If you want to move to structure within FrameMaker, it shouldn't alarm your translation vendor much. The one exception, when last I looked, was Alchemy Publisher, but that was over six months ago. > >o When you give XML files to a translation agency, the > resulting translation memory could be re-used with > other translation memory systems (via TMX) better > than when you use FrameMaker files. FrameMaker files > contains lots of information which is handled differently > than XML. > Therefore the number of pretranslated segments and fuzzy- > matches would increase, _if_ you switch the system. > (That's just an assumption. This could be wrong.) TMX is a bit of a sham, actually. True, it is a standard interchange, but tools don't necessarily have the same internal markup. A TM created in one tool might be unusable in another. TMX would make the TM legible to the second tool, but the database itself would not be. A six millimeter square peg would not fit a six millimeter round hole, even if a team of physicists agreed the standard millimeter was used. You are right FrameMaker has a lot of information that is handled differently or not at all in XML, but the same is true going the other way. No DTP format compares well with any other, and none compares well with XML. Any sentence with no internal markup will be the same, but toss an an index marker, cross-reference, etc., and fuzzy match rates start climbing. OpenTag, and subsequently XLIFF, made an effort to address this, but they suffer the same weakness as TMX. A standardized way of capturing disparate information doesn't help humans move the information around. I have had much better luck fixing TMs outside of TM tools. Changing formats is not easy, but removing index markers from FrameMaker segments, for example, will make them match XML segments, which don't have markers of any kind. This is a through-the-looking-glass kind of process, but it results in better TM matching. The minimum gain has been10% and my record is 28%. With moderate word and language counts, the process pays for itself many times over. > >o Translation cost saving calculations with XML are mostly > based on chunking. > That means only those chunks are translated which are > actually changed. As DITA is supposed to split a FrameMaker > file into more XML files as compared to a regular FM file, > the files to be translated are smaller. This might save > money. > However, I could also use FrameMaker insets to have > smaller files. > Additionally, make sure that you will be notified of > terminology changes. Such changes must also be done > in already translated files. Insets, absolutely! I wouldn't move to another format until the one you're in is exhausted. The drill these days is a rote prescription of DITA plus a content management system to solve all problems, but a few shared chapter files and a few insets and a variable here and there might solve the problems just as well with no additional purchases. I'm all for XML, and mostly for content management, but neither should be used without a good reason. FrameMaker actually comes out of the box with a lot of good reasons not to move to XML. Translation cost is the main part of localization, but keep formatting in mind.
MIF File Import
I may have missed something in this thread, but if you are using FrameScript, it makes the MIF snippet technique obsolete. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-659-8267 rick at frameexpert.com *** Frame Automation blog at http://frameautomation.com You're going to have to script it. A MIF file is a text representation of a Frame file. Instead of importing the MIF file you'll probably need to write a script that will remove the formatting in the MIF file with your content and replace the formatting as desired. Someone can probably point you to a utility that will do this. I've started to do something similar in FrameScript, not too easy. On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:40 PM, KChebe Grace wrote: > I am currently using a MIF file to make changes to a book. ?I want the file to change some of my paragraph styles to small font and the color to white. ?At a later point I want to have the mif file change some of my variable settings. ?This would allow me to make one set of files work for multiple locations by importing a different mif file. > > The problem that I have is that when I import the mif file, which now only contains the code to change paragraph styles is overwriting the existing variables in the book. > > It is my understanding that I should be able to keep the mif file as small as possible and use it to only have code to change the things that I want to change without having to account for parameters that are not being changed. > > Can someone provide some assistance as to why this mif file is behaving this way?
FrameMaker 3 files
Wow! It is interesting to see the Release Notes from FrameMaker 3. This is the first version of FrameMaker that I used. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-659-8267 rick at frameexpert.com *** Frame Automation blog at http://frameautomation.com -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Shlomo Perets Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 6:34 PM To: subscribe at cuff.ca Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: re: FrameMaker 3 files I was able to open FM3 files (from 1992...) in FM9, without any problems/messages, so it may indeed (unfortunately) indicate that something is wrong with the files themselves. Here is a sample FM3 file, in case you want to try opening it in your system: http://www.microtype.com/resources/FM3-RELNOTES.zip Shlomo Perets, http://www.MicroType.com FrameMaker training & consulting ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as rick at rickquatro.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rick%40rickquatro.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
FrameMaker 3 files
Thanks to everyone for their help. You've all been generous with it! =-= to: Jeremy H. Griffith Thanks for the tip about file length. As it happens, all five files have sizes evenly divisible by 1024 bytes. I also examined a couple of files to see if they ended (or even began) with a spurious "0D 0A" (or either, singly), and that's not the case either. Good thought, though. I'm going to add this tip to my toolbox. =-= to: Frank Stearns I'm betting you're right; the files are corrupt. At least I have been able to resurrect some of the information, even if I haven't been able to fully recover the files. I asked the developer who supplied the files how the files were stored, and he told me that the files were stored on hard drives (no further information; see next paragraph), in a CVS repository. There's more--the CVS repository was imported from an older revision history system. The history for the older system notes that the files were added to the system in 1993, but doesn't have information on modifications. (Which could mean either no modifications or no tracking.) The files were checked in to the older system by someone other than the original authors. The files have not been modified since they were added to CVS. Given all that, our developer notes that it is perfectly possible that the files were corrupted before they were introduced to the older system, with the usual caveat about CVS's habit of messing with CRs and LFs. (I did try altering the files to compensate for this, with no result.) One additional complicating factor is that several of our file servers used to be on-site, and that quite a lot of them are now networked drives in distant cities. Sorry if this isn't quite the information you were hoping for. =-= to: Shlomo Perets Thanks for the FM3 file. It opened easily enough without my having even to resort to "heroic open." As far as I'm concerned, this is the final nail in the coffin--the files are corrupted. The good news is that the preliminary work I put into resurrecting data from the files hasn't been wasted. In the end, only the diagrams have been lost, and some of the context of the largest file is a little tricky to reconstruct. That's not too hard to bear at all. =-= to: all those who wrote me off-list Thanks! I will reply soon if I haven't already. (I'm temporarily separated from my mail client, and am relying on webmail.) Doug
Ann: MIF File Import and save in fm or mif
Make changes in your fm files (or mif files) and save your one or more documents or books in mif or re-save it in fm again: Take TOOLBOX for FrameMaker: Save FM<->MIF or Document/Book Transfer FM<->MIF (www.toolboxforme.com) This plug-in transfers FrameMaker documents (including cross-referenced graphics and text inserts) to another directory and convert to MIF or back to fm. GEorg
Survey: Considerations for Using DITA
DITA Survey Survey: Considerations for Using DITA To help potential users decide whether to use DITA and how much effort doing so would involve, Text Structure Consulting, Inc. is conducting a survey to better understand the documentation projects for which DITA is appropriate. If you are using or considering DITA (or have done so), please take the time to share your experience by completing the survey. Partial and anonymous responses are welcome. You can send your response (embedded in an email message, in Microsoft Word, RTF, Adobe FrameMaker, or PDF) to mailto:dita.survey at txstruct.com">dita.survey at txstruct.com. If you prefer to answer by phone, you can write to the same address to schedule an interview. Please forward the survey to other documentation professionals you know who might like to participate. If you are involved in multiple relevant projects or would like to add to an earlier response, feel free to complete the survey multiple times. Answers from different people working on the same project will gladly be received. Since the survey is being distributed largely by forwarded email, statistically significant results are not expected. Nevertheless, survey responses should help existing users re-evaluate their projects and possibly learn about new tools, potential users evaluate the relevance of DITA, and consultants decide when to recommend it. If an interesting number of responses are received, the results will be summarized on www.txstruct.com and submitted for possible presentation at Balisage: The Markup Conference in early August, 2010 (see www.balisage.org). If at all possible, please respond by June 15 so that information can be prepared for the conference. The survey questions are available at http://www.txstruct.com/dita.survey/questions.htm;> http://www.txstruct.com/dita.survey/questions.htm and are repeated here: Personal Identification What is your name, affiliation, and name of your project? What is your personal role in your project (e.g., author, editor, manager)? Are you an end user, consultant, or tool vendor? Is this a new survey response or a replacement for an earlier response? Do you give permission for your responses to be quoted in a summary of the results of this survey? Do you want such quotations to be anonymous or attributed to you? Project Identification What industry does your documentation represent? What type of processing does your project involve (authoring, publishing, translating, indexing, analyzing, etc.)? How many documents or pages do you process annually? How much of this material is new and how much revised? How do you publish documents (paper, PDF, Web, CD, etc.)? How many document tool users do you have? How many people use your finished documents? Are your documents translated to multiple languages or localized in any other form? Are all documents localized or only some? How many languages do you support? Are your documents revised and republished? General software considerations What documentation software does your project use:? Consider DITA-specific tools, XML tools, content management, word processing, desktop publishing, text editors, database management, project management, spreadsheets, and any other relevant tools. Do you have software that enforces that writers follow your organization's conventions? Do all groups within your organization use the same tools? All people in your group? Is authoring geographically distributed? How are editing tasks assigned to individual writers or editors? For example, is a writer responsible for a document or document component through multiple revisions, or is an available writer assigned whenever a change is needed? Do writers need specific expertise, such as knowledge of a documented product, to maintain particular pieces of content? Do you reuse all or parts or your documents? What size units do you reuse? In how many documents does a typical reusable component occur? What percentage of a typical document is comprised of reusable segments? DITA Considerations For what types of documents (user manuals, online help, test plans, requirement specifications, journal articles, technical books, technical reports, interdepartmental memos, etc.) Does your project use DITA? Have you considered using DITA but decided not to? Have you never considered using DITA? Do you use DITA-inspired naming of element and attribute types when you do not use DITA itself? Do you use DITA maps? Do you specialize (modify) the DITA tagging scheme? How extensive are your changes? Which of the following do they involve: Rename existing element and attribute types Change the definitions of existing element and attribute types Add new element and attribute types. How many of the DITA element and attribute types do you use? What were the primary factors in deciding whether to use DITA (for example, eliminates need to define a tagging scheme, availability of DITA open toolkit, a DITA
FrameMaker 3 files
On 6 May 2010 at 11:10, subscribe at cuff.ca wrote: > I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.1.1, and no joy. That far back, the > "heroic open" doesn't even exist. I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.5.6, > and the "heroic open" fails just as it does for FM7.1. I have some FM3 files from a demo diskette - which open well (File > Open) in both FM 7.2 and FM 8.0 slthough they do not have a .fm extension (Activities, Financial, Intro and TravelForm). Of course I get messages about old version and missing fonts. Klaus Daube ~~ Docu + Design Daube; Sch?racher 11; CH-8053 Z?rich Technical documentation & consultancy; On-line and paper F: +41-44-422 86 25 E: ddd at daube.ch W: www.daube.ch
FrameMaker 3 files--SOLVED
With the help of Simon BUCH, I have recovered all the files. Mr Buch successfully converted the first of the files. With his sample, and the knowledge that it was possible, I converted the remaining files. The core of the problem is to replace CR/LF (0D 0A) with LF (0A). That much I had already tried. But apparently it's crucial to reinstate the CR/LF after the line at the start of the line. That much I missed! Thanks to you all for your help, plus an extra doff of my cap to Simon Buch. Final score: all 5 files recovered, including diagrams Doug
FrameMaker 3 files
Doug, you didn't mention and it would probably be too good to be true, but if you have PDFs of these files, you can export those PDFs as HTML, which will not only give you your text but also create separate files of each image. This has probably already crossed your mind :) FWIW, Leigh From: s...@leximation.com CC: framers at lists.frameusers.com To: subscribe at cuff.ca Date: Thu, 6 May 2010 12:05:53 -0700 Subject: Re: FrameMaker 3 files Hi Doug... Got your files, but unfortunately I've been unable to open them in FM4. When I try I'm told that they are damaged. I tried using a heroic open, but that doesn't seem to have existed in FM4 (when I use it I end up with a "H" in the current document, which indicates that the Esc o H key sequence isn't defined). I suppose that it *is* possible that these files are in fact corrupt. When I open them in a text editor, they have the basic chunks of stuff that you'd expect, but there could be some extra binary bits at the end that may be causing the problem. FM4 doesn't have a "SaveAs FM3" option so I can't compare a "good" file against yours. You can open them in a text editor and pick out some of the words in plain text, but that's probably not terribly useful. Perhaps someone else actually has a copy of FM3 .. or if you're lucky you could find one for sale on eBay. Sorry I wasn't able to help! ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 subscribe at ... wrote: > Just for those who might someday have to tread this path: > > I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.1.1, and no joy. That far back, the > "heroic open" doesn't even exist. > I tried opening the v3 files in FM5.5.6, and the "heroic open" fails just as > it does for FM7.1. > > Since Scott Prentice of Leximation _ The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5
Question about flow and background text frames
Hi everyone, I have unstructured FM 8, fully patched, on Vista. I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? Thanks, Andy
Question about flow and background text frames
Andy Kass wrote: > I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. > What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have > permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. > > After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a > background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background text > frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the heading it > contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. > > Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the rule. :-) The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without significant change in how FM works. A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the background text appeared. If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. The "workaround" is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 --
eBooks
Wondering if anyone within the list has attempted to repurpose one of their FM manuals to an eBook format (Smartphone) with success. Would like to contact off list for techniques and software recommendations. Diana Stock 214-792-2744 *** CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE *** NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message from your system. Thank you.
Question about flow and background text frames
Thanks, Richard, for confirming that that's just how FM works. I still don't see the technical limitation. Master pages are applied to the body pages, which in my mind implies being copied into the relevant body page. So it would be possible to compute the page that the text frame appears on and link to it in the TOC. If a text frame is used repeatedly, it should just get several TOC entries (indexing would work similarly). To me, it just seems that disconnecting a text frame is overloaded with the meaning of making it background as well. I'm thinking it should work just like a text inset, just stored on the Master pages instead of in a separate file (because it will never be shared with another file). But I'm new to working with Body/Master/Reference pages, so maybe I am misunderstanding them. Andy - "Richard Combs" wrote: > The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that > repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page > that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the > rule. :-) > > The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without > significant change in how FM works. > > A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points > in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on > the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow > replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the > page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the > background text appeared. > > If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link > in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker > unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. > > The "workaround" is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of > the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change > if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you > and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) > > Andy Kass wrote: > > > I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text > > frames. What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files > > to have permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body > > pages. > > > > After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in > > a background text frame on a First master page. But to make a > > background text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which > > means the heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of > > Contents. > > > > Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this?
eBooks
Hi Diana... This may not be exactly what you're looking for .. but I've been successful at using the "dita4publishers" DITA-OT plugin to convert DITA content (authored in FM or other XML editors) to the ePub format. If you'd like more info on this, let me know. Cheers, ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 Diana Stock wrote: > Wondering if anyone within the list has attempted to repurpose one of their > FM manuals to an eBook format (Smartphone) with success. > > Would like to contact off list for techniques and software recommendations. > > Diana Stock > 214-792-2744 > > *** CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE *** > NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may > contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for > the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended > recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, > distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is > strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please > notify the sender immediately and delete this message from your system. Thank > you. > > >
Question about flow and background text frames
Andy Kass wrote: > Thanks, Richard, for confirming that that's just how FM works. > > I still don't see the technical limitation. Master pages are applied > to the body pages, which in my mind implies being copied into the > relevant body page. So it would be possible to compute the page that > the text frame appears on and link to it in the TOC. If a text frame > is used repeatedly, it should just get several TOC entries (indexing > would work similarly). > > To me, it just seems that disconnecting a text frame is overloaded > with the meaning of making it background as well. I'm thinking it > should work just like a text inset, just stored on the Master pages > instead of in a separate file (because it will never be shared with > another file). But I'm new to working with Body/Master/Reference > pages, so maybe I am misunderstanding them. I suppose the app could be coded to work in a way somewhat analogous to text insets, but with complete frames instead of flows. But I suspect that if each body page contained a "frame inset" for each instance of every background text frame (header, footer, etc.), it would add considerable overhead and complexity. And the "frame inset" management/UI issues -- I shudder to think. Besides, a text-inset-like implementation still wouldn't solve the unique destination problem. Since each occurrence of the "frame inset" would be an exact copy of the master page source, the hypertext destination marker in the source would still be replicated in each "frame inset," and there would still be the disambiguation problem. I'm not sure what you're getting at with "disconnecting a text frame is overloaded with the meaning of making it background as well." But there are completely legitimate reasons for using disconnected text frames and/or multiple flows in the body pages of the doc -- newsletters are one example. Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 --
eBooks
Hi Diana, We were discussing this very thing at the Adobe booth at STC this week... The consensus was that you will want a tool that converts your FM content into XHTML (I recommend using the TCS2 workflow to link FM docs into RoboHelp for XHTML output) You'll then use a tool like Calibre (OpenSource) to convert into an ePub format. -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training 714 960-6840 714 585-2335 cell /txt/sms skype: mattrsullivan http://www.grafixtraining.com http://blogs.roundpeg.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/roundpeginc -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Scott Prentice Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:21 PM To: Diana Stock Cc: 'Framers' Subject: Re: eBooks Hi Diana... This may not be exactly what you're looking for .. but I've been successful at using the "dita4publishers" DITA-OT plugin to convert DITA content (authored in FM or other XML editors) to the ePub format. If you'd like more info on this, let me know. Cheers, ...scott Scott Prentice Leximation, Inc. www.leximation.com +1.415.485.1892 Diana Stock wrote: > Wondering if anyone within the list has attempted to repurpose one of their FM manuals to an eBook format (Smartphone) with success. > > Would like to contact off list for techniques and software recommendations. > > Diana Stock > 214-792-2744 > > *** CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE *** > NOTICE: This e-mail message and all attachments transmitted with it may contain legally privileged and confidential information intended solely for the use of the addressee. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reading, dissemination, distribution, copying, or other use of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message from your system. Thank you. > > > ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as matt at grafixtraining.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/matt%40grafixtraining.co m Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Question about flow and background text frames
To add to Richard's excellent summary of why you can't do what you want the way you want... I recommend the following to students and template dev clients to ensure ease of use and consistency in headings like TOC and IX: Set the autonumbering of your TOC_Title paragraph tag to display the phrase Table of Contents. Do the same for any other generated TOC or IX. You'll still have to add it manually, but it'll be consistent, and will show in your TOC (as long as you define the TOC so that you display the <$paranum> instead of the <$paratext> building block. -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training 714 960-6840 714 585-2335 cell /txt/sms skype: mattrsullivan http://www.grafixtraining.com http://blogs.roundpeg.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/mattrsullivan http://twitter.com/roundpeginc -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Combs, Richard Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 12:35 PM To: 'Andy Kass'; framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Question about flow and background text frames Andy Kass wrote: > I'm working on templates and having an issue with background text frames. > What I'd like is for the Glossary and Index template files to have > permanent headings, that is cannot be edited on the body pages. > > After reading the help, it sounds like I need to put the heading in a > background text frame on a First master page. But to make a background > text frame, it must be untagged and unconnected, which means the > heading it contains no longer shows up in my Table of Contents. > > Does anyone know a workaround or another way to achieve this? The primary purpose of background text frames is to hold text that repeats on multiple pages -- yes, you may have a First master page that occurs only once per file, but it's the exception that proves the rule. :-) The functionality you'd like really can't be made to exist without significant change in how FM works. A TOC consists of hypertext links (go to markers) to specific points in the flow (destination markers). If the destination marker were on the master page, how would the link work? FM would have to somehow replicate that destination marker on each body page (floating on the page somewhere, since there's no text location for it) where the background text appeared. If there were more than one such body page, which one would the link in the TOC point to? FM would then have to make each replicated marker unique so that each link pointed to a unique destination. The "workaround" is to put the heading in the main flow at the top of the first body page. And then don't edit it. It's only going to change if someone consciously edits the text. Is it really that hard for you and/or your co-workers to refrain from doing that? :-) Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-903-6372 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as matt at grafixtraining.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/matt%40grafixtraining.co m Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Question about flow and background text frames
That is a nice workaround, unfortunately, my paragraph tag is named "Heading GlossaryIndex" and I use it in both files. I might try it out though. One extra step you didn't mention: tweaking the Running H/F variable to use <$paranum> as well. For maintenance reasons, I want my template files to differ in the least number of ways, and unfortunately, that's seems to be an unobtainable ideal. Thanks, Andy - "Matt Sullivan" wrote: > To add to Richard's excellent summary of why you can't do what you > want the way you want... > > I recommend the following to students and template dev clients to > ensure ease of use and consistency in headings like TOC and IX: > > Set the autonumbering of your TOC_Title paragraph tag to display the > phrase Table of Contents. Do the same for any other generated TOC > or IX. > > You'll still have to add it manually, but it'll be consistent, and > will show in your TOC (as long as you define the TOC so that you > display the <$paranum> instead of the <$paratext> building block.
