Re: Framemaker vs InDesign

I agree with Dov and Ann too. And you can add this to the list: - XML with DITA - Tables and table formats (especially with the great, inexpensive TableCleaner plug-in) - Cross-references - Conditional text - Cross-channel publishing with WebWorks Publisher (and maybe other Help

Re: OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

At 15:16 -0500 13/2/07, Neil Tubb wrote: I've been told I have to produce Readmes for several of our products in text files. I want to be able to control some basic look-and-feel though, such as column-width, and it was suggested to me to use Groff or Latex. I've been looking into this for a bit,

Re: OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

Okay, I'll rise to that bait. Nothing like a nice cheerful OT war. I'll concede LaTeX's learning curve, and that its PDF support and font management sucks. But it does absolutely gorgeous equations. Easily. And it's got no bugs. And its bibliography engine is pretty cool. It's not the tool for

RE: Reasons to Structure

Jeremy Griffith, write: snip You can do the same with paragraph formats, too. But you can do all that in UNstructured docs just as easily as in structured. Maybe *more* easily, when you factor in the time to set up your structure, and to modify it when you make changes, which is major. I've

Re: Framemaker vs InDesign

At 15:52 -0800 13/2/07, Linda Rose wrote: Is InDesign a suitable replacement for Framemaker for creating long, technical documentation? Linda... go to http://www.fm4osx.org/comp.html and click on the 'detailed FrameMaker Feature Comparison' link for a download file that contrasts FrameMaker

RE: Reasons to Structure

Ok, I'll hoof in line and sinker. I recently wrote a series of articles on structured FrameMaker, and here's what I put under 'Why should I use structured documents?'. The ordering is not significant, and some points have already been covered by others: . A much greater level of automation

Re: OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

At 00:43 +1300 15/2/07, rebecca officer wrote: Okay, I'll rise to that bait. Nothing like a nice cheerful OT war. ;-) I'll concede LaTeX's learning curve, and that its PDF support and font management sucks. But it does absolutely gorgeous equations. Easily. And it's got no bugs. And its

RE: [ADV] Conversion Services for FrameMaker

Hello Everyone, I was just wondering if anyone has used their services and/or products... Kindest regards, Wei Jiang Senior Translator, Project Manager CATSPAWSOFT Language Solutions, Inc. Global language services that manage the complexities of e-Business translation and publishing Rm. 301,

Re: OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

Well, actually LaTeX is a set of macros to make writing in TeX easier (and as such takes over TeX), but it is almost entirely made up of macros to facilitate or make easier the writing of mathematical documents and other academic papers or books. I have not worked much in TeX or LaTeX, but it

Re: Reasons to Structure

Matt, I do both structured and unstructured. The need for that depends IMHO on the contents and structure (or lack of) in the document(s). However, where I have been using structure (and then I ususally set all the formatting from within the EDD and avoid using paragraph format tags), all

RE: Reasons to Structure

That makes sense. Thanks. -Original Message- From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Reasons to Structure The point is that you tag a UI element as a UI element because it is a UI element. You make it bold (or whatever) at a later point in the process based on how

Long URLs

Maxwell Hoffmann wrote: go to the following link: http://www.translate.com/technology/multilingual_standard/framemaker_plu g_ins_structure_and_localization.htm (you may have to edit the line endings in the URL if it is broken into 2 lines by e-mail formatting.) May I suggest

ANN: Call for Speakers: X-Pubs 2007 - Europe's Largest XML conference, June 4-5th

Call for Speakers: X-Pubs 2007 - Europe's Largest XML conference, June 4-5th XML content management: does it really get companies the benefits they are after - at the price promised? X-Pubs organises and delivers webinars, seminars, case-studies and whitepapers from some of the

Re: Reasons to Structure

Matt, Another major benefit of structured FrameMaker is context sensitive formatting, which I believe was mentioned before by another forum member. An added detail is that you can reuse generic element tags which will look dramatically different in different contexts. In unstructured FrameMaker,

RE: Vista and font cache

Rebecca, We honestly don't know what is causing the problem other than that deleting the Windows font cache clears the symptoms at least for a while (where for some a while is longer than for others). The problem seems to be shared by Windows 2000 and XP (which share a tremendous amount of

Re: Reasons to Structure

Maxwell Hoffmann wrote: Matt, Another major benefit of structured FrameMaker is context sensitive formatting, which I believe was mentioned before by another forum member. An added detail is that you can reuse generic element tags which will look dramatically different in different contexts.

Trouble with cross-references

Hi Framers, FrameMaker 7.p576 Windows XP Professional I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the chapters in it, for six of the chapters I get a message that there are unresolved cross-references. There are six other chapters with cross-references that do not generate this message.

Re: Trouble with cross-references

Have you tried washing the chapters by saving as .mif files, reopening them, and saving as .fm? Art On 2/14/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Framers, FrameMaker 7.p576 Windows XP Professional I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the chapters in it, for six of

RE: Trouble with cross-references

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the chapters in it, for six of the chapters I get a message that there are unresolved cross-references. There are six other chapters with cross-references that do not generate this message. Each time, I search

RE: Reasons to Structure

No one has mentioned the potential for greatly improving writer productivity, as well as eliminating format overrides. Once authors are up to speed on using the structure view and the element catalog, they're freed from the entire formatting burden (if the EDD specifies context-based format

RE: Reasons to Structure

--- Charles Beck [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Besides-with the caveat that I have not actually experienced *enforced* structured authoring, per sé-if you need to format a word or phrase for emphasis or for special recognition (such as bolding UI elements), don't you still have to tag that

Re: RE: Trouble with cross-references

Richard, I think this is on the right track. When I open the files, every one displays a msg saying the file uses unavailable fonts and that clicking OK will reformat the file with available fonts. I've click OK for every file numerous times and the files open and before I close them, I save

RE: RE: Trouble with cross-references

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Richard, I think this is on the right track. When I open the files, every one displays a msg saying the file uses unavailable fonts and that clicking OK will reformat the file with available fonts. I've click OK for every file numerous times and the files open

Re: RE: Trouble with cross-references

How could I have created the files with unavailable fonts? And more importantly, how do I fix this? This is particulary important bec I anticipate many updates to this manual and this iteration will be the basis for the next. Thanks in advance for your help. Pearl You probably didn't.

RE: RE: Trouble with cross-references

But after you're done clearing the missing font references, do return to FilePreferences and turn the remember Missing Fonts item back on because it is normally a good thing. This is particularly true if you ever work on files that originated someplace else (e.g. a client) and that will be

RE: Trouble with cross-references

Hi Framers I encountered something that sounds very similar to this. I inherited a years-old project with multiple chapters that had undergone a number of revisions. Every time I attempted to generate a PDF of the entire Book the beast would die on me about 3/4 of the way through. It turns out

Re: Reasons to Structure

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:56:49 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jeremy Griffith wrote [referring to semantic markup]: You can do the same with paragraph formats, too. But you can do all that in UNstructured docs just as easily as in structured. Maybe *more* easily, when you factor in the time to

color change in pdf file

Hi Framers I seem to be stuck in a strange problem. I have defined Navy color in Frame : Process, 100, 100, 42, 0 when i create the pdf with windows based framemaker 7.1 : things work fine when i create the pdf with solaris based framemaker 7.1: the color definition seems to have changed. It

Introducing Technical Writing, Tools, and Process to Teams in the Company

Hello Framers, The Publications team in our company is planning on a company-wide spree to introduce (in some cases, re-introduce) ourselves, and briefly enlighten the key groups in our company on: - What is Publications - Why we document - How we document - Who is our audience

Font size in Frame cross ref

Hi David Well, if it works it's probably okay. The only thing that worries me is that you may have problems maintaining it long-term. The general advice is to avoid overrides. But I'd better define what "override" actually means: it's formatting applied to part or all of a paragraph by some

Framemaker vs InDesign

I use both. Even though InDesign is adding features with CS2 I would not attempt to create long technical documents with it. As Dov mentioned "need support for variables (including numbering), structure (XML), equations (other than via expensive third-party plug-ins), etc." InDesign is still not

Framemaker vs InDesign

I agree with Dov and Ann too. And you can add this to the list: - XML with DITA - Tables and table formats (especially with the great, inexpensive TableCleaner plug-in) - Cross-references - Conditional text - Cross-channel publishing with WebWorks Publisher (and maybe other

OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

At 15:16 -0500 13/2/07, Neil Tubb wrote: >I've been told I have to produce Readmes for several of our products in >text files. I want to be able to control some basic look-and-feel >though, such as column-width, and it was suggested to me to use Groff or >Latex. I've been looking into this for a

Reasons to Structure

Jeremy Griffith, write: You can do the same with paragraph formats, too. But you can do all that in UNstructured docs just as easily as in structured. Maybe *more* easily, when you factor in the time to set up your structure, and to modify it when you make changes, which is major. I've only

Framemaker vs InDesign

At 15:52 -0800 13/2/07, Linda Rose wrote: >Is InDesign a suitable replacement for Framemaker for creating long, >technical documentation? Linda... go to and click on the 'detailed FrameMaker Feature Comparison' link for a download file that contrasts

Reasons to Structure

Ok, I'll hoof in line and sinker. I recently wrote a series of articles on structured FrameMaker, and here's what I put under 'Why should I use structured documents?'. The ordering is not significant, and some points have already been covered by others: . A much greater level of automation

OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

At 00:43 +1300 15/2/07, rebecca officer wrote: >Okay, I'll rise to that bait. Nothing like a nice cheerful OT war. ;-) >I'll concede LaTeX's learning curve, and that its PDF support and font >management sucks. But it does absolutely gorgeous equations. Easily. And >it's got no bugs. And its

[ADV] Conversion Services for FrameMaker

Hello Everyone, I was just wondering if anyone has used their services and/or products... Kindest regards, Wei Jiang Senior Translator, Project Manager CATSPAWSOFT Language Solutions, Inc. Global language services that manage the complexities of e-Business translation and publishing Rm. 301,

OT: Formatting Readmes with Groff/Latex

Well, actually LaTeX is a set of macros to make writing in TeX easier (and as such "takes over" TeX), but it is almost entirely made up of macros to facilitate or make easier the writing of mathematical documents and other academic papers or books. I have not worked much in TeX or LaTeX, but it

Reasons to Structure

Matt, I do both structured and unstructured. The need for that depends IMHO on the contents and "structure" (or lack of) in the document(s). However, where I have been using structure (and then I ususally set all the formatting from within the EDD and avoid using paragraph format tags), all

Reasons to Structure

>>MATT TODD wrote: >>[snip] >> >>So tell me...why structure documentation? I don't know enough >>to answer that question, and neither do my bosses. What's so >>great about it? >>What capabilities does it offer that demand its use? Right now, >>I'm just doing what I'm told, but it's always nice

Reasons to Structure

That makes sense. Thanks. -Original Message- From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:fred.rid...@intel.com] Subject: RE: Reasons to Structure The point is that you tag a UI element as a UI element because it is a UI element. You make it bold (or whatever) at a later point in the process based on

Long URLs

Maxwell Hoffmann wrote: > go to the following link: > > http://www.translate.com/technology/multilingual_standard/framemaker_plu > g_ins_structure_and_localization.htm > > (you may have to edit the line endings in the URL if it is broken into 2 > lines by e-mail formatting.) May I suggest

ANN: Call for Speakers: X-Pubs 2007 - Europe's Largest XML conference, June 4-5th

Call for Speakers: X-Pubs 2007 - Europe's Largest XML conference, June 4-5th XML content management: does it really get companies the benefits they are after - at the price promised? X-Pubs organises and delivers webinars, seminars, case-studies and whitepapers from some of the industry's

Reasons to Structure

Matt, Another major benefit of structured FrameMaker is "context sensitive formatting," which I believe was mentioned before by another forum member. An added detail is that you can reuse "generic" element tags which will look dramatically different in different contexts. In unstructured

Vista and font cache

Rebecca, We honestly don't know what is causing the problem other than that deleting the Windows font cache clears the symptoms at least for a while (where for some "a while" is longer than for others). The problem seems to be shared by Windows 2000 and XP (which share a tremendous amount of

Reasons to Structure

Maxwell Hoffmann wrote: > Matt, > > Another major benefit of structured FrameMaker is "context sensitive > formatting," which I believe was mentioned before by another forum > member. An added detail is that you can reuse "generic" element tags > which will look dramatically different in different

Trouble with cross-references

Hi Framers, FrameMaker 7.p576 Windows XP Professional I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the chapters in it, for six of the chapters I get a message that there are unresolved cross-references. There are six other chapters with cross-references that do not generate this message.

Trouble with cross-references

Have you tried "washing" the chapters by saving as .mif files, reopening them, and saving as .fm? Art On 2/14/07, pearlrosenberg at nc.rr.com wrote: > Hi Framers, > > FrameMaker 7.p576 > Windows XP Professional > > I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the chapters in it, > for six

Trouble with cross-references

pearlrosenberg at nc.rr.com wrote: > I have a book with 17 chapters. Every time I open the > chapters in it, for six of the chapters I get a message that > there are unresolved cross-references. There are six other > chapters with cross-references that do not generate this message. > > Each

Reasons to Structure

No one has mentioned the potential for greatly improving writer productivity, as well as eliminating format overrides. Once authors are up to speed on using the structure view and the element catalog, they're freed from the entire formatting burden (if the EDD specifies context-based format

Reasons to Structure

--- Charles Beck wrote: > Besides-with the caveat that I have not actually > experienced *enforced* structured authoring, per > s?-if you need to format a word or phrase for > emphasis or for special recognition (such as bolding > UI elements), don't you still have to tag that > content

Trouble with cross-references

Richard, I think this is on the right track. When I open the files, every one displays a msg saying the file uses unavailable fonts and that clicking OK will reformat the file with available fonts. I've click OK for every file numerous times and the files open and before I close them, I save

Trouble with cross-references

Thanks, Art. I tried this. I converted the fm files to mif, converted the mif files to fm, and then cleaned up all the x-refs and saved the files. Unfortunately, when I opened the book again, the x-refs were ng. - Original Message - From: Art Campbell Date:

Trouble with cross-references

pearlrosenberg at nc.rr.com wrote: > Richard, > I think this is on the right track. When I open the files, > every one displays a msg saying the file uses unavailable > fonts and that clicking OK will reformat the file with > available fonts. I've click OK for every file numerous times > and

Trouble with cross-references

> How could I have created the files with unavailable fonts? And more > importantly, how do I fix this? This is particulary important bec I > anticipate many updates to this manual and this iteration will be > the > basis for the next. > Thanks in advance for your help. > Pearl You probably

Trouble with cross-references

But after you're done clearing the missing font references, do return to File>Preferences and turn the remember Missing Fonts item back on because it is normally a good thing. This is particularly true if you ever work on files that originated someplace else (e.g. a client) and that will be

Trouble with cross-references

Hi Framers I encountered something that sounds very similar to this. I inherited a years-old project with multiple chapters that had undergone a number of revisions. Every time I attempted to generate a PDF of the entire Book the beast would die on me about 3/4 of the way through. It turns out

Reasons to Structure

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:56:49 -0700, russ at weststreetconsulting.com wrote: >Jeremy Griffith wrote [referring to semantic markup]: > >>You can do the same with paragraph formats, too. But you can >>do all that in UNstructured docs just as easily as in structured. >>Maybe *more* easily, when you

Introducing Technical Writing, Tools, and Process to Teams in the Company

Hello Framers, The Publications team in our company is planning on a company-wide spree to introduce (in some cases, re-introduce) ourselves, and briefly enlighten the key groups in our company on: - What is Publications - Why we document - How we document - Who is our audience As

List of Figures

I slept through this part of Professor O'Keefe's lecture on using building blocks when making generated lists, so I'm stumped on what should be very easy: I'm doing an LOF that needs to be: tab tab Where the Page Number is a compound running H/F = ( - ) I got <$pagenum>, but that just gets

Figure Numbering Problem

I am having a problem numbering figures in service manuals developed by my client. The manuals are range from 3- to 40 pages. My job is to revise the client's existing manuals to account for annual updates and design changes for each of my client's products. We are both using FrameMaker 7.0 on

"Go to" problem

This is more of a nuisance than a problem, but it does indicate that something is wrong with the FrameMaker file. When I use the "Go to Page" in my client's manuals, the software goes to that page and immediately reverts to page 1. I must repeat the process to get the software to go to the