Re: Push or Click???
I would use Press (not Push) when the user has to physically press a button (like an ATM machine), Click when the user has to perform a mouse click, and Tap when the user has to tap with a stylus. -- Regards, Shmuel Wolfson Technical Writer 052-763-7133 Garnier Garnier wrote: Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as shmue...@gmail.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/shmuelw1%40gmail.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.
Re: Topic changes heading levels
I'm in Unstructured Frame and doubt I'll be moving to structured any time soon. I'll contemplate a different template for the quckstarts. It may be the best solution in spite of the still unconventional outline structure. (My 3rd grade language arts teacher wouldn't approve of a level 2 Heading w/ only 1 level 3 child! ;-p ) thanks! Matt Sullivan wrote: Hi Jenny, Interesting predicament... I believe this nesting will be more for print purposes than Help, if I read your post correctly. If you are using structured Frame, the concept of conditionalizing your extra layers of structure will be pretty straightforward. The context formatting in the EDD could adjust on the fly when structure is conditionalized If using structured Frame is not an option, you might explore having a QuickStart template and a Full Manual Template that make the headings appear correct without actually changing the para tags. -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training m...@roundpeg.com www.roundpeg.com Office 714 960-6840 Cell text 714 585-2335 SMS message 7145852...@vtext.com skype: mattatroundpeg LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/grafixtraining facebook| plaxo Click to tell me the social media sites you belong to -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Judy Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:26 AM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Topic changes heading levels I'm using Tech. Comm. Suite ( FM8 ver. 8.0p277 RH7 ver. 7.02.001) to generate multiple user manuals (a full manual and 3 quickstarts) as well as CHM Help files. (Windows XP SP3 if it matters.) The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? Judy Bragg Technical Writer Hypack, Inc. j...@hypack,com ___ 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: Push or Click???
I believe Microsoft Style Guide says click. I do have some European writers who use the term push consistently. HTH ___ 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: transparent background graphics
FM, in general, doesn't support transparency very well. In FM, do you have the properties of the graphic and of the frame that holds it set so that Fill = None? P.S. posting your configuration data with each question would be helpful... Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Ken Poshedly poshe...@bellsouth.net wrote: Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some of these files were opened. After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My revised cover is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.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.
Re: transparent background graphics
Ken The graphics need to be .EPS as well in my experience of doing this. Scott White Media Production Manager Implementation Coordinator 210-704-8239 swh...@alamark.com On Jun 2, 2009, at 7:58 AM, Art Campbell wrote: FM, in general, doesn't support transparency very well. In FM, do you have the properties of the graphic and of the frame that holds it set so that Fill = None? P.S. posting your configuration data with each question would be helpful... Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Ken Poshedly poshe...@bellsouth.net wrote: Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some of these files were opened. After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My revised cover is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.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 swh...@alamark.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/swhite%40alamark.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.
Re: transparent background graphics
Do you really require having the cover as a Frame document? Is there some additional content (title text, revision date, etc.) that can only be handled in Frame? I think it is better to create the cover as a PDF file directly from an illustration program that supports transparency. You can add the text info as appropriate and also should be able to match the background (as a layer) and create a full page image of your cover. I may be naive, but to me, 20% grey should be the same in both the graphic program and in FrameMaker. If you absolutely much have it as a Frame document, you can import the PDF page as an image into a Frame file, probably as a background image on the page rather than in the flow. In this case, you would not add the text info in the illustatration, but can layer that in the text frame over the image. Also this image would replace the default 20% grey fill background. – Les Smalley --- On Mon, 6/1/09, Ken Poshedly poshe...@bellsouth.net wrote: But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manual (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My revised cover is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta ___ 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: Topic changes heading levels
Looking back at this again, I believe I'd go with putting the topic info in a file by itself and then importing it as necessary under the appropriate head. Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 12:25 PM, Judy j...@hypack.com wrote: I'm using Tech. Comm. Suite ( FM8 ver. 8.0p277 RH7 ver. 7.02.001) to generate multiple user manuals (a full manual and 3 quickstarts) as well as CHM Help files. (Windows XP SP3 if it matters.) The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? Judy Bragg Technical Writer Hypack, Inc. j...@hypack,com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.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.
Re: Push or Click???
I would say Activate the Browser, unless you're telling someone how to do that. In which case I'd say Click _Browse_. (The underbars indicate that the word Browse is a character format for screen items -- something to visually tell the reader that it's a screen button.) Just as a BTW, you should probably pick a style guide and use it... Microsoft is the de facto for Windows aps, although Sun and a few other outfits have also published stuff. Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Garnier Garnier garnier_framescr...@yahoo.co.in wrote: Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.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.
RE: Topic changes heading levels
Judy wrote: The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc lets you point xrefs to those headings. I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. YMMV, of course... Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: Push or Click???
Shmuel Wolfson wrote: I would use Press (not Push) when the user has to physically press a button (like an ATM machine), Click when the user has to perform a mouse click, and Tap when the user has to tap with a stylus. -- Regards, Shmuel Wolfson Technical Writer 052-763-7133 Garnier Garnier wrote: Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Agreed, except that you press _keys_ (whether on a keyboard or, like an ATM or phone, a keypad). Push is what you do to elevator buttons, doorbells, doors, and cars with dead batteries. But other issues are at least as important as which word is technically correct. Who is your audience? Are they complete computer novices? Is there really a Browse button? (That's not a UI element I'm familiar with -- I start browsers using shortcuts, the taskbar, or the Start menu.) Don't get distracted by the references to keyboard shortcuts, different mouse buttons, etc. Mention the latter only if this is for absolute beginners, who have to be told how to work a mouse. Don't mention the former (or any other alternate ways to accomplish the task) at all. If the audience needs to be told _how_ to start the browser, tell them only the one simplest, most direct way -- click Browse. For anyone other than computer novices, I'd use a variant of Art's suggestion: Start (not activate) your browser. Or better yet: Point your browser to... Don't insult their intelligence -- just tell them what to do and assume they know how (they prefer) to do it. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: transparent background graphics
Ken, You wrote: ... I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. FrameMaker does not support transparency in bitmaps when producing print/PDFs. The best workaround is probably to have a single consolidated image for the entire cover, and include that in FrameMaker. [ Somewhat related: I recently implemented support for color masking in images which are placed in layers through hypertext markers with FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Presentation Assistant -- see sample PDF at http://www.microtype.com/showcase/PresentAsst/TransparentBgnd.pdf . Support for image insertion through hypertext marker was added as a workaround for another problem... FrameMaker places a solid white rectangle underneath images in the PS/PDF it produces, which obscured items in PDF layers. ] Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://www.microtype.com FrameMaker/Acrobat training consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants Template Design, Single Sourcing, FM-to-PDF Acrobat courses ___ 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: transparent background graphics
Hi Ken, It's not very difficult to get images with transparent background in FrameMaker. What you have to do: o Only if you have a raster image: Create a mask in Photoshop/ Corel PhotoPaint/Paintshop Pro. Everything outside of the mask will be transparent in the final PDF file. o Save the image (raster or vector) as EPS. o Import the image in FrameMaker. o Select the image and set Fill to None (via the tools palette). o Create a PDF file. That's it. Best regards Winfried -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Ken Poshedly Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 3:42 AM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: transparent background graphics Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some of these files were opened. After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My revised cover is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta ___ 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: Topic changes heading levels
Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text between the headings in a container doc. My biggest qualm about using container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the sheer number of insets. I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping tables to convert 1 para style to another. It sounds like I could keep a book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. That sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any gotchas with that approach? Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it is. I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return the favor. Judy Combs, Richard wrote: Judy wrote: The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc lets you point xrefs to those headings. I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. YMMV, of course... Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: transparent background graphics
I built the same sort of cover recently. It took some doing to figure it out. Frame Help was less than helpful. I am using Frame 9 (Virtual Windows XP on a Mac), so I don't know if this is supported in earlier versions, but my EPS graphic with transparency floats quite nicely over my cover background graphics, which are in PNG. (I had no luck with GIF or PNG formats, which also support transparency, but not in Frame.) The EPS should come with at TIF preview--a grainy b/w representation of the graphic. You can place that. It doesn't look good on the screen, but it PDFs nicely. The biggest problem with EPS is that it makes your files bigger. The cover alone accounts for half the size of my PDF for a 40-page document. Jenny On Jun 1, 2009, at 6:41 PM, Ken Poshedly wrote: Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some of these files were opened. After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My revised cover is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as jgreenl...@mac.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/jgreenleaf%40mac.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.
Re: Topic changes heading levels
Judy, so how many insets is that? Tens, or hundreds, or thousands? To me, 50% utilization isn't much and I wouldn't be concerned... but when you start juggling hundreds of files, there's a corresponding hit on the operating system and network traffic; it's larger than just in FM. Within FM, you can also pick up some speed if you toggle automatic updating of the insets to Off, if you can -- probably depends on how often the content of the insets changes. Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Judy j...@hypack.com wrote: Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text between the headings in a container doc. My biggest qualm about using container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the sheer number of insets. I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping tables to convert 1 para style to another. It sounds like I could keep a book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. That sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any gotchas with that approach? Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it is. I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return the favor. Judy Combs, Richard wrote: Judy wrote: The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc lets you point xrefs to those headings. I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. YMMV, of course... Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: Topic changes heading levels
Judy wrote: I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. I've never used text insets for _all_ the content, only for some percentage (typically, 20-40%) that was being reused. If you want to completely chunk everything, that's probably best done by putting all your content chunks into a database, and assembling the FM docs from that. But regarding lots of text insets -- are you putting each in a separate file? A text inset is just a named flow, and a single FM file can contain any number of text insets (when you want to import one, you point to the file, and then FM presents a dialog in which you can specify which flow of that file you want). Opening one file that contains 20 or 30 text insets presents much less of a burden than opening 20 or 30 files. That said, if you're running Vista, 2 Gb RAM is marginal for this kind of resource-intensive work. More memory would certainly help. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: transparent background graphics
It's not very difficult to get images with transparent background in FrameMaker. What you have to do: o Only if you have a raster image: Create a mask in Photoshop/ Corel PhotoPaint/Paintshop Pro. Everything outside of the mask will be transparent in the final PDF file. o Save the image (raster or vector) as EPS. o Import the image in FrameMaker. o Select the image and set Fill to None (via the tools palette). o Create a PDF file. Just an addition to Winfried's fine message. It's not just a mask you want to create, it's a clipping mask. Search Photoshop help for clipping mask for more information. You may also want to search for clipping path. Mike Wickham ___ 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: Topic changes heading levels
If I did every topic separately and added more for chunks smaller than a topic, I'd be around 1000. I'm the lone writer so I don't work on the network. My current work is always local (regular backups made to other locations of course!) so that's not part of the speed problem. All I know is when I built a book with 3 chapter files that had a total of about 300 insets, everything slowed *way* down and FM was all I had running! Richard has suggested that I keep fewer fm files, each with multiple insets in different flows. That would simplify opening/closing files as well as organizing so many files so that I can find them easily. I've also begun putting some of these topics back together because, at least for now, they all appear together in all outputs. There's no real reason to keep them all individually. I think I have to assimilate all of these ideas and give those first 3 chapters another try! Thanks so much! Judy Art Campbell wrote: Judy, so how many insets is that? Tens, or hundreds, or thousands? To me, 50% utilization isn't much and I wouldn't be concerned... but when you start juggling hundreds of files, there's a corresponding hit on the operating system and network traffic; it's larger than just in FM. Within FM, you can also pick up some speed if you toggle automatic updating of the insets to Off, if you can -- probably depends on how often the content of the insets changes. Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Judy j...@hypack.com wrote: Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text between the headings in a container doc. My biggest qualm about using container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the sheer number of insets. I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping tables to convert 1 para style to another. It sounds like I could keep a book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. That sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any gotchas with that approach? Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it is. I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return the favor. Judy Combs, Richard wrote: Judy wrote: The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc lets you point xrefs to those headings. I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. YMMV, of course... Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ 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: Push or Click???
I would go with - Click *Browse *if the button was labelled with the word Browse. Or Click *browse* if it was only an icon button that the user had to click and then either include the icon in brackets after or as a pop-up on hover. And I always include in an indented line below a procedure what is the expected results, e.g. The default Web browser will open. I don't think you have to specify it is a button as hopefully it is obvious to the user. tina On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 1:58 PM, Catherine Woods catw...@telus.net wrote: The Single-sourcing SIG of the STC just finished this discussion. I'd say Click the Browse button. I'd omit the ...to activate the browser. -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Garnier Garnier Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 8:45 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Push or Click??? Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as catw...@telus.net. 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/catwood%40telus.net Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as tina.poo...@gmail.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/tina.poole2%40gmail.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.
re:Push or Click
Hello, Thanks to all who responded to my query. It definitely helped me forward the responses to the person who created the inhouse style guide which included terms rarely found in any of the style guides. Inhouse style guides are fine when all follow the rules. In this case each writer followed their own rules without bothering about any style guidelines- inhouse or otherwise. This chain of mails was very very helpful and informative. Thanks again to each of you who responded. B/R Garnier Shmuel Wolfson wrote: I would use Press (not Push) when the user has to physically press a button (like an ATM machine), Click when the user has to perform a mouse click, and Tap when the user has to tap with a stylus. -- Regards, Shmuel Wolfson Technical Writer 052-763-7133 Garnier Garnier wrote: Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Agreed, except that you press _keys_ (whether on a keyboard or, like an ATM or phone, a keypad). Push is what you do to elevator buttons, doorbells, doors, and cars with dead batteries. But other issues are at least as important as which word is technically correct. Who is your audience? Are they complete computer novices? Is there really a Browse button? (That's not a UI element I'm familiar with -- I start browsers using shortcuts, the taskbar, or the Start menu.) Don't get distracted by the references to keyboard shortcuts, different mouse buttons, etc. Mention the latter only if this is for absolute beginners, who have to be told how to work a mouse. Don't mention the former (or any other alternate ways to accomplish the task) at all. If the audience needs to be told _how_ to start the browser, tell them only the one simplest, most direct way -- click Browse. For anyone other than computer novices, I'd use a variant of Art's suggestion: Start (not activate) your browser. Or better yet: Point your browser to... Don't insult their intelligence -- just tell them what to do and assume they know how (they prefer) to do it. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- Own a website.Get an unlimited package.Pay next to nothing.*Go to http://in.business.yahoo.com/ ___ 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: transparent background graphics
Hi Matt, You wrote: Are you saying that FrameMaker will have problems producing print and PDF with a .psd that contains transparency? Yes. In addition to the PSD transparency not being handled as expected, a solid white rectangle is present underneath the image. Shlomo -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Shlomo Perets Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 8:07 AM To: Ken Poshedly Cc: fram...@frameusers.com Subject: Re: transparent background graphics Ken, You wrote: ... I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with no background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. FrameMaker does not support transparency in bitmaps when producing print/PDFs. The best workaround is probably to have a single consolidated image for the entire cover, and include that in FrameMaker. [ Somewhat related: I recently implemented support for color masking in images which are placed in layers through hypertext markers with FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Presentation Assistant -- see sample PDF at http://www.microtype.com/showcase/PresentAsst/TransparentBgnd.pdf . Support for image insertion through hypertext marker was added as a workaround for another problem... FrameMaker places a solid white rectangle underneath images in the PS/PDF it produces, which obscured items in PDF layers. ] Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://www.microtype.com FrameMaker/Acrobat training consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants Template Design, Single Sourcing, FM-to-PDF Acrobat courses ___ 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.
Push or Click???
Hi I have a query: Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? B/R Garnier Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/
Push or Click???
At 01:44 PM 2/06/2009, Garnier Garnier wrote: >Hi > >I have a query: > >Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser >on click the Browse button to activate the browser? IMO, neither is 100% correct. If you "click" a button (with a pointer device such as a mouse) it sometimes looks as though it has been "pushed". But some button interfaces don't look like that. Also, some people use the keyboard exclusively, using Alt + the "hot" character to trigger the button event. I'd recommend reserving the verb "push" (or better, "press") to refer to buttons on a physical device and "click", qualified by "right", "left" or "middle" to refer to an event that cannot be triggered by any other means except physically clicking on a mouse button. The documentation has to "work" for the intended audience and the physical interface. Footnote :: Lately, I've been distance-teaching my 88-year-old, arthritic mother, in another country, to use Skype on a laptop. It's no use telling her to "click" or "press" anything: she's physically incapable of gripping a mouse, never mind *clicking* it! But given a track pad with a right and left button above it, she's born again! She scrolls quite comfortably (she says) around the screen with all four fingers of her right hand on the track pad. In the notes I made up for her, I've instructed her to "move the cursor onto...whatever button or text box...and tap-tap on the track pad". She does the "tap-tap" with her left hand and, if she misses, her double-tap usually lands as a double-click on the left mouse button above the track pad. Hooray for redundancy! Right-click is easy - she just slides her right hand up onto the right mouse button and *presses* it. ;-) Helen
Push or Click???
I would use Press (not Push) when the user has to physically press a button (like an ATM machine), Click when the user has to perform a mouse click, and Tap when the user has to tap with a stylus. -- Regards, Shmuel Wolfson Technical Writer 052-763-7133 Garnier Garnier wrote: > Hi > > I have a query: > > Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser > on click the Browse button to activate the browser? > > B/R > Garnier > > > > Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to > http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ > > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as shmuelw1 at gmail.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/shmuelw1%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > >
Topic changes heading levels
I'm in Unstructured Frame and doubt I'll be moving to structured any time soon. I'll contemplate a different template for the quckstarts. It may be the best solution in spite of the still unconventional outline structure. (My 3rd grade language arts teacher wouldn't approve of a level 2 Heading w/ only 1 level 3 child! ;-p ) thanks! Matt Sullivan wrote: > Hi Jenny, > > Interesting predicament... > > I believe this nesting will be more for print purposes than Help, if I read > your post correctly. > > If you are using structured Frame, the concept of conditionalizing your > extra layers of structure will be pretty straightforward. The context > formatting in the EDD could adjust on the fly when structure is > conditionalized > > If using structured Frame is not an option, you might explore having a > QuickStart template and a Full Manual Template that make the headings appear > correct without actually changing the para tags. > > > -Matt > > Matt Sullivan > GRAFIX Training > > matt at roundpeg.com > www.roundpeg.com > Office 714 960-6840 > Cell & text 714 585-2335 > SMS message 7145852335 at vtext.com > > skype: mattatroundpeg > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/grafixtraining > facebook| plaxo > > Click to tell me the social media sites you belong to > > > -Original Message- > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com > [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Judy > Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 9:26 AM > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: Topic changes heading levels > > I'm using Tech. Comm. Suite ( FM8 ver. 8.0p277 & RH7 ver. 7.02.001) to > generate multiple user manuals (a full manual and 3 quickstarts) as well as > CHM Help files. (Windows XP SP3 if it matters.) > > The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 > output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full > manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. > > I've thought about: > - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. > - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered > directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not > sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? > > Judy Bragg > Technical Writer > Hypack, Inc. > judy at hypack,com > > > > ___ > > > 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. > > > >
Push or Click???
I believe Microsoft Style Guide says "click." I do have some European writers who use the term "push" consistently. HTH
transparent background graphics
FM, in general, doesn't support transparency very well. In FM, do you have the properties of the graphic and of the frame that holds it set so that Fill = None? P.S. posting your configuration data with each question would be helpful... Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Ken Poshedly wrote: > Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC > generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't > happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some > reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) > coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some > of these files were opened. > > After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and > re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. > > But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned > me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator > manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I > researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of > the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know > how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. > Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they > never had a tech writer here before.) > > So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up > against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a > supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. > > My "revised cover" is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, > using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) > and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). > Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very > differently there and are very slow at responding. > > I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's > another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file > graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a > checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. > > But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep > away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's > just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. > > What to do? Please advise. > > -- Kenpo in Atlanta > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >
transparent background graphics
Ken The graphics need to be .EPS as well in my experience of doing this. Scott White Media Production Manager Implementation Coordinator 210-704-8239 swhite at alamark.com On Jun 2, 2009, at 7:58 AM, Art Campbell wrote: > FM, in general, doesn't support transparency very well. > In FM, do you have the properties of the graphic and of the frame that > holds it set so that Fill = None? > > P.S. posting your configuration data with each question would be > helpful... > > Art > > Art Campbell > art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers > apply. > DoD 358 > > > > On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Ken Poshedly > wrote: >> Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC >> generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't >> happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some >> reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) >> coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some >> of these files were opened. >> >> After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and >> re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. >> >> But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned >> me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator >> manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I >> researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of >> the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know >> how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. >> Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they >> never had a tech writer here before.) >> >> So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up >> against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a >> supposedly transparent background that still displays a white >> background. >> >> My "revised cover" is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, >> using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) >> and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). >> Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very >> differently there and are very slow at responding. >> >> I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's >> another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file >> graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a >> checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered >> company name. >> >> But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep >> away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's >> just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey >> cover. >> >> What to do? Please advise. >> >> -- Kenpo in Atlanta >> ___ >> >> >> You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com >> >> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit >> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >> > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as swhite at alamark.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/swhite%40alamark.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > >
transparent background graphics
Do you really require having the cover as a Frame document?? Is there some additional content (title text, revision date, etc.) that can only be handled in Frame? I think it is better to create the cover as a PDF file directly from an illustration program that supports transparency.? You can add the text info as appropriate and also should be able to match the background (as a layer) and create a full page image of your cover.?? I may be naive, but to me, 20% grey should be the same in both the graphic program and in FrameMaker. If you absolutely much have it as a Frame document, you can import the PDF page as an image into a Frame file, probably as a background image on the page rather than in the flow.? In this case, you would not add the text info in the illustatration, but can "layer" that in the text frame over the image.? Also this image would replace the default 20% grey fill background. ? Les Smalley --- On Mon, 6/1/09, Ken Poshedly wrote: But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator manual (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they never had a tech writer here before.) So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a supposedly transparent background that still displays a white background. My "revised cover" is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have).? Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very differently there and are very slow at responding. I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. What to do? Please advise. -- Kenpo in Atlanta
Topic changes heading levels
Looking back at this again, I believe I'd go with putting the topic info in a file by itself and then importing it as necessary under the appropriate head. Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 12:25 PM, Judy wrote: > I'm using Tech. Comm. Suite ( FM8 ver. 8.0p277 & RH7 ver. 7.02.001) to > generate multiple user manuals (a full manual and 3 quickstarts) as well > as CHM Help files. ?(Windows XP SP3 if it matters.) > > The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more > than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in > the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. > > I've thought about: > ?- Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. > ?- Building a container doc for each output where the headings are > entered directly but topic content inset by reference. ?This may work, > but I'm not sure it's the best answer. ?Does anyone else have any ideas? > > Judy Bragg > Technical Writer > Hypack, Inc. > judy at hypack,com > > > > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >
Push or Click???
I would say "Activate the Browser," unless you're telling someone how to do that. In which case I'd say "Click _Browse_." (The underbars indicate that the word Browse is a character format for screen items -- something to visually tell the reader that it's a screen button.) Just as a BTW, you should probably pick a style guide and use it... Microsoft is the de facto for Windows aps, although Sun and a few other outfits have also published stuff. Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 11:44 PM, Garnier Garnier wrote: > > Hi > > I have a query: > > Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the browser > on click the Browse button to activate the browser? > > B/R > Garnier > > > > ? ? ?Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to > http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ > > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campbell at gmail.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/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >
Topic changes heading levels
Judy wrote: > The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more > than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in > the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. > > I've thought about: > - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref issues. > - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are > entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, > but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any ideas? By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc lets you point xrefs to those headings. I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. YMMV, of course... Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 --
Push or Click???
Shmuel Wolfson wrote: > I would use Press (not Push) when the user has to physically press a > button (like an ATM machine), Click when the user has to perform a mouse > click, and Tap when the user has to tap with a stylus. > > -- > Regards, > Shmuel Wolfson > Technical Writer > 052-763-7133 > > > Garnier Garnier wrote: > > Hi > > > > I have a query: > > > > Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the > browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? > > > > B/R > > Garnier Agreed, except that you press _keys_ (whether on a keyboard or, like an ATM or phone, a keypad). Push is what you do to elevator buttons, doorbells, doors, and cars with dead batteries. But other issues are at least as important as which word is technically correct. Who is your audience? Are they complete computer novices? Is there really a Browse button? (That's not a UI element I'm familiar with -- I start browsers using shortcuts, the taskbar, or the Start menu.) Don't get distracted by the references to keyboard shortcuts, different mouse buttons, etc. Mention the latter only if this is for absolute beginners, who have to be told how to work a mouse. Don't mention the former (or any other alternate ways to accomplish the task) at all. If the audience needs to be told _how_ to start the browser, tell them only the one simplest, most direct way -- click Browse. For anyone other than computer novices, I'd use a variant of Art's suggestion: Start (not activate) your browser. Or better yet: Point your browser to... Don't insult their intelligence -- just tell them what to do and assume they know how (they prefer) to do it. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 --
transparent background graphics
Ken, You wrote: >... I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's >another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file >graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a >checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. > >But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep >away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's >just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. > >What to do? Please advise. FrameMaker does not support transparency in bitmaps when producing print/PDFs. The best workaround is probably to have a single consolidated image for the entire cover, and include that in FrameMaker. [ Somewhat related: I recently implemented support for color masking in images which are placed in layers through hypertext markers with FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Presentation Assistant -- see sample PDF at http://www.microtype.com/showcase/PresentAsst/TransparentBgnd.pdf . Support for image insertion through hypertext marker was added as a workaround for another problem... FrameMaker places a solid white rectangle underneath images in the PS/PDF it produces, which obscured items in PDF layers. ] Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://www.microtype.com FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants Template Design, Single Sourcing, FM-to-PDF & Acrobat courses
transparent background graphics
Hi Ken, It's not very difficult to get images with transparent background in FrameMaker. What you have to do: o Only if you have a raster image: Create a mask in Photoshop/ Corel PhotoPaint/Paintshop Pro. Everything outside of the mask will be transparent in the final PDF file. o Save the image (raster or vector) as EPS. o Import the image in FrameMaker. o Select the image and set "Fill" to "None" (via the tools palette). o Create a PDF file. That's it. Best regards Winfried > -Original Message- > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com > [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of > Ken Poshedly > Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 3:42 AM > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: transparent background graphics > > Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC > generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't > happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some > reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) > coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some > of these files were opened. > > After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and > re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. > > But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned > me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator > manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I > researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of > the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know > how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. > Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they > never had a tech writer here before.) > > So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up > against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a > supposedly transparent background that still displays a white > background. > > My "revised cover" is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, > using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) > and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). > Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very > differently there and are very slow at responding. > > I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's > another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file > graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a > checkered background) but only the red logo and > black-lettered company name. > > But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep > away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's > just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% > grey cover. > > What to do? Please advise. > > -- Kenpo in Atlanta
transparent background graphics
Hi Shlomo, Are you saying that FrameMaker will have problems producing print and PDF with a .psd that contains transparency? -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training matt at roundpeg.com www.roundpeg.com Office 714 960-6840 Cell & text 714 585-2335 SMS message 7145852335 at vtext.com skype: mattatroundpeg LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/grafixtraining facebook| plaxo Click to tell me the social media sites you belong to -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Shlomo Perets Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 8:07 AM To: Ken Poshedly Cc: Framers at frameusers.com Subject: Re: transparent background graphics Ken, You wrote: >... I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so >that's another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF >file graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a >checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered company name. > >But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep away >from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's just >my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey cover. > >What to do? Please advise. FrameMaker does not support transparency in bitmaps when producing print/PDFs. The best workaround is probably to have a single consolidated image for the entire cover, and include that in FrameMaker. [ Somewhat related: I recently implemented support for color masking in images which are placed in layers through hypertext markers with FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers + Presentation Assistant -- see sample PDF at http://www.microtype.com/showcase/PresentAsst/TransparentBgnd.pdf . Support for image insertion through hypertext marker was added as a workaround for another problem... FrameMaker places a solid white rectangle underneath images in the PS/PDF it produces, which obscured items in PDF layers. ] Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://www.microtype.com FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants Template Design, Single Sourcing, FM-to-PDF & Acrobat courses ___ 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.
Topic changes heading levels
Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text between the headings in a container doc. My biggest qualm about using container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the sheer number of insets. I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping tables to convert 1 para style to another. It sounds like I could keep a book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. That sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any "gotchas" with that approach? Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it is. I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return the favor. Judy Combs, Richard wrote: > Judy wrote: > > >> The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more >> than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in >> the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. >> >> I've thought about: >> - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref >> > issues. > >> - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are >> entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, >> but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any >> > ideas? > > By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text > in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level > conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a > text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc > lets you point xrefs to those headings. > > I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the > content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. > YMMV, of course... > > Richard > > > Richard G. Combs > Senior Technical Writer > Polycom, Inc. > richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom > 303-223-5111 > -- > rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom > 303-777-0436 > -- > > > > > > > >
transparent background graphics
I built the same sort of cover recently. It took some doing to figure it out. Frame Help was less than helpful. I am using Frame 9 (Virtual Windows XP on a Mac), so I don't know if this is supported in earlier versions, but my EPS graphic with transparency floats quite nicely over my cover background graphics, which are in PNG. (I had no luck with GIF or PNG formats, which also support transparency, but not in Frame.) The EPS should come with at TIF preview--a grainy b/w representation of the graphic. You can place that. It doesn't look good on the screen, but it PDFs nicely. The biggest problem with EPS is that it makes your files bigger. The cover alone accounts for half the size of my PDF for a 40-page document. Jenny On Jun 1, 2009, at 6:41 PM, Ken Poshedly wrote: > Well, first, thanks to all for your tips to help me get a good TOC > generated. I'm still working on that one, and while it hasn't > happened so far, I did find that several graphics pasted into some > reference pages from another document by my (not-so-FrameMaker-savy) > coworker resulted in prompts to find the path to them each time some > of these files were opened. > > After I deleted those graphics from the reference pages and > re-imported them correctly, no more prompts for them. > > But that's as far as I got on that because now, my boss has assigned > me a more pressing project, a revised cover design for this operator > manal (for a hydraulic excavator -- REAL hardware). After I > researched and assembled a great-looking cover, he held a meeting of > the project engineers (with me included) where those who only know > how to engineer started picking at and apart the work I had done. > Sheesh! (The cover got lots of kudos before the meeting because they > never had a tech writer here before.) > > So now, I'm trying to modify my cover design, but am running up > against a seemingly immovable problem: importing a graphic with a > supposedly transparent background that still displays a white > background. > > My "revised cover" is to be slightly grey (perhaps 20% black tint, > using FrameMaker). And the company logo with name is in red (logo) > and black (company name in a custom font which I don't know or have). > Oh, and our home office is in China and they do things very > differently there and are very slow at responding. > > I'm still learning the in's and out's of Paintshop Pro X2, so that's > another rocky road, but I think I successfully created a GIF file > graphic with "no" background (it displays in Paintshop Pro with a > checkered background) but only the red logo and black-lettered > company name. > > But when I import it, the background is white. I'm trying to keep > away from creating a GIF file with a 20% grey background because it's > just my luck that it probably won't match the FrameMaker 20% grey > cover. > > What to do? Please advise. > > -- Kenpo in Atlanta > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as jgreenleaf at mac.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/jgreenleaf%40mac.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Topic changes heading levels
Judy, so how many insets is that? Tens, or hundreds, or thousands? To me, 50% utilization isn't much and I wouldn't be concerned... but when you start juggling hundreds of files, there's a corresponding hit on the operating system and network traffic; it's larger than just in FM. Within FM, you can also pick up some speed if you toggle automatic updating of the insets to Off, if you can -- probably depends on how often the content of the insets changes. Art Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Judy wrote: > Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text > between the headings in a container doc. ?My biggest qualm about using > container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the > sheer number of insets. > I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building > the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. > ?It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 > chapters, FM couldn't handle it. ?(50% CPU usage ?on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM > and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to > compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. > > Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping > tables to convert 1 para style to another. ?It sounds like I could keep a > book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool > to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. ?That > sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any "gotchas" with that approach? > > Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much > from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it > is. ?I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return > the favor. > Judy > > Combs, Richard wrote: >> >> Judy wrote: >>> >>> The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more >>> than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in >>> the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. >>> >>> I've thought about: >>> ?- Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref >>> >> >> issues. >> >>> >>> ?- Building a container doc for each output where the headings are >>> entered directly but topic content inset by reference. ?This may work, >>> but I'm not sure it's the best answer. ?Does anyone else have any >>> >> >> ideas? >> >> By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text >> in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level >> conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a >> text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc >> lets you point xrefs to those headings. >> I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the >> content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. >> YMMV, of course... >> Richard >> >> >> Richard G. Combs >> Senior Technical Writer >> Polycom, Inc. >> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom >> 303-223-5111 >> -- >> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom >> 303-777-0436 >> -- >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > >
Topic changes heading levels
Judy wrote: > I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then > building the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a > chapter container. It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it > with the first 3 chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a > 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space > too.) I may be able to compromise, in this case, and inset only those > whose headings change though. I've never used text insets for _all_ the content, only for some percentage (typically, 20-40%) that was being reused. If you want to completely chunk everything, that's probably best done by putting all your content chunks into a database, and assembling the FM docs from that. But regarding lots of text insets -- are you putting each in a separate file? A text inset is just a named flow, and a single FM file can contain any number of text insets (when you want to import one, you point to the file, and then FM presents a dialog in which you can specify which flow of that file you want). Opening one file that contains 20 or 30 text insets presents much less of a burden than opening 20 or 30 files. That said, if you're running Vista, 2 Gb RAM is marginal for this kind of resource-intensive work. More memory would certainly help. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 --
transparent background graphics
> It's not very difficult to get images with transparent background > in FrameMaker. What you have to do: > o Only if you have a raster image: Create a mask in Photoshop/ > Corel PhotoPaint/Paintshop Pro. Everything outside of the mask > will be transparent in the final PDF file. > o Save the image (raster or vector) as EPS. > o Import the image in FrameMaker. > o Select the image and set "Fill" to "None" (via the tools palette). > o Create a PDF file. Just an addition to Winfried's fine message. It's not just a mask you want to create, it's a clipping mask. Search Photoshop help for "clipping mask" for more information. You may also want to search for "clipping path." Mike Wickham
Topic changes heading levels
If I did every topic separately and added more for chunks smaller than a topic, I'd be around 1000. I'm the lone writer so I don't work on the network. My current work is always local (regular backups made to other locations of course!) so that's not part of the speed problem. All I know is when I built a book with 3 chapter files that had a total of about 300 insets, everything slowed *way* down and FM was all I had running! Richard has suggested that I keep fewer fm files, each with multiple insets in different flows. That would simplify opening/closing files as well as organizing so many files so that I can find them easily. I've also begun putting some of these topics back together because, at least for now, they all appear together in all outputs. There's no real reason to keep them all individually. I think I have to assimilate all of these ideas and give those first 3 chapters another try! Thanks so much! Judy Art Campbell wrote: > Judy, so how many insets is that? Tens, or hundreds, or thousands? > > To me, 50% utilization isn't much and I wouldn't be concerned... but > when you start juggling hundreds of files, there's a corresponding hit > on the operating system and network traffic; it's larger than just in > FM. Within FM, you can also pick up some speed if you toggle automatic > updating of the insets to Off, if you can -- probably depends on how > often the content of the insets changes. > > Art > > Art Campbell >art.campbell at gmail.com > "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 > Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson > No disclaimers apply. >DoD 358 > > > > On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Judy wrote: > >> Art and Richard both recommended the idea of insetting topic body text >> between the headings in a container doc. My biggest qualm about using >> container docs with all of the headings then insetting the body text is the >> sheer number of insets. >> I recently tried breaking my doc set into topic-sized fm docs, then building >> the different outputs with the topic fm's as insets to a chapter container. >> It worked great w/ 1 chapter, but when I tested it with the first 3 >> chapters, FM couldn't handle it. (50% CPU usage on a 2 Ghz CPU w/ 2Gb RAM >> and only FM was open. Plenty of hard drive space too.) I may be able to >> compromise, in this case, and inset only those whose headings change though. >> >> Ted also suggested a tool by Silicon Prairie Software that uses mapping >> tables to convert 1 para style to another. It sounds like I could keep a >> book of those topics whose headings need to shift levels and use this tool >> to set the correct heading level before generating the final output. That >> sounds easy enough. Does anyone see any "gotchas" with that approach? >> >> Thank you all for your thoughts on this question. I always learn so much >> from you on this list and I appreciate the time you take to make it what it >> is. I hope someday, I'll have gained enough experience and wisdom to return >> the favor. >> Judy >> >> Combs, Richard wrote: >> >>> Judy wrote: >>> The challenge is how to best handle those topics that appear in more than 1 output, but at different heading levels--most commonly an H3 in the full manual becomes an H2 in the quickstarts. I've thought about: - Multiple conditionalized headings, but that would cause xref >>> issues. >>> >>> - Building a container doc for each output where the headings are entered directly but topic content inset by reference. This may work, but I'm not sure it's the best answer. Does anyone else have any >>> ideas? >>> >>> By all means, put the headings in the container and only the body text >>> in the text inset source. Even in the absence of your heading-level >>> conflict, this is a pretty good idea. Cross-references to pgfs inside a >>> text inset are a pain. Keeping the section headings in the container doc >>> lets you point xrefs to those headings. >>> I prefer to have the section headings in the container doc and only the >>> content under them in the text inset source. Haven't seen a downside. >>> YMMV, of course... >>> Richard >>> >>> >>> Richard G. Combs >>> Senior Technical Writer >>> Polycom, Inc. >>> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom >>> 303-223-5111 >>> -- >>> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom >>> 303-777-0436 >>> -- >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> > > >
transparent background graphics
But FM will place a .psd... A clipping mask will create a smooth, but hard edge. Is anyone having problems with .psd's containing layer masks or vector masks (resulting in a soft edge)or other layer transparency? -Matt Matt Sullivan GRAFIX Training matt at roundpeg.com www.roundpeg.com Office 714 960-6840 Cell & text 714 585-2335 SMS message 7145852335 at vtext.com skype: mattatroundpeg LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/grafixtraining facebook| plaxo Click to tell me the social media sites you belong to -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Mike Wickham Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 12:09 PM To: Frame Users Subject: Re: transparent background graphics > It's not very difficult to get images with transparent background in > FrameMaker. What you have to do: > o Only if you have a raster image: Create a mask in Photoshop/ Corel > PhotoPaint/Paintshop Pro. Everything outside of the mask will be > transparent in the final PDF file. > o Save the image (raster or vector) as EPS. > o Import the image in FrameMaker. > o Select the image and set "Fill" to "None" (via the tools palette). > o Create a PDF file. Just an addition to Winfried's fine message. It's not just a mask you want to create, it's a clipping mask. Search Photoshop help for "clipping mask" for more information. You may also want to search for "clipping path." Mike Wickham ___ 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.
Push or Click???
I would go with - Click *Browse *if the button was labelled with the word Browse. Or Click *browse* if it was only an icon button that the user had to click and then either include the icon in brackets after or as a pop-up on hover. And I always include in an indented line below a procedure what is the expected results, e.g. The default Web browser will open. I don't think you have to specify it is a button as hopefully it is obvious to the user. tina On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 1:58 PM, Catherine Woods wrote: > The Single-sourcing SIG of the STC just finished this discussion. > > I'd say "Click the Browse button". I'd omit the "...to activate the > browser." > > -Original Message- > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com > [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Garnier Garnier > Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 8:45 PM > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: Push or Click??? > > > > Hi > > I have a query: > > Which is technically accurate, Push the Browse button to activate the > browser on click the Browse button to activate the browser? > > B/R > Garnier > > > > Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to > http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/ > > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as catwood at telus.net. > > 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/catwood%40telus.net > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > > ___ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as tina.poole2 at gmail.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/tina.poole2%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. >
