ANN: Are You Seeking Tighter Integration Between Adobe FrameMaker and EMC Documentum?

2009-10-13 Thread The Content Wrangler 

The Content Wrangler, Inc. is working with Millennium Consultants to  
reach Adobe FrameMakerusers who are seeking tighter integration with  
EMC Documentum. If you use FrameMaker as an authoring tool and  
Documentum as your content management system, take this brief survey  
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FrameMaker which acts as a bridge between FrameMaker and Documentum  
Server.

Using Linked2 for Adobe FrameMaker, users can perform the following  
functions — login, checkin, checkout, view, search and cancel checkout  
— all from with FrameMaker. And, Linked2 provides users with the  
ability to reuse DITA XML chunks and graphics, and it supports  
conrefs, xrefs, hrefs and other content reuse capabilities.

What are you waiting for? Take the survey 
(http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2l1lb2ufzyhncbd/a003g0fphp1u/questions
 
) and see if you qualify for a free test drive.

Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
+1 (760) 550-9321scotta...@mac.com
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Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

The situation:

I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
~100 pages)

Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is ~80-100
pages)

(No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting the
situation.)

Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so that
each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either the
two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the identical
part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common component
or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you have
to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on the
fly the common, identical component.

Same for set #2.


Questions:

1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
each of these two sets of books?
2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two sets
of books?
3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each of
the two sets of books?

TIA

- avi
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Re: Changing the Default PDF Author

2009-10-13 Thread Shlomo Perets 
Joseph,

You wrote:

  I use FrameMaker 9 to generate PS files and then acrobat distiller to
  generate PDFs from the PS files. When I generate the PDF, by default the
  author name is set to my windows login. I know how to manually change it,
  but I thought there might be a way to modify the default author name so that
  I don't have to manually change it each time. That way when I generate a PDF
  I will always know the correct string is being used in the author name
  field.

You can populate default PDF metadata through File  File Info (at the FM 
book or document level).

The Windows login shows up as the Author in the PDF when the Author field 
in FrameMaker's File Info is empty.

Shlomo Perets, www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/TCS training  consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
Avraham,

Question 2:
I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
\Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
the document set so they're at the top level.

Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
content.

Question 1:
There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

Question 3:
No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
books are set up and how fast you are.


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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

 The situation:

 I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
 these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

 Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
 ~100 pages)

 Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is ~80-100
 pages)

 (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting the
 situation.)

 Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so that
 each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either the
 two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
 controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the identical
 part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common component
 or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you have
 to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on the
 fly the common, identical component.

 Same for set #2.


 Questions:

 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
 each of these two sets of books?
 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two sets
 of books?
 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each of
 the two sets of books?

 TIA

 - avi
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RE: Hypertext Links not Working

2009-10-13 Thread Heinlein, Roberta 
Stuart,

The links that aren't working were created with the hypertext option
using the Open Document command. We enter the relative address a
separate file. The cross-reference links within the file seem to still
be working.

Roberta Heinlein

SOP Specialist, Internal Audit-Corporate Compliance C-10

770-433-8211 x19827

-

Corporate Compliance is committed to providing great customer service to
our stores.  THD Associates: Please visit myApron  My Store Overview 
What's New VOC at the SSC  and select Corporate Compliance to let us
know how we are doing.

-Original Message-
From: Stuart Rogers [mailto:srog...@phoenix-geophysics.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:09 AM
To: Heinlein, Roberta
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Hypertext Links not Working

Heinlein, Roberta wrote:
 I'm having a frustrating problem with hypertext links. We create
 hypertext links in FM 7.2 to PDF files. Then we convert the FM
document
 to PDF. The links work. We place the files in Documentum where they
are
 moved to our intranet. The links work perfectly.
 
 We just upgraded to FM 8.0. The links still work in the PDF file until
 it is moved to our intranet-then the links no longer work. We don't
want
 to have to revert back to FM 7.2 but we can't figure out how to
correct
 this problem. I have tried turning on Create Named Destinations for
All
 Paragraphs but it still doesn't work.
 


A little more info might help.

What is the nature of the links, e.g.,
-- simple x-ref's within the same file
-- cross-file within the same book
-- cross-file to other documents not in the book
-- links to URLs
-- mailto: links
-- other hypertext commands?

Do ALL links fail, or if only some, what's different?

Are you following the identical procedure as before when creating the 
PDF files?  Using Print to Adobe PDF vs. Save As PDF?  All files open, 
including book files of cross-ref targets outside this book?  (If you 
have cross-file links, the nature of the path information saved in the 
PDF will be different depending on whether or not the target's book file

is open at the time.)  Is your folder structure the same as before?

best,


-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor

to beg in the streets, steal bread, or sleep under a bridge.

--Anatole France


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RE: Hypertext Links not Working

2009-10-13 Thread Heinlein, Roberta 
Yes, the links appear to be correct in Acrobat using the Link Tool. The
link shows as an absolute link and we put relative links in the FM file.
The absolute link is correct and changes when I move the file to another
folder-still correct for that folder. The links work correctly as well,
until the file is moved to our intranet. Although the folder names are
different in the intranet, the relative position is the same.

Thank you

Roberta Heinlein

SOP Specialist, Internal Audit-Corporate Compliance C-10

770-433-8211 x19827

-

Corporate Compliance is committed to providing great customer service to
our stores.  THD Associates: Please visit myApron  My Store Overview 
What's New VOC at the SSC  and select Corporate Compliance to let us
know how we are doing.

-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Stuart Rogers
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 12:29 PM
To: Heinlein, Roberta
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Hypertext Links not Working

Heinlein, Roberta wrote:
 Stuart,
 
 The links that aren't working were created with the hypertext option
 using the Open Document command. We enter the relative address a
 separate file. The cross-reference links within the file seem to still
 be working.
 


Are the paths and filenames correct when you open/edit the links with 
the Link tool in Acrobat?

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor

to beg in the streets, steal bread, or sleep under a bridge.

--Anatole France

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quotes rendered as question mark in FM9

2009-10-13 Thread LW White 

I'm using FM9 and suddenly find that my single and double quotes key types a 
question mark. This issue is limited to FM9. Doesn't occur in FM8 or any other 
application, so I suspect I have inadvertently changed a keyboard mapping 
somewhere in FM9, but I can't find where. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Leigh White
lwwhi...@hotmail.com
  
_
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service.
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FW: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9

2009-10-13 Thread LW White 

Believe I discovered the cause of the problem. It seems to be patch p237, which 
also appears to cause some other reported problems like the Paragraph Designer 
sticking, etc. Ill-conceived patch. I uninstalled it and now everything seems 
to be fine.

Leigh White
lwwhi...@hotmail.com

From: lwwhi...@hotmail.com
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:40:40 -0400








I'm using FM9 and suddenly find that my single and double quotes key types a 
question mark. This issue is limited to FM9. Doesn't occur in FM8 or any other 
application, so I suspect I have inadvertently changed a keyboard mapping 
somewhere in FM9, but I can't find where. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Leigh White
lwwhi...@hotmail.com
  
Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.  
  
_
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/
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RE: Hypertext Links not Working

2009-10-13 Thread Heinlein, Roberta 
Hallelujah! It worked. I was running on FM 8.0p236. After I installed
all of the available updates, my links are working again. Thank you,
Shlomo.  Now I can breathe again.

Roberta Heinlein

SOP Specialist, Internal Audit-Corporate Compliance C-10

770-433-8211 x19827

-

Corporate Compliance is committed to providing great customer service to
our stores.  THD Associates: Please visit myApron  My Store Overview 
What's New VOC at the SSC  and select Corporate Compliance to let us
know how we are doing.

-Original Message-
From: Shlomo Perets [mailto:shlo...@microtype.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 5:59 AM
To: Heinlein, Roberta
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Hypertext Links not Working

Roberta,

You wrote:

I'm having a frustrating problem with hypertext links. We create
hypertext links in FM 7.2 to PDF files. Then we convert the FM document
to PDF. The links work. We place the files in Documentum where they are
moved to our intranet. The links work perfectly.

We just upgraded to FM 8.0. The links still work in the PDF file until
it is moved to our intranet-then the links no longer work. We don't
want
to have to revert back to FM 7.2 but we can't figure out how to correct
this problem. I have tried turning on Create Named Destinations for All
Paragraphs but it still doesn't work.

I'm new to the list, but I have searched the archives and haven't found
any discussion related to this problem.


Make sure you use FM8.0p273 or later. Cross-file links in PDFs authored
in 
earlier releases of FrameMaker 8.0 use Unicode-encoded file paths and
file 
names, which are not be supported in all environments.

Select Help  About FrameMaker to see the FM version.

To update your FM8 version, select Help  Updates.


Shlomo Perets

MicroType * http://www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/Acrobat training  consulting * FM-to-Acrobat
TimeSavers/Assistants



--

Free session: Ten FrameMaker Tips, Tuesday, October 13, starting 10am
PDT
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Re: FW: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
I'm not sure which p numbers correspond to which patch because I'm not
on a 9 system at the moment, but there are three patches out, the
latest released last week. If the patch you're talking about is #1 or
#2, it may be better to go on ahead and then install #3 to clean
things up.

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, Oct 12, 2009 at 9:39 PM, LW White lwwhi...@hotmail.com wrote:

 Believe I discovered the cause of the problem. It seems to be patch p237, 
 which also appears to cause some other reported problems like the Paragraph 
 Designer sticking, etc. Ill-conceived patch. I uninstalled it and now 
 everything seems to be fine.

 Leigh White
 lwwhi...@hotmail.com

 From: lwwhi...@hotmail.com
 To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
 Subject: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9
 Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:40:40 -0400








 I'm using FM9 and suddenly find that my single and double quotes key types a 
 question mark. This issue is limited to FM9. Doesn't occur in FM8 or any 
 other application, so I suspect I have inadvertently changed a keyboard 
 mapping somewhere in FM9, but I can't find where. Any help appreciated. 
 Thanks!

 Leigh White
 lwwhi...@hotmail.com

 Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.
 _
 Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
 http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/
 ___


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
Thanks, Art.
(a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

(b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

(c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
separate \Graphics folder for each book.

(d)

 I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
books are set up and how fast you are.

- Well, I have never done it before.
- So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
two days?

Thanks!

avraham





On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.comwrote:

 Avraham,

 Question 2:
 I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
 for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
 \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
 with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
 the document set so they're at the top level.

 Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
 are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
 things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
 file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
 information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
 of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
 and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
 possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
 content.

 Question 1:
 There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

 Question 3:
 No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.


 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Hi all,
   RE: Merging books
 
  The situation:
 
  I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
  these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:
 
  Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
  ~100 pages)
 
  Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is
 ~80-100
  pages)
 
  (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting
 the
  situation.)
 
  Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so
 that
  each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either
 the
  two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
  controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the
 identical
  part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common
 component
  or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you
 have
  to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on the
  fly the common, identical component.
 
  Same for set #2.
 
 
  Questions:
 
  1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
  each of these two sets of books?
  2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two
 sets
  of books?
  3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each
 of
  the two sets of books?
 
  TIA
 
  - avi
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  Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com.
 
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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
Replies cut in below...

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com wrote:
 Thanks, Art.
 (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared info.
I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with, but

 (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
include?

 (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
 case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
 separate \Graphics folder for each book.

You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
buried in a book subdirectory.

I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
many times it's used. YMMV.

 (d)
 I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.
 - Well, I have never done it before.
 - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
 two days?
If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.
___


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the Set #2
which has the books (four) having about only 10% identical content.
Why, may I ask, did you not recommend Conditional Text?

avraham



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.comwrote:

 Replies cut in below...

 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Thanks, Art.
  (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

 I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared info.
 I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with, but

  (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

 Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
 include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
 include?

  (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
 that
  case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
  separate \Graphics folder for each book.

 You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
 there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
 in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
 buried in a book subdirectory.

 I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
 needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
 many times it's used. YMMV.

  (d)
  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
  WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
  books are set up and how fast you are.
  - Well, I have never done it before.
  - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
  two days?
 If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
 shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.

___


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
You certainly could go that route.

However, you'll also notice that I didn't exclude using CT at all. I
use both shared content and CT, together, on most document set level
projects. I usually use shared content to manage large chunks of
information, and CT to manage smaller items within either the shared
files or the parent files. It just depends on the content of the
books, and I don't have enough info to make a judgement call.

But there's nothing in the information that you presented that would
make it a bad or a good choice, or lead me to think that one solution
rather than a blend would be a better way to go.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com wrote:
 The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
 suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the Set #2
 which has the books (four) having about only 10% identical content.
 Why, may I ask, did you not recommend Conditional Text?
 avraham


 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Replies cut in below...

 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Thanks, Art.
  (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

 I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared
 info.
 I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with,
 but

  (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

 Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
 include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
 include?

  (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
  that
  case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
  separate \Graphics folder for each book.

 You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
 there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
 in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
 buried in a book subdirectory.

 I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
 needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
 many times it's used. YMMV.

  (d)
  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
  WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
  books are set up and how fast you are.
  - Well, I have never done it before.
  - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could
  take
  two days?
 If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
 shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.


___


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Re: 10 FM Tips free webinar -- Tuesday, Oct 13 (10am PDT)

2009-10-13 Thread Shlomo Perets 
Sorry, I noticed your message only now (as it was sent to the list).

10am PDT = 6pm UK London

Seats are still available, register at 
https://student.gototraining.com/register/5203029145993480857


Shlomo Perets, www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/TCS training  consulting




-- Original message --
From: Milton, Cynthia cynthia.mil...@serco.com
Date: Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Subject: 10 FM Tips free webinar -- Tuesday, Oct 13 (10am PDT)
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com


Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED

Any chance of making this available to those of us on GMT (i.e., not
awfully awake at 4am)?


Cynthia Milton - 0773 889 5991

Technical Documentation


Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED



This e-mail and any attachments may contain sensitive and/or
privileged material; It is for the intended addressee(s) only.  If you are
not a named addressee, you must not use, retain or disclose such
information.

Serco cannot guarantee that the email or any attachments are free from
viruses.

The views expressed in this email are those of the originator and do not
necessarily represent the views of Serco.

Nothing in this email shall bind Serco in any contract or obligation.

Please note that all email messages sent to Serco are subject to
monitoring/interception for lawful business purposes.

Serco Group PLC.  Registered in England and Wales.  No:  2048608

Registered Office:  Serco House, 16 Bartley Wood Business Park, Bartley
Way, Hook, Hampshire, RG27 9UY


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RE: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Linda G. Gallagher 
I've not followed all the details of this thread, but like Art, I use a
combination of conditional text, variables, and text insets when I need to
produce multiple versions of content that have a decent amount of shared
content. 

Sometimes I'll share entire chapters, because they're identical or nearly
so. Conditions handle the nearly identical situations. Sometimes I'll use
insets with conditions. I typically use conditioned variables for product
names, as those usually vary and are the driver of the differences
(different, but similar models of a product). So, it becomes a judgment call
on what combination of devices to use.

But, using these methods is much more efficient and saves maintenance time
if there is a significant amount of common information.

There are a number of issues related to text insets. If you've not used them
before, you may want to search this list. I also have a handout on my web
site from a presentation I did a while back. Check my Resources page for
Single Sourcing on a Shoestring with FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher. I
also now use a FrameScript to fix the xrefs to and from insets in PDFs. It
works great. Rick Quatro, who is on this list, created the script.


~
Linda G. Gallagher
TechCom Plus, LLC
lindag at techcomplus dot com
www.techcomplus.com
303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144
User guides, online help, FrameMaker and
WebWorks ePublisher templates




-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Art Campbell
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 9:23 AM
To: Avraham Makeler
Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging
books with large fraction of identical material

You certainly could go that route.

However, you'll also notice that I didn't exclude using CT at all. I
use both shared content and CT, together, on most document set level
projects. I usually use shared content to manage large chunks of
information, and CT to manage smaller items within either the shared
files or the parent files. It just depends on the content of the
books, and I don't have enough info to make a judgement call.

But there's nothing in the information that you presented that would
make it a bad or a good choice, or lead me to think that one solution
rather than a blend would be a better way to go.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
wrote:
 The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
 suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the Set #2
 which has the books (four) having about only 10% identical content.
 Why, may I ask, did you not recommend Conditional Text?
 avraham


 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Replies cut in below...

 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  Thanks, Art.
  (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

 I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared
 info.
 I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with,
 but

  (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

 Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
 include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
 include?

  (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
  that
  case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
  separate \Graphics folder for each book.

 You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
 there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
 in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
 buried in a book subdirectory.

 I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
 needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
 many times it's used. YMMV.

  (d)
  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
  WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
  books are set up and how fast you are.
  - Well, I have never done it before.
  - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could
  take
  two days?
 If you're going to

Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread quills 
I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's 
appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.

What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a 
couple of days.

For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I 
had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion 
at 5 pages an hour.

Scott

Avraham Makeler wrote:
 Thanks, Art.
 (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
 
 (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?
 
 (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
 case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
 separate \Graphics folder for each book.
 
 (d)
 
 I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.
 
 - Well, I have never done it before.
 - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
 two days?
 
 Thanks!
 
 avraham
 
 
 
 
 
 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.comwrote:
 
 Avraham,

 Question 2:
 I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
 for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
 \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
 with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
 the document set so they're at the top level.

 Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
 are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
 things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
 file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
 information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
 of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
 and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
 possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
 content.

 Question 1:
 There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

 Question 3:
 No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.


 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:
 Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

 The situation:

 I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
 these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

 Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
 ~100 pages)

 Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is
 ~80-100
 pages)

 (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting
 the
 situation.)

 Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so
 that
 each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either
 the
 two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
 controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the
 identical
 part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common
 component
 or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you
 have
 to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on the
 fly the common, identical component.

 Same for set #2.


 Questions:

 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
 each of these two sets of books?
 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two
 sets
 of books?
 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each
 of
 the two sets of books?

 TIA

 - avi
___


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
 For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I
had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
pages an hour.
 and if I had no familiarity with them

The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a Word
export) which blocks are shared. So then I just have to put those marked
blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.

avi



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:39 PM, qui...@airmail.net wrote:

 I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's
 appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.

 What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a
 couple of days.

 For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I had
 no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
 pages an hour.

 Scott


 Avraham Makeler wrote:

 Thanks, Art.
 (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

 (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

 (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
 that
 case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
 separate \Graphics folder for each book.

 (d)

  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a

 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.

 - Well, I have never done it before.
 - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
 two days?

 Thanks!

 avraham





 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com
 wrote:

  Avraham,

 Question 2:
 I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
 for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
 \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
 with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
 the document set so they're at the top level.

 Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
 are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
 things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
 file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
 information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
 of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
 and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
 possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
 content.

 Question 1:
 There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

 Question 3:
 No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.


 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

 The situation:

 I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
 these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

 Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
 ~100 pages)

 Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is

 ~80-100

 pages)

 (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting

 the

 situation.)

 Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so

 that

 each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either

 the

 two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional
 text
 controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the

 identical

 part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common

 component

 or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you

 have

 to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on the
 fly the common, identical component.

 Same for set #2.


 Questions:

 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
 each of these two sets of books?
 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two

 sets

 of books?
 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for
 each

 of

 the two sets of books?

 TIA

 - avi


___


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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
 I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed,
Good point of course. I already insisted that this is something that they
must postpone until **after** the delivery deadline.

 I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour.

Hmmm .. so that's 20 hours per 100 pages. So for the six books I list,
that's ~100 hrs = two weeks work. I hope it can be done a bit faster. They
are not going to like to hear 100 hours. In addition, there is also the
possibility of migrating everything from FM to Word floating around at
this particular client. So there is never much point in making a big
investment in FM book restructuring.



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com wrote:

  For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I
 had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
 pages an hour.
  and if I had no familiarity with them

 The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a Word
 export) which blocks are shared. So then I just have to put those marked
 blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.

 avi



 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:39 PM, qui...@airmail.net wrote:

 I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's
 appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.

 What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a
 couple of days.

 For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I had
 no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
 pages an hour.

 Scott


 Avraham Makeler wrote:

 Thanks, Art.
 (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

 (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

 (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
 that
 case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
 separate \Graphics folder for each book.

 (d)

  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a

 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.

 - Well, I have never done it before.
 - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
 two days?

 Thanks!

 avraham





 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com
 wrote:

  Avraham,

 Question 2:
 I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
 for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
 \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
 with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
 the document set so they're at the top level.

 Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
 are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
 things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
 file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
 information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
 of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
 and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
 possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
 content.

 Question 1:
 There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

 Question 3:
 No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.


 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

 The situation:

 I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From
 amongst
 these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

 Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book
 is
 ~100 pages)

 Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is

 ~80-100

 pages)

 (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just
 presenting

 the

 situation.)

 Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so

 that

 each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above,
 either

 the

 two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional
 text
 controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the

 identical

 part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common

 component

 or book (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you

 have

 to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in on
 the
 fly the common,

RE: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Syed.Hosain 
 In addition, there is also the possibility of migrating everything
from FM to Word floating around at this particular client. So there is
never much point in making a big investment in FM book restructuring.

Argh ... they should re-think this possibility.

While I had been an early FrameMaker user (1988 ... on a Sun 3/50 mono
system), I stopped using it circa 1991 or so (although I beta-tested FM
5 in Windows - pre Adobe days - some years after that).

In this company (joined in 1996), I used to do everything in Word and it
worked pretty well until my documents started exceeding 50 to 60 to 70
pages each. Then, the frustrations of repeat crashes, lost edits, Word's
insane attempts to think for me and apply formats, etc., just got to
me. I switched [back] to FrameMaker for everything larger than 50 pages
some years back - version 6.0 as I recall - and have been a much happier
person since. :)

Now, I still churn out the occasional short document spec in Word -
particular if it starts out that way from the technical person who gave
me the input. But anything that I *know* is going to be long and/or need
proper, consistent formatting, etc., gets done in FrameMaker. Some of
the other folks here also use Word and have problems. Our Marketing
department tech writer also switched to FrameMaker some time back.

The assumption that switching these documents to Word will somehow make
the tasks easier, is seriously flawed logic.

Z
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RE: [TCS Users] Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9

2009-10-13 Thread David Spreadbury 
As a first step I would not include the end of paragraph marker. It may be
adding something to the actual URL that is misdirecting the link.

 

David Spreadbury

Sr. Technical Writer

 

From: tcs-us...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tcs-us...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Joseph Lorenzini
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:57 AM
To: tcs-us...@googlegroups.com; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: [TCS Users] Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9

 

Hi all,

I am having a heck of a time getting hyperlinks created in FrameMaker to
bring up the correct web page.

1. I place the string that represents the hyperlink in a table. The table
causes some line breaks in the string. 
2. I carefully highlight the string making sure i select the entire
paragraph marker. Then, I apply a character format to the string, which
indicates that its a hyperlink.
3. While the string is still highlight, I select Special  Hypertext.
4. In the Hypertext box, I select go to url. In the field, I enter message
URL [URL].

However, when I generate a PDF of the FrameMaker file, either the PDF fails
to render a web page or it goes to the wrong web page. For example, if I
wanted to go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;,
the PDF only goes to http://www.microsoft.com/;, even though in the
hypertext box I have the URL specified as
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;.

Am I doing something wrong?

Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini

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To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
Hi all,
I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
same book-- actually in the same document/file.

How would I do this.

In Word this would be a two step operation:

1. Create a bookmark extending at or over the range of the text.
2. Create a hyperlink by opening the Insert Hyperlink dlg box , locating the
bookmark and then creating the hypertext.

How do I do this in FM.

I can see that in FM there are things called markers (like bookmarks?).

And I can make cross-references to markers by setting the 'Source Type' to
'Cross-reference Markers', but then I am not sure which building block to
put in the Reference Format that I must make. I have found something
predefined called 'MarkerTextOnly' but when I use that it just deletes the
text to which I wanted to add a hyperlink.

Help would be appreciated ...

TIA

- avi
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RE: To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Sharon Burton 
Look up Cross references in the Frame help. That will get you going.


sharon

Sharon Burton
MadCap Software Product Consultant
Managing your content, one topic at a time
www.anthrobytes.com
951-369-8590
IM: sharonvbur...@yahoo.com
Twitter: sharonburton


-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Avraham Makeler
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:09 AM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

Hi all,
I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
same book-- actually in the same document/file.

How would I do this.

In Word this would be a two step operation:

1. Create a bookmark extending at or over the range of the text.
2. Create a hyperlink by opening the Insert Hyperlink dlg box , locating the
bookmark and then creating the hypertext.

How do I do this in FM.

I can see that in FM there are things called markers (like bookmarks?).

And I can make cross-references to markers by setting the 'Source Type' to
'Cross-reference Markers', but then I am not sure which building block to
put in the Reference Format that I must make. I have found something
predefined called 'MarkerTextOnly' but when I use that it just deletes the
text to which I wanted to add a hyperlink.

Help would be appreciated ...

TIA

- avi
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Re: To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Stuart Rogers 
Avraham Makeler wrote:
 Hi all,
 I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
 same book-- actually in the same document/file.
 
 How would I do this.
...
 Help would be appreciated ...

Help is available:  In FM, press F1 and search for hypertext and/or 
cross-references.

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand 
your words.

-- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
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Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread quills 
It better to estimate the worst case, rather than best case scenario. 
You could find that your conversion/merge goes much faster, in which 
case you are a hero. If you estimate too little and miss your delivery 
date, you are a villain.

If they go to Word, then there won't be any sharing of content. You will 
need to have two separate documents. Word doesn't play nicely with a 
complex or complicated format structure. And it isn't suited to 
conditional text, or referenced text.

Scott

Avraham Makeler wrote:
  I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed,
 
 Good point of course. I already insisted that this is something that 
 they must postpone until */after*/ the delivery deadline.
 
  I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour.
 
 Hmmm .. so that's 20 hours per 100 pages. So for the six books I list, 
 that's ~100 hrs = two weeks work. I hope it can be done a bit faster. 
 They are not going to like to hear 100 hours. In addition, there is also 
 the possibility of migrating everything from FM to Word floating 
 around at this particular client. So there is never much point in making 
 a big investment in FM book restructuring.
 
 
 
 On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Avraham Makeler amake...@gmail.com 
 mailto:amake...@gmail.com wrote:
 
   For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and
 if I had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for
 completion at 5 pages an hour.
 
   and if I had no familiarity with them
 
 The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a
 Word export) which blocks are shared. So then I just have to put
 those marked blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.
 
 avi
 

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Looking for success stories using TechCommSuite

2009-10-13 Thread Scott Abel 
If you've got a success story using the Adobe Technical Communication  
Suite, I'd like to chat briefly with you. Let me know. I'm writing a  
series of cases studies and would love to hear how you are using these  
tools.

Let me know.

Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
+1 (760) 550-9321scotta...@mac.com
blog: http://www.thecontentwrangler.com
community: http://thecontentwrangler.ning.com
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scottabel
friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/thecontentwrangler
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Intelligent Content 2010
The Magic Behind Intelligent Content
Feb. 25-26, 2010 * Palm Springs, CA
http://www.intelligentcontent2010.com






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Changing the Default PDF Author

2009-10-13 Thread Shlomo Perets 
Joseph,

You wrote:

 > I use FrameMaker 9 to generate PS files and then acrobat distiller to
 > generate PDFs from the PS files. When I generate the PDF, by default the
 > author name is set to my windows login. I know how to manually change it,
 > but I thought there might be a way to modify the default author name so that
 > I don't have to manually change it each time. That way when I generate a PDF
 > I will always know the correct string is being used in the author name
 > field.

You can populate default PDF metadata through File > File Info (at the FM 
book or document level).

The Windows login shows up as the Author in the PDF when the Author field 
in FrameMaker's File Info is empty.

Shlomo Perets, www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/TCS training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
Avraham,

Question 2:
I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
\Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
the document set so they're at the top level.

Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
content.

Question 1:
There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

Question 3:
No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
books are set up and how fast you are.


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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler  wrote:
> Hi all,
> ?RE: Merging books
>
> The situation:
>
> I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
> these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:
>
> Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content ?(each book is
> ~100 pages)
>
> Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content ?(each book is ~80-100
> pages)
>
> (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting the
> situation.)
>
> Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so that
> each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either the
> two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
> controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the identical
> part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common component
> or "book" (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you have
> to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in "on the
> fly" the common, identical component.
>
> Same for set #2.
>
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
> each of these two sets of books?
> 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two sets
> of books?
> 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each of
> the two sets of books?
>
> TIA
>
> - avi
> ___
>
>
> 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
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>
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> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>

Hypertext Links not Working

2009-10-13 Thread Heinlein, Roberta 
Hallelujah! It worked. I was running on FM 8.0p236. After I installed
all of the available updates, my links are working again. Thank you,
Shlomo.  Now I can breathe again.

Roberta Heinlein

SOP Specialist, Internal Audit-Corporate Compliance C-10

770-433-8211 x19827

-

Corporate Compliance is committed to providing great customer service to
our stores.  THD Associates: Please visit "myApron > My Store Overview >
What's New> VOC at the SSC > and select Corporate Compliance" to let us
know how we are doing.

-Original Message-
From: Shlomo Perets [mailto:shlo...@microtype.com] 
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 5:59 AM
To: Heinlein, Roberta
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Hypertext Links not Working

Roberta,

You wrote:

>I'm having a frustrating problem with hypertext links. We create
>hypertext links in FM 7.2 to PDF files. Then we convert the FM document
>to PDF. The links work. We place the files in Documentum where they are
>moved to our intranet. The links work perfectly.
>
>We just upgraded to FM 8.0. The links still work in the PDF file until
>it is moved to our intranet-then the links no longer work. We don't
want
>to have to revert back to FM 7.2 but we can't figure out how to correct
>this problem. I have tried turning on Create Named Destinations for All
>Paragraphs but it still doesn't work.
>
>I'm new to the list, but I have searched the archives and haven't found
>any discussion related to this problem.


Make sure you use FM8.0p273 or later. Cross-file links in PDFs authored
in 
earlier releases of FrameMaker 8.0 use Unicode-encoded file paths and
file 
names, which are not be supported in all environments.

Select Help > About FrameMaker to see the FM version.

To update your FM8 version, select Help > Updates.


Shlomo Perets

MicroType * http://www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat
TimeSavers/Assistants



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FW: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
I'm not sure which p numbers correspond to which patch because I'm not
on a 9 system at the moment, but there are three patches out, the
latest released last week. If the patch you're talking about is #1 or
#2, it may be better to go on ahead and then install #3 to clean
things up.

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, Oct 12, 2009 at 9:39 PM, LW White  wrote:
>
> Believe I discovered the cause of the problem. It seems to be patch p237, 
> which also appears to cause some other reported problems like the Paragraph 
> Designer sticking, etc. Ill-conceived patch. I uninstalled it and now 
> everything seems to be fine.
>
> Leigh White
> lwwhite5 at hotmail.com
>
> From: lwwhite5 at hotmail.com
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: quotes rendered as question mark in FM9
> Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:40:40 -0400
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I'm using FM9 and suddenly find that my single and double quotes key types a 
> question mark. This issue is limited to FM9. Doesn't occur in FM8 or any 
> other application, so I suspect I have inadvertently changed a keyboard 
> mapping somewhere in FM9, but I can't find where. Any help appreciated. 
> Thanks!
>
> Leigh White
> lwwhite5 at hotmail.com
>
> Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.
> _
> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/
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Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
Thanks, Art.
(a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

(b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?

(c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
separate \Graphics folder for each book.

(d)

>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
books are set up and how fast you are.

- Well, I have never done it before.
- So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
two days?

Thanks!

avraham





On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell wrote:

> Avraham,
>
> Question 2:
> I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
> for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
> \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
> with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
> the document set so they're at the top level.
>
> Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
> are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
> things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
> file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
> information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
> of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
> and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
> possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
> content.
>
> Question 1:
> There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.
>
> Question 3:
> No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
> books are set up and how fast you are.
>
>
> 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler 
> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >  RE: Merging books
> >
> > The situation:
> >
> > I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
> > these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:
> >
> > Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
> > ~100 pages)
> >
> > Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is
> ~80-100
> > pages)
> >
> > (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting
> the
> > situation.)
> >
> > Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so
> that
> > each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either
> the
> > two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
> > controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the
> identical
> > part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common
> component
> > or "book" (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you
> have
> > to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in "on the
> > fly" the common, identical component.
> >
> > Same for set #2.
> >
> >
> > Questions:
> >
> > 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
> > each of these two sets of books?
> > 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two
> sets
> > of books?
> > 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each
> of
> > the two sets of books?
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > - avi
> > ___
> >
> >
> > 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
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> >
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> > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
> >
>

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
Replies cut in below...

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler  wrote:
> Thanks, Art.
> (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?

I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared info.
I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with, but

> (b) re:?\Shared -?You make?\Shared contain FM files only?

Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
include?

> (c) re:?\Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
> case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
> separate?\Graphics folder for each book.

You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
buried in a book subdirectory.

I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
many times it's used. YMMV.

> (d)
>>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
> books are set up and how fast you are.
> - Well, I have never done it before.
> - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
> two days?
If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the Set #2
which has the books (four) having about only 10% identical content.
Why, may I ask, did you not recommend Conditional Text?

avraham



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell wrote:

> Replies cut in below...
>
> 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler 
> wrote:
> > Thanks, Art.
> > (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
>
> I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared info.
> I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with, but
>
> > (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?
>
> Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
> include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
> include?
>
> > (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
> that
> > case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
> > separate \Graphics folder for each book.
>
> You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
> there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
> in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
> buried in a book subdirectory.
>
> I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
> needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
> many times it's used. YMMV.
>
> > (d)
> >>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
> > WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
> > books are set up and how fast you are.
> > - Well, I have never done it before.
> > - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
> > two days?
> If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
> shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.
>

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
You certainly could go that route.

However, you'll also notice that I didn't exclude using CT at all. I
use both shared content and CT, together, on most document set level
projects. I usually use shared content to manage large chunks of
information, and CT to manage smaller items within either the shared
files or the parent files. It just depends on the content of the
books, and I don't have enough info to make a judgement call.

But there's nothing in the information that you presented that would
make it a bad or a good choice, or lead me to think that one solution
rather than a blend would be a better way to go.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Avraham Makeler  wrote:
> The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
> suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the?Set #2
> which has the books (four) having?about only 10% identical content.
> Why, may I ask,?did?you?not recommend?Conditional Text?
> avraham
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell 
> wrote:
>>
>> Replies cut in below...
>>
>> 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler 
>> wrote:
>> > Thanks, Art.
>> > (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
>>
>> I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared
>> info.
>> I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with,
>> but
>>
>> > (b) re:?\Shared -?You make?\Shared contain FM files only?
>>
>> Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
>> include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
>> include?
>>
>> > (c) re:?\Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
>> > that
>> > case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
>> > separate?\Graphics folder for each book.
>>
>> You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
>> there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
>> in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
>> buried in a book subdirectory.
>>
>> I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
>> needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
>> many times it's used. YMMV.
>>
>> > (d)
>> >>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
>> > WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>> > books are set up and how fast you are.
>> > - Well, I have never done it before.
>> > - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could
>> > take
>> > two days?
>> If you're going to take it all the way to building new books with the
>> shared content, that are ready to go out the door, yes, easily.
>
>

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Linda G. Gallagher 
I've not followed all the details of this thread, but like Art, I use a
combination of conditional text, variables, and text insets when I need to
produce multiple versions of content that have a decent amount of shared
content. 

Sometimes I'll share entire chapters, because they're identical or nearly
so. Conditions handle the "nearly identical" situations. Sometimes I'll use
insets with conditions. I typically use conditioned variables for product
names, as those usually vary and are the driver of the differences
(different, but similar models of a product). So, it becomes a judgment call
on what combination of devices to use.

But, using these methods is much more efficient and saves maintenance time
if there is a significant amount of common information.

There are a number of issues related to text insets. If you've not used them
before, you may want to search this list. I also have a handout on my web
site from a presentation I did a while back. Check my Resources page for
Single Sourcing on a Shoestring with FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher. I
also now use a FrameScript to fix the xrefs to and from insets in PDFs. It
works great. Rick Quatro, who is on this list, created the script.


~
Linda G. Gallagher
TechCom Plus, LLC
lindag at techcomplus dot com
www.techcomplus.com
303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144
User guides, online help, FrameMaker and
WebWorks ePublisher templates




-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Art Campbell
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 9:23 AM
To: Avraham Makeler
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging
books with large fraction of identical material

You certainly could go that route.

However, you'll also notice that I didn't exclude using CT at all. I
use both shared content and CT, together, on most document set level
projects. I usually use shared content to manage large chunks of
information, and CT to manage smaller items within either the shared
files or the parent files. It just depends on the content of the
books, and I don't have enough info to make a judgement call.

But there's nothing in the information that you presented that would
make it a bad or a good choice, or lead me to think that one solution
rather than a blend would be a better way to go.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Avraham Makeler 
wrote:
> The penny just dropped ... I noticed that you did not recommend (or even
> suggest) making them into book and using Conditional Text, even the?Set #2
> which has the books (four) having?about only 10% identical content.
> Why, may I ask,?did?you?not recommend?Conditional Text?
> avraham
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:01 PM, Art Campbell 
> wrote:
>>
>> Replies cut in below...
>>
>> 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, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Avraham Makeler 
>> wrote:
>> > Thanks, Art.
>> > (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
>>
>> I think so; the only real difference seems to be the amount of shared
>> info.
>> I might change my mind if I had the files to look at and play with,
>> but
>>
>> > (b) re:?\Shared -?You make?\Shared contain FM files only?
>>
>> Yes, that's the way I do it. Very rarely there are text files to
>> include, but what other files (not including graphics) would you
>> include?
>>
>> > (c) re:?\Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
>> > that
>> > case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
>> > separate?\Graphics folder for each book.
>>
>> You could certainly do it that way. I'm not sure that I would because
>> there's no way to know how many graphics are reused and how many are
>> in the \Shared files. You don't want a graphic in a \Shared file to be
>> buried in a book subdirectory.
>>
>> I've found it easier to lump all graphics together so that when one
>> needs to be changed, it ripples automatically no matter where or how
>> many times it's used. YMMV.
>>
>> > (d)
>> >>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
>> > WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>> > books are set up and how fast you are.
>> > - Well, I have never done it before.
>> > - So a reasonable estimate

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread qui...@airmail.net 
I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's 
appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.

What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a 
couple of days.

For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I 
had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion 
at 5 pages an hour.

Scott

Avraham Makeler wrote:
> Thanks, Art.
> (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
> 
> (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?
> 
> (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in that
> case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
> separate \Graphics folder for each book.
> 
> (d)
> 
>>> I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
> books are set up and how fast you are.
> 
> - Well, I have never done it before.
> - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
> two days?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> avraham
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell  gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> Avraham,
>>
>> Question 2:
>> I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
>> for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
>> \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
>> with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
>> the document set so they're at the top level.
>>
>> Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
>> are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
>> things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
>> file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
>> information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
>> of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
>> and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
>> possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
>> content.
>>
>> Question 1:
>> There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.
>>
>> Question 3:
>> No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
>> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>> books are set up and how fast you are.
>>
>>
>> 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler 
>> wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>  RE: Merging books
>>>
>>> The situation:
>>>
>>> I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
>>> these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:
>>>
>>> Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
>>> ~100 pages)
>>>
>>> Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is
>> ~80-100
>>> pages)
>>>
>>> (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting
>> the
>>> situation.)
>>>
>>> Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so
>> that
>>> each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either
>> the
>>> two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional text
>>> controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the
>> identical
>>> part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common
>> component
>>> or "book" (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you
>> have
>>> to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in "on the
>>> fly" the common, identical component.
>>>
>>> Same for set #2.
>>>
>>>
>>> Questions:
>>>
>>> 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
>>> each of these two sets of books?
>>> 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two
>> sets
>>> of books?
>>> 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for each
>> of
>>> the two sets of books?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> - avi

"10 FM Tips" free webinar -- Tuesday, Oct 13 (10am PDT)

2009-10-13 Thread Shlomo Perets 
Sorry, I noticed your message only now (as it was sent to the list).

10am PDT = 6pm UK London

Seats are still available, register at 
https://student.gototraining.com/register/5203029145993480857


Shlomo Perets, www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/TCS training & consulting




>-- Original message --
>From: Milton, Cynthia 
>Date: Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 10:19 AM
>Subject: "10 FM Tips" free webinar -- Tuesday, Oct 13 (10am PDT)
>To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
>
>
>Classification: NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
>
>Any chance of making this available to those of us on GMT (i.e., not
>awfully awake at 4am)?
>
>
>Cynthia Milton - 0773 889 5991
>
>Technical Documentation
>
>
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>
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Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
>> For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I
had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
pages an hour.
>> and if I had no familiarity with them

The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a Word
export) which blocks are shared. So then I "just" have to put those marked
blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.

avi



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:39 PM,  wrote:

> I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's
> appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.
>
> What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a
> couple of days.
>
> For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I had
> no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
> pages an hour.
>
> Scott
>
>
> Avraham Makeler wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Art.
>> (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
>>
>> (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?
>>
>> (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
>> that
>> case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
>> separate \Graphics folder for each book.
>>
>> (d)
>>
>>  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a

>>> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>> books are set up and how fast you are.
>>
>> - Well, I have never done it before.
>> - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
>> two days?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> avraham
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell > >wrote:
>>
>>  Avraham,
>>>
>>> Question 2:
>>> I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
>>> for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
>>> \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
>>> with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
>>> the document set so they're at the top level.
>>>
>>> Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
>>> are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
>>> things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
>>> file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
>>> information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
>>> of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
>>> and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
>>> possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
>>> content.
>>>
>>> Question 1:
>>> There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.
>>>
>>> Question 3:
>>> No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
>>> WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>>> books are set up and how fast you are.
>>>
>>>
>>> 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler 
>>> wrote:
>>>
 Hi all,
  RE: Merging books

 The situation:

 I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From amongst
 these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:

 Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book is
 ~100 pages)

 Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is

>>> ~80-100
>>>
 pages)

 (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just presenting

>>> the
>>>
 situation.)

 Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so

>>> that
>>>
 each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above, either

>>> the
>>>
 two books should be combined and the text partitioned by conditional
 text
 controls, or maybe the two books should be kept separate but the

>>> identical
>>>
 part should be maintained in some sort of outside, third, common

>>> component
>>>
 or "book" (or whatever such a thing would be called), and then when you

>>> have
>>>
 to publish one of the two books, you would be able to include in "on the
 fly" the common, identical component.

 Same for set #2.


 Questions:

 1. What mechanisms does FM provide for constructing merged solutions for
 each of these two sets of books?
 2. Which mechanism and methodology are recommended for each of the two

>>> sets
>>>
 of books?
 3. How long should I estimate it would take me to perform merges for
 each

>>> of
>>>
 the two sets

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
>> I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed,
Good point of course. I already insisted that this is something that they
must postpone until **after** the delivery deadline.

>> I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour.

Hmmm .. so that's 20 hours per 100 pages. So for the six books I list,
that's ~100 hrs = two weeks work. I hope it can be done a bit faster. They
are not going to like to hear 100 hours. In addition, there is also the
"possibility of migrating everything from FM to Word" floating around at
this particular client. So there is never much point in making a big
investment in FM book restructuring.



On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Avraham Makeler  wrote:

> >> For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I
> had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
> pages an hour.
> >> and if I had no familiarity with them
>
> The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a Word
> export) which blocks are shared. So then I "just" have to put those marked
> blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.
>
> avi
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:39 PM,  wrote:
>
>> I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed, it's
>> appropriate to make certain you estimate ENOUGH time to do the job.
>>
>> What you are presenting is something that I would not contemplate in a
>> couple of days.
>>
>> For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and if I had
>> no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for completion at 5
>> pages an hour.
>>
>> Scott
>>
>>
>> Avraham Makeler wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks, Art.
>>> (a) So you would use the same method for both Set #1 and Set #2?
>>>
>>> (b) re: \Shared - You make \Shared contain FM files only?
>>>
>>> (c) re: \Graphics - Often many graphics are not shared. So I suppose in
>>> that
>>> case you would have a 'Shared Graphics' folder, but also a
>>> separate \Graphics folder for each book.
>>>
>>> (d)
>>>
>>>  I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
>
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
>>> books are set up and how fast you are.
>>>
>>> - Well, I have never done it before.
>>> - So a reasonable estimate for a set with two books is that it could take
>>> two days?
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> avraham
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 2:27 PM, Art Campbell >> >wrote:
>>>
>>>  Avraham,

 Question 2:
 I handle this pretty routinely, and I do it by creating a directory
 for each document set. Under that I have a subdirectory for \Graphics,
 \Shared, and \Book -- obviously there are several \Book directories
 with different names, but the graphics and shared content are used by
 the document set so they're at the top level.

 Each FM file in \Shared is used in two or more component files. Some
 are entire stand-alone files -- Copyright info, or the Glossary, and
 things like that. But most are topics that are imported into a parent
 file by reference. One place you may trip up is including heading
 information in the files, because some books will reuse the same core
 of information but use different head structures -- it may be under
 and H1 in some books, and an H2 or something else in another. So when
 possible, I try just to include text, tables and non-hierarchal
 content.

 Question 1:
 There's no automatic way to do this. Copy and paste, and analyze.

 Question 3:
 No idea. I'd guesstimate a day per book for conversion, but that's a
 WAG. Could easily be half that or twice that, depending on how the
 books are set up and how fast you are.


 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, Oct 12, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Avraham Makeler 
 wrote:

> Hi all,
>  RE: Merging books
>
> The situation:
>
> I have a client who has a large number of FM (7.2/8) books. From
> amongst
> these books, there are two particular sets of books, as follows:
>
> Set #1. Two books having about 50 - 60% identical content  (each book
> is
> ~100 pages)
>
> Set #2. Four books having about 10% identical content  (each book is
>
 ~80-100

> pages)
>
> (No particular connection between the two sets of books; just
> presenting
>
 the

> situation.)
>
> Now, the client would like to merge each of these two sets of books so
>
 that

> each set combines the identical material. E.g., for set #1 above,
> either
>
 the

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread syed.hos...@aeris.net 
> In addition, there is also the "possibility of migrating everything
from FM to Word" floating around at this particular client. So there is
never much point in making a big investment in FM book restructuring.

Argh ... they should re-think this "possibility".

While I had been an early FrameMaker user (1988 ... on a Sun 3/50 mono
system), I stopped using it circa 1991 or so (although I beta-tested FM
5 in Windows - pre Adobe days - some years after that).

In this company (joined in 1996), I used to do everything in Word and it
worked pretty well until my documents started exceeding 50 to 60 to 70
pages each. Then, the frustrations of repeat crashes, lost edits, Word's
insane attempts to "think" for me and apply formats, etc., just got to
me. I switched [back] to FrameMaker for everything larger than 50 pages
some years back - version 6.0 as I recall - and have been a much happier
person since. :)

Now, I still churn out the occasional short document spec in Word -
particular if it starts out that way from the technical person who gave
me the input. But anything that I *know* is going to be long and/or need
proper, consistent formatting, etc., gets done in FrameMaker. Some of
the other folks here also use Word and have problems. Our Marketing
department tech writer also switched to FrameMaker some time back.

The assumption that switching these documents to Word will somehow make
the tasks easier, is seriously flawed logic.

Z

[TCS Users] Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9

2009-10-13 Thread David Spreadbury 
As a first step I would not include the end of paragraph marker. It may be
adding something to the actual URL that is misdirecting the link.



David Spreadbury

Sr. Technical Writer



From: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com [mailto:tcs-us...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Joseph Lorenzini
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:57 AM
To: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: [TCS Users] Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9



Hi all,

I am having a heck of a time getting hyperlinks created in FrameMaker to
bring up the correct web page.

1. I place the string that represents the hyperlink in a table. The table
causes some line breaks in the string. 
2. I carefully highlight the string making sure i select the entire
paragraph marker. Then, I apply a character format to the string, which
indicates that its a hyperlink.
3. While the string is still highlight, I select Special > Hypertext.
4. In the Hypertext box, I select go to url. In the field, I enter "message
URL [URL]".

However, when I generate a PDF of the FrameMaker file, either the PDF fails
to render a web page or it goes to the wrong web page. For example, if I
wanted to go to "http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;,
the PDF only goes to "http://www.microsoft.com/;, even though in the
hypertext box I have the URL specified as
"http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;.

Am I doing something wrong?

Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini

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You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Avraham Makeler 
Hi all,
I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
same book-- actually in the same document/file.

How would I do this.

In Word this would be a two step operation:

1. Create a bookmark extending at or over the range of the text.
2. Create a hyperlink by opening the Insert Hyperlink dlg box , locating the
bookmark and then creating the hypertext.

How do I do this in FM.

I can see that in FM there are things called markers (like bookmarks?).

And I can make cross-references to markers by setting the 'Source Type' to
'Cross-reference Markers', but then I am not sure which building block to
put in the Reference Format that I must make. I have found something
predefined called 'MarkerTextOnly' but when I use that it just deletes the
text to which I wanted to add a hyperlink.

Help would be appreciated ...

TIA

- avi

To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Sharon Burton 
Look up Cross references in the Frame help. That will get you going.


sharon

Sharon Burton
MadCap Software Product Consultant
Managing your content, one topic at a time
www.anthrobytes.com
951-369-8590
IM: sharonvburton at yahoo.com
Twitter: sharonburton


-Original Message-
From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Avraham Makeler
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:09 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

Hi all,
I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
same book-- actually in the same document/file.

How would I do this.

In Word this would be a two step operation:

1. Create a bookmark extending at or over the range of the text.
2. Create a hyperlink by opening the Insert Hyperlink dlg box , locating the
bookmark and then creating the hypertext.

How do I do this in FM.

I can see that in FM there are things called markers (like bookmarks?).

And I can make cross-references to markers by setting the 'Source Type' to
'Cross-reference Markers', but then I am not sure which building block to
put in the Reference Format that I must make. I have found something
predefined called 'MarkerTextOnly' but when I use that it just deletes the
text to which I wanted to add a hyperlink.

Help would be appreciated ...

TIA

- avi
___


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[TCS Users] Re: Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
In addition to David's tip, I'd try creating the hypertext hotspot and
link in a regular text paragraph so that the table doesn't force any
line breaks.

Test that, and if it works, copy it into the table.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 1:03 PM, David Spreadbury  wrote:
> As a first step I would not include the end of paragraph marker. It may be
> adding something to the actual URL that is misdirecting the link.
>
>
>
> David Spreadbury
>
> Sr. Technical Writer
>
>
>
> From: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com [mailto:TCS-Users at googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Joseph Lorenzini
> Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 11:57 AM
> To: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: [TCS Users] Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am having a heck of a time getting hyperlinks created in FrameMaker to
> bring up the correct web page.
>
> 1. I place the string that represents the hyperlink in a table. The table
> causes some line breaks in the string.
> 2. I carefully highlight the string making sure i select the entire
> paragraph marker. Then, I apply a character format to the string, which
> indicates that its a hyperlink.
> 3. While the string is still highlight, I select Special > Hypertext.
> 4. In the Hypertext box, I select go to url. In the field, I enter "message
> URL [URL]".
>
> However, when I generate a PDF of the FrameMaker file, either the PDF fails
> to render a web page or it goes to the wrong web page. For example, if I
> wanted to go to "http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;,
> the PDF only goes to "http://www.microsoft.com/;, even though in the
> hypertext box I have the URL specified as
> "http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx;.
>
> Am I doing something wrong?
>
> Sincerely,
> Joseph Lorenzini
>
>
> --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Technical Communications Suite Users" group.
> To post to this group, send email to TCS-Users at googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> TCS-Users+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/TCS-Users?hl=en
> -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
>
>

To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Combs, Richard 
Avraham Makeler

> I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in
the
> same book-- actually in the same document/file.
> 
> How would I do this.

Why do you want to use hypertext instead of cross-references?


> I can see that in FM there are things called markers (like
bookmarks?).
> 
> And I can make cross-references to markers by setting the 'Source
Type' to
> 'Cross-reference Markers', but then I am not sure which building block
to
> put in the Reference Format that I must make. I have found something
> predefined called 'MarkerTextOnly' but when I use that it just deletes
the
> text to which I wanted to add a hyperlink.

OK, I guess you don't particularly want to use hypertext -- you just
need to understand cross-references. A marker is something like a
bookmark -- it's a flag that marks a spot. For x-ref and hypertext
destinations, the marker text merely serves as a unique identifier of
that spot. For other kinds of markers, it may contain additional
information (e.g., index entries). 

But to create x-refs, you generally don't need to create a destination
marker (the exception is when you need to cross-reference a spot inside
a text inset). When you want to insert a cross-reference, in the
Cross-Reference dialog, you set Document to the destination document,
Source Type to Paragraphs, Paragraph Tags to the pgf format of the
destination (usually a heading, figure/table title, etc.), and find the
text of the destination pgf in the Paragraphs list. When you insert
x-refs to pgfs, FM creates and manages the destination markers for you. 

As for "which building block to put in the Reference Format," you're
fundamentally misunderstanding what a Cross-Reference format is and how
to use them. Like a paragraph, character, or table format, it's
something you create once and then use whenever needed, not something
you create ad hoc for each cross-reference.

In the Edit Cross-Reference dialog, the Building Blocks list contains
only two things. The items with a dollar sign after the left angle
bracket are FM's placeholders for specific information -- like
<$paratext>, which retrieves the text of the destination paragraph for
the x-ref. The items with no dollar sign are character formats defined
in your document, like , which you can insert to format all or
part of the x-ref. 

Look at the definition of an existing format, like Page. It's probably
"page\ <$pagenum>" or something similar. Whenever you insert an x-ref
using the Page format, you'll get the word "page" followed by a
non-breaking space ("\ " in the format definition), followed by the page
number of the destination paragraph. Using the $ building blocks and
whatever surrounding text you need, you can define x-ref formats that
insert heading text, figure or chapter numbers, etc. 

Spend some time reading about cross-references in the help or an FM
book, looking at examples in the sample or other docs, and experimenting
a bit, and you'll get it figured out. FM's x-refs are both easier and
much more reliable than Word's, once you understand how they work. 

HTH!
Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
--
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
--

To make a hyperlink to a different area of text in the same book

2009-10-13 Thread Stuart Rogers 
Avraham Makeler wrote:
> Hi all,
> I need to make a hyperlink (hypertext) to a different area of text in the
> same book-- actually in the same document/file.
> 
> How would I do this.
...>
> Help would be appreciated ...

Help is available:  In FM, press F1 and search for hypertext and/or 
cross-references.

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

"He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand 
your words."

-- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

[TCS Users] Re: Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9

2009-10-13 Thread David Spreadbury 
It sounds like you have extra Hypertext markers in your document. With the
document open in Frame, open the Marker dialog and then search for all
markers of type Hypertext. Watch the cursor placement carefully. I would be
will to bet, if I was a betting type, that there are multiple markers with
the same content placed adjacent to each other.



If, during the search, the cursor doesn't appear to move AND the content in
the marker dialog remains the same, delete the second, or successive,
marker(s).



David Spreadbury

Sr. Technical Writer



From: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com [mailto:tcs-us...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Joseph Lorenzini
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 1:17 PM
To: TCS-Users at googlegroups.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: [TCS Users] Re: Hyperlinks in FrameMaker 9



Hi All,

So I found a workaround but I am not thrilled with it.  I looked at the
information on this thread: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/315824. If I set
the document to Format > Document > PDF Setup > Links > Create Named
Destinations, then my linking problem is resolved. However, this does make
my PDF bigger, which I think is silly. To shrink the PDF back to its
original size, I have  to open the pdf in acrobat and run the PDF optimizer
(under Advanced) with cleanup/ remove unreferenced named destinations
selected.

If anyone knows how to fix this hypertext issue without having to use the
Created Named Destinations option for links and thus increase the size of
the PDF, please let me know.

Sincerely,
Joseph Lorenzini

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread qui...@airmail.net 
It better to estimate the worst case, rather than best case scenario. 
You could find that your conversion/merge goes much faster, in which 
case you are a hero. If you estimate too little and miss your delivery 
date, you are a villain.

If they go to Word, then there won't be any sharing of content. You will 
need to have two separate documents. Word doesn't play nicely with a 
complex or complicated format structure. And it isn't suited to 
conditional text, or referenced text.

Scott

Avraham Makeler wrote:
>> > I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed,
> 
> Good point of course. I already insisted that this is something that 
> they must postpone until */after*/ the delivery deadline.
> 
>> > I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour.
> 
> Hmmm .. so that's 20 hours per 100 pages. So for the six books I list, 
> that's ~100 hrs = two weeks work. I hope it can be done a bit faster. 
> They are not going to like to hear 100 hours. In addition, there is also 
> the "possibility of migrating everything from FM to Word" floating 
> around at this particular client. So there is never much point in making 
> a big investment in FM book restructuring.
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Avraham Makeler  > wrote:
> 
> > > For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and
> if I had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for
> completion at 5 pages an hour.
> 
> > > and if I had no familiarity with them
> 
> The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a
> Word export) which blocks are shared. So then I "just" have to put
> those marked blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.
> 
> avi
> 
>

Merging books: Need FM mechanisms and methodologies for merging books with large fraction of identical material

2009-10-13 Thread Art Campbell 
Avraham,

In addition to Scott's good advice

You need to factor in some of your own learning curve time. I seem to
remember from earlier posts that you're a relative novice with Frame
(forgive me if I'm mis-remembering), but the first time you do any of
this stuff, you're likely to take twice as long as the twentieth time
you do it.

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, Oct 13, 2009 at 5:03 PM,   wrote:
> It better to estimate the worst case, rather than best case scenario.
> You could find that your conversion/merge goes much faster, in which
> case you are a hero. If you estimate too little and miss your delivery
> date, you are a villain.
>
> If they go to Word, then there won't be any sharing of content. You will
> need to have two separate documents. Word doesn't play nicely with a
> complex or complicated format structure. And it isn't suited to
> conditional text, or referenced text.
>
> Scott
>
> Avraham Makeler wrote:
>>> > I will jump in and mention that to avoid a deadline being missed,
>>
>> Good point of course. I already insisted that this is something that
>> they must postpone until */after*/ the delivery deadline.
>>
>>> > I would estimate the time for completion at 5 pages an hour.
>>
>> Hmmm .. so that's 20 hours per 100 pages. So for the six books I list,
>> that's ~100 hrs = two weeks work. I hope it can be done a bit faster.
>> They are not going to like to hear 100 hours. In addition, there is also
>> the "possibility of migrating everything from FM to Word" floating
>> around at this particular client. So there is never much point in making
>> a big investment in FM book restructuring.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Avraham Makeler > > wrote:
>>
>> ? ? > > For a two books to be combined, both approximately 100 pages, and
>> ? ? if I had no familiarity with them, I would estimate the time for
>> ? ? completion at 5 pages an hour.
>>
>> ? ? > > and if I had no familiarity with them
>>
>> ? ? The SME said he will be doing the job of marking (in a PDF or in a
>> ? ? Word export) which blocks are shared. So then I "just" have to put
>> ? ? those marked blocks in a shared area or add conditional text constructs.
>>
>> ? ? avi
>>
>>
> ___
>
>
> 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
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>
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> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>

Looking for success stories using TechCommSuite

2009-10-13 Thread Scott Abel 
If you've got a success story using the Adobe Technical Communication  
Suite, I'd like to chat briefly with you. Let me know. I'm writing a  
series of cases studies and would love to hear how you are using these  
tools.

Let me know.

Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
+1 (760) 550-9321scottabel at mac.com
blog: http://www.thecontentwrangler.com
community: http://thecontentwrangler.ning.com
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scottabel
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