Re: FrameMaker to HTML
Mif2Go might be a good solution. I suggest using a Mif2Go expert such as Steve Wiseman to set it up. After that you just click a button and it creates help that requires very little or no clean-up afterwards. You can contact him at: swise...@context.co.il or +972-2-999-7816. Shmuel Wolfson Technical Writer 052-763-7133 On 15-Jul-14 9:07 PM, Joe Malin wrote: Hi! I work for a small startup that delivers documentation to software developers. Im investigating how to continue our strategy of publishing to HTML so that we can merge our reference documentation (such as Javadoc) with our developer guides, samples, and so forth. Our legacy is unstructured FrameMaker 12, which Id prefer to continue for the moment. We use FrameMakers multi-publishing feature to output to Responsive HTML5, using the RoboHelp features that come with FM. However, this approach isnt customizable, as far as I can tell. Im sure to get pressure to make our docs conform to the rest of the companys design philosophy. How should I proceed? Full RoboHelp would probably give us the customization we need without a lot of work, but RoboHelp is very expensive. We could go to structured FM and convert XML to HTML5 using XSLT (I was a software engineer in a past life, so I dont find this troubling), but its a lot of work. Going to a different content/publishing solution would take some splaining, since weve already invested in FM 12. But, if it were cheap enough, we could consider it. I should add that we use Git for CMS. This approach actually works pretty well, since our goal is to track versions and branches rather than save space or do line-by-line reviews. For reviews, were currently using Acrobat XI features based on tagged PDF from FM 12. Thoughts? I would be grateful for any advice! Joe This e-mail and any attached files are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which this mail is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. Any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of this e-mail or the attached files by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail or collect call to (650) 388-4111 and delete this e-mail and attached files from your system. Thank you. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as shmue...@gmail.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/shmuelw1%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: FrameMaker to HTML
To evaluate what's cheap, you need to look at total cost of ownership... In a perfect world, that's true, but the original post began I work for a small startup... My experience in the small startup world is that you need to deal with the attitude that the person the company already pays is cheaper than any tool you have to go out and buy with *additional* money. This is, of course, a false economy. But employees don't control the purse strings so they have to work within the employer's reality. Alison --- Three signs a *former* programmer I know always wanted to post in his office: To Marketing: You can tell me what you want or you can tell me when you want it. You can't tell me both! There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always enough time to do it again. Reality always wins. -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 12:38 PM To: Joe Malin; Framers List Subject: Re: FrameMaker to HTML To evaluate what's cheap, you need to look at total cost of ownership, not just sticker price. Expensive professional authoring tools can be a good investment if they make you more efficient. I found ePublisher Pro a lot more flexible and easy to use than RoboHelp. However, if your goal is merging authored content with javadoc and the like, I'm not sure that FrameMaker can do that. You might want to take a look at HelpStudio and Document!X. If you're considering moving to DITA, you might be better off dumping FrameMaker in favor of Oxygen XML or AuthorIt. ePublisher Pro at least theoretically allows you to mix and match FrameMaker and DITA source, so that might ease the transition. On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 11:07 AM, Joe Malin joe.ma...@magnet.com wrote: Hi! I work for a small startup that delivers documentation to software developers. I’m investigating how to continue our strategy of publishing to HTML so that we can “merge” our reference documentation (such as Javadoc) with our developer guides, samples, and so forth. Our legacy is unstructured FrameMaker 12, which I’d prefer to continue for the moment. We use FrameMaker’s multi-publishing feature to output to Responsive HTML5, using the RoboHelp features that come with FM. However, this approach isn’t customizable, as far as I can tell. I’m sure to get pressure to make our docs conform to the rest of the company’s design philosophy. How should I proceed? Full RoboHelp would probably give us the customization we need without a lot of work, but RoboHelp is very expensive. We could go to structured FM and convert XML to HTML5 using XSLT (I was a software engineer in a past life, so I don’t find this troubling), but it’s a lot of work. Going to a different content/publishing solution would take some ‘splaining, since we’ve already invested in FM 12. But, if it were cheap enough, we could consider it. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as alison.cr...@ultrasonix.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/alison.craig%40ultrasonix.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: FrameMaker to HTML
The tighter your budget, the worse the effects of false economies. People who are used to getting great development tools such as Eclipse and Git for free commonly make the false assumption that there are similar free tools for documentation. It's part of the tech writer's role at a small startup to educate management about this. On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:07 AM, Craig, Alison alison.cr...@ultrasonix.com wrote: To evaluate what's cheap, you need to look at total cost of ownership... In a perfect world, that's true, but the original post began I work for a small startup... My experience in the small startup world is that you need to deal with the attitude that the person the company already pays is cheaper than any tool you have to go out and buy with *additional* money. This is, of course, a false economy. But employees don't control the purse strings so they have to work within the employer's reality. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: FrameMaker to HTML
Rober Lauriston wrote: The tighter your budget, the worse the effects of false economies. Yes, indeed. People who are used to getting great development tools such as Eclipse and Git for free commonly make the false assumption that there are similar free tools for documentation. It's part of the tech writer's role at a small startup to educate management about this. Agreed. However, startups - particularly small ones - rarely (ever?) hire tech writer's early enough to be able to provide that input at a time when it makes the most sense. Most unfortunately! Z ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: FrameMaker to HTML
If the RoboHelp runtime embedded in FrameMaker 12 does not include the CSS customization of full RoboHelp, you could probably customize the generated CSS so it matches your company's design standards, then write a post-processing script to overwrite the generated CSS with your customizations. One low-tech approach to integrating FrameMaker-generated HTML with javadoc output would be to define a directory structure so each would be in a predictable location relative to the other so that you could link between them. This could be something of a pain to maintain since the links will sometimes break, though you could run a link tester such as Xenu Link Sleuth. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
OT: Providing quality documentation when in startup mode
Please pardon my off-topic (i.e., to FrameMaker) response here. But, I wouldn't mind hearing from others on my comments below - feel free to keep it off-line to me if you want. Robert Lauriston wrote: Typically, we are overhead, and startups need to focus on selling something first. Yes, my company was not totally immune either. But, as a founder of the company, I made sure that the quality of our documentation was deemed important right from the start. For a few, very simple, reasons: (a) achieving those early sales can require good documentation for our customers. (b) internal engineering specs have to accurately match what we want to develop and deploy. (c) internal process docs (for our employees) need accuracy to ensure good support. Because, fundamentally, I have always believed that the *quality* of documentation, particularly external technical stuff, is a reflection on the quality of the *rest* of the company. If we don't get our external technical docs right, then that same poor quality attitude could also match poor internal processes and reflect badly on our people. The last thing we want to do is raise any doubts - even subconscious ones - in the mind of a customer seeking the kind of services we provide. So, while I am not a tech writer by training or profession, I made sure that our documentation was as good as I could get it to be, till we got our first tech writer hired. My writing objectives (for technical documents, API's, etc.) are quite simple really: (a) Thoroughly reviewed accuracy in the content (issues would lead to customers wasting time correcting their code that connected to our APIs). (b) Anal consistency in the look-and-feel ... everywhere! Title, logo, paragraph spacing and indentation, tables, etc. (this is what leads to intuitive *quality* measures in readers). (c) Spell-checked thoroughly (nothing speaks more to poor quality than spelling and grammar mistakes ... just like in resumes!) (d) No ambiguity in reading a specification - multiple interpretations can lead to wasting time. (e) Relatively frequent edits to fix any errors - I often released new versions whose sole purpose was to fix typographical errors. Accuracy fixes were always urgent. FWIW, with about 90 people in the company, we have two writers - one is in Marketing and one in Engineering. The writer in Marketing does Marketing collateral, does white-papers (using my technical drafts to begin from) and writes for our blog, etc. The writer in Engineering does technical spec documents for customers. And, one more part-time writer in our Operations team. Works tech support for customers/networks after-hours when life is generally quiet,and thus has the time to write/update our internal process documents. Her work is reviewed by her peers in the department. Accuracy is far more important in these docs than look-and-feel or grammar. So, if some *fact* is wrong (rarely!), she will get relatively quick feedback from those users/peers! :) Z ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Providing quality documentation when in startup mode
Because, fundamentally, I have always believed that the *quality* of documentation, particularly external technical stuff, is a reflection on the quality of the *rest* of the company. BTW, when I look at documentation for a product, it gives me an indication of whether I want to do business with the company, or purchase/use their stuff, expect better support, etc. But, I also make allowances for some issues. For example, for a *small* overseas firm (i.e., outside the US), I will sometimes overlook - up to a point - language and grammar errors in their English docs, as long as the content is accurate and not too difficult to read. Particularly if the company is based in the Far East, where language differences are much more ... pronounced, shall we say. However, if a company overseas - particularly a small one or in the Far East - provides excellent technical docs in English, then I will favor them *more*! Z ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: OT: Providing quality documentation when in startup mode
I didn't write that, Sean (techwordsm...@gmail.com) did. Startups should recognize the importance of documentation in making sales (depends on the product and market, of course), and when they don't, it may reflect a lack of marketing experience. Same goes for the importance of UI design. On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Syed Zaeem Hosain (syed.hos...@aeris.net) syed.hos...@aeris.net wrote: Please pardon my off-topic (i.e., to FrameMaker) response here. But, I wouldn't mind hearing from others on my comments below - feel free to keep it off-line to me if you want. Robert Lauriston wrote: Typically, we are overhead, and startups need to focus on selling something first. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: OT: Providing quality documentation when in startup mode
I didn't write that, Sean (techwordsm...@gmail.com) did. Ah! Sorry about that ... e-mail editing error on my part. Same goes for the importance of UI design. Yes! One of my favorite books (for web-site UI and look-and-feel): http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp/0321965515/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksie=UTF8qid=1405545790sr=1-1keywords=don%27t+make+me+think Moral: Hire experts. Contract them if the work is not full-time. We use an external company to do our web-site (data portal and UI) work for example. Z ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: FM 12 in Parallels using Win7
Hi, I don’t have it in a production environment, but FeameMaker 12 works fine for me in 64-bit Windows 8.1 in the latest version of Parallels on a MacBook Pro using Mavericks. Sean On Jul 13, 2014, at 9:31 AM, Steve Rickaby srick...@wordmongers.demon.co.uk wrote: I had a quick search but couldn't see that this issue has been discussed recently. I'm in the process of upgrading to FM 12 using Win7 in Parallels on a Mac Pro. My question is simple: which is best, 32-bit Win7 or 64-bit Win7? -- Steve ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as techwordsm...@gmail.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/techwordsmith%40gmail.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: FM 12 in Parallels using Win7
+1 On 7/16/14, 2:38 PM, Sean techwordsm...@gmail.com wrote: Hi, I don’t have it in a production environment, but FeameMaker 12 works fine for me in 64-bit Windows 8.1 in the latest version of Parallels on a MacBook Pro using Mavericks. Sean On Jul 13, 2014, at 9:31 AM, Steve Rickaby srick...@wordmongers.demon.co.uk wrote: I had a quick search but couldn't see that this issue has been discussed recently. I'm in the process of upgrading to FM 12 using Win7 in Parallels on a Mac Pro. My question is simple: which is best, 32-bit Win7 or 64-bit Win7? -- Steve ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as techwordsm...@gmail.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/techwordsmith%40gmail .com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as joe.ma...@magnet.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/joe.malin%40magnet.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. This e-mail and any attached files are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which this mail is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. Any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of this e-mail or the attached files by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail or collect call to (650) 388-4111 and delete this e-mail and attached files from your system. Thank you. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Problems with Mif2Go conversion
: "C:\bin\pkzip25" -add 01_Introduction_Intel-552 Design Considerations.zip *.* I1: Putting in shipping directory... I1: move /Y "01_Introduction_Intel-552 Design Considerations.zip" "..\..\_ship" I1: Automation processing completed by dwhtm. Thanks for any help or insight that you can provide. Bob From: Yves Barbion [mailto:yves.barb...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 8:06 AM To: Prestridge, RobertX H Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com> Subject: Re: Problems with Mif2Go conversion Hi Robert What does the _m2g_log.txt file say? Normally, you should get a .ditamap file and one or more .dita or .xml files. Cheers -- Yves Barbion www.scripto.nu<http://www.scripto.nu> This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers/attachments/20140716/2b3d7cf7/attachment.html>
Problems with Mif2Go conversion
attempting production. Thanks, Bob From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com> [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Prestridge, RobertX H Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 8:32 AM To: Yves Barbion Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com> Subject: RE: Problems with Mif2Go conversion Hi, Yves: Here's what the log file says: Mon Jul 14 15:36:34 2014 I1: Starting log for dwhtm, h293 I1: Gathering files... I1: del C:\Users\rhprestx\Desktop\DITA_conversion\_wrap /q I1: copy /Y "%omsyshome%\common\system\htmlidx\idxhtm.css" "C:\Users\rhprestx\Desktop\DITA_conversion\_wrap" I1: cd C:\Users\rhprestx\Desktop\DITA_conversion\_wrap I1: Archiving... I1: "C:\bin\pkzip25" -add 01_Introduction_Intel-552 Design Considerations.zip *.* I1: Putting in shipping directory... I1: move /Y "01_Introduction_Intel-552 Design Considerations.zip" "..\..\_ship" I1: Automation processing completed by dwhtm. Thanks for any help or insight that you can provide. Bob From: Yves Barbion [mailto:yves.barb...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 8:06 AM To: Prestridge, RobertX H Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com> Subject: Re: Problems with Mif2Go conversion Hi Robert What does the _m2g_log.txt file say? Normally, you should get a .ditamap file and one or more .dita or .xml files. Cheers -- Yves Barbion www.scripto.nu<http://www.scripto.nu> This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as DocuDoc at hotmail.com<mailto:DocuDoc at hotmail.com>. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com>. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com> or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/docudoc%40hotmail.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com<mailto:listadmin at frameusers.com>. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers/attachments/20140716/c37e7ecc/attachment.html> -- next part -- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 21635 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers/attachments/20140716/c37e7ecc/attachment.jpg>
