Re: [Framers] FrameMaker on M1 Macs?
At 09:02 -0500 15/11/21, Alan Houser wrote: >I know several of you are running FrameMaker 2020 on Windows 11. Is anybody >running FrameMaker on an M1 Mac, with Windows 11 under Parallels? I get an >immediate termination on FrameMaker launch with "The code execution cannot >proceed because atmlib.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix >this problem". (Yes, I've re-installed FM, and even re-installed my Windows 11 >virtual machine). There are specific compatibility issues with Windows/Parallels on M1-chipped Macs. More details here: <https://www.parallels.com/uk/products/desktop/resources/#requirements> Caveat: I have no personal experience, but I watch this area very closely. I'm not suggesting that it's a Parallels/M1 problem, but it's worth checking your install. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Stefan wanted to know why so many of us Adobe users "feel" the way we do about Adobe
At 13:24 -0400 14/10/21, Lin Sims wrote: >Interleaf still exists, but it's called Quicksilver these days. So I've heard - but does anyone use it? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Stefan wanted to know why so many of us Adobe users "feel" the way we do about Adobe
At 16:55 -0600 12/10/21, wrote: >I can give details if interested, but I just wanted to chime in to the >thread from a few weeks ago, where someone stated that they feel that Adobe >hates their customers. . . I think that was me. Long time past, I took a great many textbooks directly to press using FrameMaker and PDF as a pre-press format. Problems were few and solvable, and the only time I had to have recourse to FrameMaker support was in 1997, when an author, who had written his ms in Frame, had managed to create massive equations that would not 'fold'. These jobs included more than one using structure FrameMaker. All that was in FrameMaker version 7. Judging by what I read here, things don't seem to have improved much since Adobe hived FrameMaker off to India. At 19:43 + 13/10/21, nuhDEEN wrote: >However, the effort and expense to maintain the FM might be better spent on >developing a completely new underlying software design that seems to work the >same from a user's point-of-view I tend to agree: all software eventually 'dies' as technology moves on. Look at Interleaf, for example. But with the cost and effort required to rewrite FrameMaker from scratch, including structure support, I don't see it happening. In theory, though, it can be done incrementally, using code refactoring. There is a maybe bright light on the horizon for us old folk. I read that Cobol programmers can command astronomical fees these days to keep 'essential' banking software alive. Just an idea... :-) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] New Adobe Profiles - Business, Personal
I've just caught up with this. Cripes Sue. Sometimes I think Adobe hates its customers: the Basil Fawlty of the software world. I am heartily glad that age has kept me well away from a subscription model of anything. I cannot offer help (my most current release is Framemaker v12), but I certainly offer sympathy. Forces should be Mobilised and directed at Adobe Support in No Uncertain Way. I will now go back to my battle with Fitbit Support... >I use FrameMaker (as part of Technical Communication Suite), and a number of >Creative Cloud apps (mainly Illustrator but I also use others occasionally) >all day. I usually run FrameMaker and Illustrator at the same time, switching >between them tens of times during the day. > >I recently updated FrameMaker from v16.0.2 to 16.0.3. When I restarted >FrameMaker I was prompted to choose an Adobe Profile. The choice was Business >or Personal. There was no way (that I could see) to progress without making a >choice... -- Baker Steve, aka Steve Rickaby BSc MBCS CITP Tel : +44 1 736 810575 Five times World Bread Awards winner: 2015 Silver, 2016 Silver, 2017 Bronze*2, 2019 Silver For more about Real Bread, see <http://www.realbreadcampaign.org> For more about me, see <http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverickaby> For superficial waffle, see <https://www.facebook.com/steve.rickaby.9> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] An ExtendScript library for FrameMaker
Klaus >Many of you have helped me when I was stuck in a scripting problem. Even if my >script suites (FMbiblio, FMcalc, FMfindRepl, FMgraph, FMnotes and FMvars) are >not used that much (besides myself), this work built up my knowledge and >function library. > >I share this library with you on https://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker88.html >A complete documentation is on https://www.daube.ch/docu/files/FMjsxLib.pdf Most generous of you. I'm sure this will benefit a lot of people. Your documentation looks very professional, and great to see Bruce Tognazzini's name mentioned. >My programming style may be considered archaic or at least conservative. For >example, I can not fully understand, what is discussed on >https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/extendscript-libraries/m-p/4653285#M200725 > ... I will never understand, why 'they' are talking about classes when there >is the term function since aeons... 'Class' is a fundamental term in object-oriented programming and is not the same thing as a function. However, Adobe won't let me access the page to check the context. -- Baker Steve, aka Steve Rickaby BSc MBCS CITP AMBHI Tel : +44 1 736 810575 Five times World Bread Awards winner: 2015 Silver, 2016 Silver, 2017 Bronze*2, 2019 Silver For more about Real Bread, see <http://www.realbreadcampaign.org> For more about me, see <http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverickaby> For superficial waffle, see <https://www.facebook.com/steve.rickaby.9> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Quality of vector graphics created in FrameMaker is bad in CMYK PDF output
At 14:36 -0500 21/8/21, Mike Wickham wrote: >It has been a long time, so I'm not positive that I'm remembering this >correctly, but I recall that issue having something to do with either using >EMF or WMF files-- that it was a limitation of the file type. Extraordinary to see this coming around again after all these years. I first encountered it in EMF files generated by Visio more than a decade ago: looked fine on screen in Visio, but ghastly in export file. (It wasn't FrameMaker's fault that time, but the export 'filters' in Visio.) > I also seem to remember some issues related to CMYK where, if graphics were > not EPS files, they would be channeled through Windows GDI and come out as > RGB (and maybe processed into EMF or WMF along the way?) Quite likely, but I cannot comment as I worked on Mac. > Anyway, the solution for me, at the time, was merely to always use EPS > graphics in my documents, if I ever wanted correct CMYK output. Seconded. > Again, it has been a while since I worked with FM (FM 10). So forgive me if > I'm not remembering this quite right. And I realize that FM support for CMYK > may have changed since then. Also seconded :-) More power to The Group! -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] can someone take the reins?
I'd like to echo all that's been posted on this thread, and thank Carol and Rick wholeheartedly for all they've done. Alas, I'm in the same position as Carol, theoretically retired and no longer using FrameMaker much. But I remain eternally grateful to this group for helping me attain the dubious heights of designing and documenting a structured FrameMaker writing environment from a standpoint of pig ignorance (70+ pp of docs). And to all of you who contributed articles while I edited the FrameMaker slot for the UK's ISTC: you know who you are. I really, really hope that FrameMaker doesn't go the way of Interleaf, which sort of disappeared between the leaves, fell to the forest floor and became compost. FrameMaker deserves better. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Equations and font sizes of different components in Framemaker 2019
Tammy, hi I sympathize. However, it's not quite clear (to me, anyway) from your description whether, when you say 'They appear... (etc.)', whether you mean on screen in FrameMaker or in printed output. Clarifying this might make it easier for folks to help. If the former, it suggests some goofing is going on in FrameMaker's rendering engine, and I strongly suggest checking the real appearance of the problem characters by dropping the output into PDF. If not, I'm stumped, as my 'experience' is now way out of date. I've been there, although in this case with FrameMaker's equation editor, round about 1998. A book I was working on had a zillion massive equations the author had laid out on a metaphorical A1 galley and they wouldn't 'fold'. I have horrible memories of sending each equation to FrameMaker support (Frame Corp in those days probs) to be bashed into shape. Great support: you wouldn't get it now. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Appallingly slow linked graphics: UPDATE
It's not a memory size issue with the VM, as upping it from 4 GB to 16 GB didn't affect the loading speed. Tomorrow I'll try relocating the JPEGs to a folder local to the Windows VM. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Appallingly slow linked graphics
You're correct, I didn't. They're sort of both: they are on the local machine, but on a shared external drive 'outside' that has to be accessed via Parallels. You may have put your finger on it, as the version of Parallels I'm using doesn't seem to like external drives much, often falling over with fallacious permissions issues (not the problem here, but does manifest itself in OS X virtual machines. I will copy the JPEGs to a drive local to the Windows VM and retry. Thanks. >You didn't say if the images are local or on a network. Local may load >quicker. > >Have you considered a newer Mac OS, perhaps on a newer Mac, with >appropriate Parallels and Windows versions? > >One other strategy, if the graphics are large, might be creating a >directory of low-resolution display versions, and swapping them when needed >for printing. > >HTH > >On Mon, Jun 7, 2021, 9:24 AM Steve Rickaby wrote: > >> I'm not sure if anyone will be using an archaic setup like mine, but here >> goes. >> >> FrameMaker 12 on Parallels Desktop under MacOS OS 9. >> >> It all works, but loading graphics (in this case JPEGs) imported by >> reference takes about a minute a graphic, making the whole thing unusable. >> >> I appreciate that I can turn off graphics display, but I wondered whether >> there was another solution, aside from dumping the whole idea and buying a >> Windows machine to run FrameMaker? >> >> -- >> Steve >> ___ >> >> This message is from the Framers mailing list >> >> Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com >> Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com >> Archives located at >> http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ >> Subscribe and unsubscribe at >> http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com >> Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com >> >___ > >This message is from the Framers mailing list > >Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com >Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com >Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ >Subscribe and unsubscribe at >http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com >Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Appallingly slow linked graphics
I'm not sure if anyone will be using an archaic setup like mine, but here goes. FrameMaker 12 on Parallels Desktop under MacOS OS 9. It all works, but loading graphics (in this case JPEGs) imported by reference takes about a minute a graphic, making the whole thing unusable. I appreciate that I can turn off graphics display, but I wondered whether there was another solution, aside from dumping the whole idea and buying a Windows machine to run FrameMaker? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Unlearn FM 7.2
Sorry: Hewlett Packard 1000 Series. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Unlearn FM 7.2
Not related to your tiresome problem, which I wish I could help with, but perhaps an amusing anecdote... When I worked as a system manager in the early 1980s, I introduced the then-revolutionary idea of word processing for report writing to our department, in this case on a Helwett Packard 100 Series minicomputer that had previously only been thought suitable for instrumentation control and data analysis. The idea proved a great time-saver, even though documents were output via an incredibly noisy daisywheel printer that was unfortunately in the same room as me. However, anyone using the software had the ability to add unrecognised words to the global dictionary. As we used a lot of technical terms, this was vital. Our secretary, who did most of the report entry, was a comely girl of broad South Gloucestershire stock with what's best described as a 'creative' approach to English spelling. I soon realised that one of my routine end-of-week maintenance tasks was to diff that's week's global dictionary with my master copy and weed out or correct all the horrors. It took quite a lot of my time. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Processing time
Although I rarely use FrameMaker these days, I have read this discussion with interest. No-one is going to thank me for saying this, but doing heavy lifting with structured documents in PowerPC Frame v 7 on a 2003 Mac, I never noticed any performance issues. Odd. Of course the app is much more capable now. Isn't it? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Help with setting up a paragraph tag in the TOC
>Kind regards, >Bodvar Bjorgvinsson (in the Senile group!) Great to know you're still around, Bodvar, senile or not :-) How did the Icelandic Bible turn out? -- Baker Steve, aka Steve Rickaby BSc MBCS CITP AMBHI Tel : +44 1 736 810575 Five times World Bread Awards winner: 2015 Silver, 2016 Silver, 2017 Bronze*2, 2019 Silver For more about Real Bread, see <http://www.realbreadcampaign.org> For more about me, see <http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverickaby> For superficial waffle, see <https://www.facebook.com/steve.rickaby.9> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] OT: HelpSmith?
I was merely tapping my archives. I am non-partisan, as I know next to nothing about Help (other than how to write it) :-) Steve From: Framers on behalf of jackdel...@comcast.net Sent: 22 February 2021 8:57 PM To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.' Subject: Re: [Framers] OT: HelpSmith? Mein Gott! What does it TAKE to kill off bloody CHM format?!! -Original Message- HelpSmith can publish to CHM and Word, which are formats a lot of other authoring tools can import. JD ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] OT: HelpSmith?
>I am reaching out to this list because... One of the >tools that this particular division that reached out me uses is HelpSmith. I >think I have heard of this tool like once before in a blue moon. Has anyone >ever heard of this tool, have you used it, know about its learning curve, >etc? Tammy - I consulted my help person who did a Framemaker -> RTF -> CHM job for me years back; she comments... >Ever curious, I had a quick google and Helpsmith seems to still exist as a >product, so not sure what the issue is in finding more. Website is: >https://www.helpsmith.com/ and there seems to be a lot info there. It does >all look a bit familiar and I think I might have evaluated or maybe even >used an early version coming on 20 years ago when I was at AIT. My >reservation about this sort of tool at the time was that you are tied into >the tool for your source, so if [you are] hoping to get the client back on >the straight and narrow youd'd need to look at how much is preserved in the >available outputs for potential conversion back to where you'd feel more >comfortable. My take these days is it would be easiest to buy a copy of the >tool to maintain what is there and avoid an argument. If you understand >Framemaker and Webworks I'm sure the learning curve would be very short. HTH -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Basic question: hyperlinks to paragraphs
Ah, I get it now: you want to set up hyperlinks to arbitrary destinations that themselves contain user-defined text that is not an echo of any text at the destination target. [Like I said, I should have kept out of it.] If Said doesn't come up with anything (which I doubt), I'll rake through my archives, but my suspicion is that Lin is correct: you need to use a script or something. I'm sure Rick could knock something up for you. Unless Steve at siliconprairie has a plug-in that could help with this? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Basic question: hyperlinks to paragraphs
>Thanks for the comments. A cross-references forces me to use a >cross-reference format for the link, e.g. "section 4.5". I cannot use a >reference format, I want to use an arbitrary text for the linking text, as >in "this is explained in the discussion of cat problems", where the >underlined text (I hope the mailing list mailer keeps the underline) is my >own text but a link to some chosen place. > >Hyperlinks to this but force me in each case to add two commands, a gotolink >at the source and a newlink at the target, which is horrendously tedious if >one has thousands such cases. The newlink is not conceptually necessary >since all the targets are paragraphs so I should be able simply to choose >from a paragraph list as with cross-references. >From memory I used to use the double-link method for this, but I never needed >to do it very often. I appreciate your problem. AFAIK you are stymied by >FrameMaker's internal model, which only allows xrefs to named styles, i.e. at >the paragraph level, rather than to specific runs of text such as a sentence. >If there's a way to do this that doesn't involve a double-link process, I'd be >interested to hear of it, even though I seldom use FrameMaker these days. -- Baker Steve, aka Steve Rickaby BSc MBCS CITP AMBHI Tel : +44 1 736 810575 Five times World Bread Awards winner: 2015 Silver, 2016 Silver, 2017 Bronze*2, 2019 Silver For more about Real Bread, see <http://www.realbreadcampaign.org> For more about me, see <http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverickaby> For superficial waffle, see <https://www.facebook.com/steve.rickaby.9> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Basic question: hyperlinks to paragraphs
>I must be missing something here, or misunderstanding what you are trying >to do. A cross-reference is a hyperlink. If you are using a specific >paragraph tag for your target, why not just use a cross-reference? I'm glad you posted this, Lin. I was about to do the same, but then my Inner Voice said "Nah - you've been out of the loop too long: you're missing something. Keep quiet." :-) -- Steve 'I see you have a cat problem' 'I don't have a cat' 'That's your cat problem' ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Oh for the Good Old Days
Hello Framers The last time I used FrameMaker in anger (to typeset a book) was six years ago. I did it in FrameMaker 7 for Mac, under Classic, on a 2003 Apple Mac. Just recently I fired up FrameMaker 12 (the most recent version I have or ever will have) to typeset a simple document. Oh my, what a hassle! Try as I would I could not get paragraph formats to 'stick', or to override paragraph formats that the app seemed to have unilaterally invented for itself. Even importing formats from a 'good' document didn't work. And now that my eyesight is poorer, I searched in vain for a setting to make the text in pods bigger. Or a way to get them to stay on the left side of the screen, as I'm left-handed. This is absolutely not a request for assistance, just a howl of regret for what was. I took FrameMaker 7 on Mac to the level of setting up a semi-automated structured writing environment for a team of authors, the documentation for which ran to 70+ pages. I am heartily glad I don't have to do anything like that in a current version. (And yes I know that FrameMaker 12 is far from current, but from what I've read here things are little better now.) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Weird spacing in PDF output
At 16:46 -0400 11/9/20, Lin Sims wrote: >This is only happening with 2 entries in the entire TOC. In the TOC, they >look identical to all the other entries in the TOC. I've checked the >paragraph tags in both the original files and the TOC files and they are >the same. But in the PDF created from that TOC, the text for those two >headings is weirdly spaced for the word Software. > >I've posted this to the Adobe FrameMaker forum, with pictures. If anyone >has an idea, I'd appreciate it. It's a little thing, but it looks bad. Check that you haven't accidentally embedded any invisible characters in the source fields for the TOC. >There appears to be something about the actual word "Software" that the PDF >engine is having a conniption about. Well, who wouldn't'? :-) Try another word? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Fwd: Weird spacing in PDF output
At 14:13 -0500 12/9/20, Peter Gold wrote: >...You can see my long memory as evidenced by recalling the automatic >replacement of InterLeaf. Oh wow, the Echoes of Times Past! :-) Interleaf: the app that required one full-time 'administrator' per five user seats. >This reminds me of something a little longer back: (BTW, this is not just >an old guy showing off he's still cooking upstairs, by dredging up random >old stuff, But maybe this is... >...it's pertinent here!) I worked at a database software company that >rocketed to fame and riches around the same time Frame Technology and Adobe >did. However, it's long-gone. A couple of years after I got laid off with a >few thousand others, when the company had gone into several tailspins because >management had overruled QA and released supremely buggy products which lost >customers' faith, Ouch. Bad bad policy. [Ex-Sw QA inspector here] > I met someone who told me he'd been the last project manager on the product. > He'd been called in "to fix the problems in quality, for good, this time, and > get the company back on track." He told me that the first place he started > was with meeting the developers and digging into the most-commonly known bugs > and irritants. First on the list was the odd differences with how the > built-in text editor that was used to enter command-line commands, enter data > into database fields, design the database files, and write and edit code, > depending on how the user invoked it. "So, I asked, 'who's responsible for > this editor,' and 35 hands went up." The problem was that it was so easy to > write an editor, that there was no single spec for it. Every developer who > needed one in his or her modules just wrote one on the spot, and, of course, > didn't document it, "because everybody know how to do it, so why bother? So, > that's when I left." ROFL. Who here hasn't hacked their own editor? Heck, I even hacked my own shell. (But I did document and share it.) >It looks like when the TOC source material is processed differently into >PDF by Print > PDF vs. Save As > PDF. Same kind of problem. > >Glad you've identified and solved the issue so you can move ahead, and also >good that you've shared it with the community. And thank you, Peter, for sharing your reminiscences. It's made me feel ever so slightly more 'valid', to use the currently favored woke term. -- Steve [ancient SWEng with more experience than is now comfortable] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Corrupt dictionary file/s?
At 13:23 -0600 4/8/20, wrote: >...uninstall/reinstallzheimer's... I'd not heard that one before: good old Dov. Sorry to cause you to collide with floor Tammy. I'm not really active with FrameMaker any more, sadly, although my FrameMaker 7 installation on a truly ancient Mac still works just fine. (I do have FrameMaker 12 on Windows, but hate it.) I'm semi-retired now, but only semi: the last major editing job I did was in - of all things - Scrivener. I do still follow frameusers from time to time. And to think that I once got my head around SGML documents. These days I spend more time baking for my neighbors :-) (Alter ego below.) -- Baker Steve Tel : +44 1 736 810575 Five times World Bread Awards winner: 2015 Silver, 2016 Silver, 2017 Bronze*2, 2019 Silver For more about Real Bread, see <http://www.realbreadcampaign.org> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Corrupt dictionary file/s?
>Hi, > > > >Does anyone know where the dictionary file/files live for FM12 and is it >possible to get a pristine copy of these files and replace the current ones? >I have absolutely NO idea how/what started this, but my dictionary function >in FM12 is shot to h*ll in a handbasket. It's FM12 so lord knows there >haven't been updates to it since the dawn of time, and I haven't deactivated >it and reinstalled since I set up this system (10 Win, 64 bit), which was >well over 3.5 years ago. Words that are spelled correctly are being flagged >as incorrectly spelled and I can't add new words, and then the suggested >corrections are even wrong. For example, the word "potential" is flagged in >one of my files, and the "correction" for it is "potentials" (yep, w/ an >"s") and I can't even click Allow in Document to stop flagging "potential." > > > >TIA, > > > >TVB > > > >Tammy Van Boening > >Tammy dot vanboening at spectrumwritingllc dot com > >www.spectrumwritingllc.com > > > >___ > >This message is from the Framers mailing list > >Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com >Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com >Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ >Subscribe and unsubscribe at >http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com >Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Corrupt dictionary file/s?
Hi Tammmy - voice from the past here :-) >Does anyone know where the dictionary file/files live for FM12 and is it >possible to get a pristine copy of these files and replace the current ones? >I have absolutely NO idea how/what started this, but my dictionary function >in FM12 is shot to h*ll in a handbasket. It's FM12 so lord knows there >haven't been updates to it since the dawn of time, and I haven't deactivated >it and reinstalled since I set up this system (10 Win, 64 bit), which was >well over 3.5 years ago. Words that are spelled correctly are being flagged >as incorrectly spelled and I can't add new words, and then the suggested >corrections are even wrong. For example, the word "potential" is flagged in >one of my files, and the "correction" for it is "potentials" (yep, w/ an >"s") and I can't even click Allow in Document to stop flagging "potential." Klaus has written a helpful guide to FM dictionaries here: <https://www.daube.ch/docu/files/FMdict-en.pdf> which might help. There is a subfolder 'dict' in the FM file tree that (in my FM 12 installation at least) contains the site dictionary. The remainder of the language dictionaries seem to be in the subfolder 'AMT', although these have a .zdct extension rather than a '.dct' extension. It rather sounds as if a reinstall is your get-out here, but others may have better ideas. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Compatability with FM11 non-structured files
Adobe has some information about offline product activation here: https://exception.licenses.adobe.com/aoes/aoes/v1/cst1 Best regards, Steve Waldenga On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 6:28 AM John Posada wrote: > > Hi, guys...I have 5 years of FM files and my company doesn't like FM > installed on their network. > > Are there any other applications that can be installed and open native FM > 11 files and retain most of the FM functionality, especially the book > paradigm? Steve Waldenga / 王安祖 MitraStar Technology Corp. Creative Design Department +886-3-577-7998 ext. 55691 www.mitrastar.com<http://www.mitrastar.com/> [en]<http://www.mitrastar.com/> [MitraStar_Vision_eg] This email and any files transmitted with it may contain information of Mitrastar Corporation that are privileged / confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, disclose, distribute, copy, or use this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. -- next part -- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2134 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers-frameusers.com/attachments/20190213/903ff5cc/attachment.jpg> -- next part -- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 2978 bytes Desc: image002.jpg URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers-frameusers.com/attachments/20190213/903ff5cc/attachment-0001.jpg> ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Framers Digest, Vol 153, Issue 13
Help embedded in a device may have limited storage space available. In such situations you could have the help open to the section describing the current configuration screen and not show the screen captures in the help. > > I'm surprised...15 MB is not that big at all IMO. > > > R told me that the HTML 5 help file that I made is too big. > > > > > > It came out as 15 MB Best regards, Steve Waldenga This email and any files transmitted with it may contain information of Mitrastar Corporation that are privileged / confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, disclose, distribute, copy, or use this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] FrameMaker 2017 and Visio Graphics
I've watched this thread with interest. My experience is old, so Visio may have improved, but back in the day we used to have no end of problems with non-Visio-native exports from Visio for use in FrameMaker. I vividly remember 'connected' objects that weren't, and 'arcs' and 'circles' that were visibly composed of straight-line segments. I hope things are better now. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Word to Frame Again - pictures/screenshots
At 21:22 +0300 13/5/18, Caroline Tabach wrote: >The first time I did that in the past I did save as html to get the >graphics. As Robert has pointed out, a .docx file is some sort of compressed XML archive from which the image files can be extracted by convincing it it's a ZIP file. If your source is a .doc file, though, you're on shakier ground, as the initial operation of pulling an image file into a Word .doc document seems to do Bad Things to the image, and extracted results via save as HTML are often not of acceptable quality. Well, that's been my experience - YMMV. Good luck with it. -- Steve [Trim e-mails: use less disk, use less power, use less planet] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Transfer from FrameMaker into Word
At 09:30 -0400 25/4/18, Janie Cole wrote: >My contract is ending and no one else at the company knows how to use >FrameMaker.They have asked me to convert the SOPs that I produced for them >into Word so others can maintain after I'm gone. Shmuel has nailed the detail for you: saving out of PDF gets you almost nothing, because you are interposing a massively different format (PDF) when you don't need to (Frame -> RTF). With that route your biggest task is likely to be sorting out inserted images, if there are any. 'convert... into Word so others can maintain after I'm gone' is as familiar as it is disturbing: I have been reading the same thing for more than two decades. Assuming that you are meticulous in creating your ex-FrameMaker output, your soon-to-be-ex colleagues will need an unusually high level of Word skills to maintain your documents in their current state. My own experience has suggested that this is almost never the case. By heck, if you're well out of it, should you care? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] How do you identify an advanced Framemaker user?
At 10:31 -0600 15/4/18, Carol J. Elkins wrote: >Over the next couple of years, I need to help my major client find and train >an in-house replacement for me as I wind down my freelance practice. They will >not consider an independent contractor next time, so it may be harder to >recruit and identify someone with the required skills. I've built 20 years of >documentation for this client in unstructured Framemaker, and managing these >thousands of documents and books depends less on someone being a good >technical writer than being an excellent Framemaker user. > >For those of you who are corporate employers, I'd like to know how you screen >candidates to identify those who truly are advanced Framemaker users. I write here as a recipient of such a test, so apols because I'm not a corporate recruiter/test administerer. It was for a contract with a well-known London-based financial business, many years ago. The test consisted of a number of unstructured FrameMaker tasks of increasing difficulty, done against the clock. At that time I considered myself to be an advanced FrameMaker user, but wasn't ;-) Nevertheless, I completed all the items in the test, which took about thirty minutes, successfully. I'm afraid I cannot remember now what the tasks were, but I'm sure you could easily make your own up. At the end I was told that I'd done the test in the shortest time ever. Didn't get the contract, though, as another guy did almost as well and didn't have to commute/work remotely :-( To build on what Robert suggested, how about asking candidates to build a folksy template from scratch, and devilishly include a couple of things that you cannot do with FrameMaker (there must still be some)? That way you get a good idea of their competence *and* incorporate the performance under stress and key-marks in the forehead stuff. And if that works out, then ask them how they'd adapt it for multi-platform delivery ;-) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Frame 2017 Export to Word
At 22:22 -0800 19/12/17, A Craig wrote: >I was at a job interview today and it sounds like they could really use the >Conditional aspects of Frame in order to deliver various flavours of the >same manuals. However, they have done without a tech writer for a while and >like the fact that their engineers can simply go into a Word doc and make >changes themselves. If this is their approach, I would enquire very carefully into their attitude to the qualify of their documentation and what they hope to gain by having a full-time tech writer on board. I can see frustration ahead for you. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Style mapping: Word to FrameMaker 2017
At 16:50 + 11/12/17, Pat Christenson wrote: >Hi all - > >If you're importing a Word document into FrameMaker 2017, is there a way to >disable the feature that adds unmapped formats to the FrameMaker paragraph, >character, and table catalogs? Tangential to your issue, but SiliconPrairie's Paragraph Tools plug-in has the ability to delete all unused paragraph formats. I have found this very useful for cleaning up all the mess that Word import leaves behind. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Old FrameMaker books?
At 21:33 + 2/10/17, Wroblewski, Victoria wrote: >This might be the reason we stopped actually doing index entries and have been >quietly deleting index files from our books (I have a former co worker from >another company who is in horror over this idea). Use the search, people. Hmmm. There's a debate to be had here. I'm with your former co-worker. A dumb search is not the same as an index, always assuming that the index has been done properly - i.e. there's been a sentient human in the loop. A parallel is the lazy 'search' feature that is built into the web interfaces of web fora such as tech support sites for Microsoft and the like. Who has the time to wade through 847 hits to find the possible one relevant one? Or work out what the search grammar is, always assuming that there is one? I have for example totally given up trying to fox out technical issues with Parallels products for just this reason. Such things can actually drive customers away, and the opposite can hold true too. And what Monique said too - she beat me to it. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Embedding attachments in FM that remain attachments when PDF'd
At 09:01 -0700 1/8/17, Monique Semp wrote: >What about just including an appropriate icon as an image (so the Excel >worksheet symbol, for example), and hyperlinking it to the external file in >the same way one would add a URL? I vaguely remember having done this in the past when I wanted to emulate a web page in FrameMaker. From memory, using anchored frames I overlaid the icon graphic with a transparent area of the same size and hyperlinked the remote file to the transparent area. If this doesn't make sense, John, I'll dig out some files and try to do a forensic drains-up on them. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] OFF TOPIC, Translation Need.
At 21:52 + 26/7/17, Craig, Alison wrote: >Professional translators are supposed to live in the country where they speak >the translation language. ISO certified firms will have this as a hiring >requirement. A slightly curious criterion, but I consider myself duly informed. By 'translation language'. I guess you mean target language. As someone who has danced around translation for many years, I accidentally developed a small specialization in rewriting technical material originally written in English by authors who did not have English as their first language. I am very relieved that I never had to subcontract translation services, because I have never been able to reconcile the correct balance between expertise in the source and target languages and expertise in the subject matter. Clearly both is the ideal, but such animals are a rare species indeed. I would be interested to know what process in ISO certification of an LSP verifies subject matter expertise. For example, as a result of previous work on textbooks, I have recently done 'translation' of technical material written in German. I only have a smattering of German, but I do understand the subject matter. So the 'translation' process involves transliteration using freely-available online services, followed by rewriting the copy so that it makes both linguistic and technical sense in the target language, in this case English. The latter is the huge bulk of the work, with a fair bit of ironing out of idiom in the source material. I absolutely could not perform the reverse operation. So I guess I fit Alison's criterion, in that I live in England: certainly my clients seem happy, but in no way can I claim to be a professional translator. Conversely, someone with good German skills but little or no understanding of, say, software development methodologies, might well flounder. Leaving translation aside, I know of English-speaking copy-editors who claim to be able to work on any material: this makes me worried. So what is the ideal balance between source/target language expertise and subject matter expertise? I suspect this question is at the heart of LSP specification, and Alison's suggestion of a 'test package' seems a very sound one. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Converting to Word for Review
At 08:49 -0400 11/7/17, Lin Sims wrote: >I'm having to do this now for multiple documents because I'm being laid off >and the developers will be doing the documentation from now on, and they >only use Word. It's something of a nightmare no matter which way you choose. My sympathies. A nightmare for you, and a nightmare for them too, although they probably don't know it yet ;-) If you still have access for a Frame 12 install, maybe Frame 15 -> Frame 12 -> Mif2GO -> Word might be feasible for you? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Tool for importing selected variables
At 10:14 -0600 28/6/17, Tammy Van Boening wrote: >In the distant reaches of my mind, I seem to recall a tool that would allow >you to import only selected variables from one doc to another - such as only >system variables or only user-defines variables. Am I remembering correctly >and if so, what is the name/where can I get this tool? Hi Tammy I don't remember a specific tool, but there is a technique that may be helpful. It always worked for me, anyway: Copy the file that contains the variable you want to import across multiple files, then open the copy and delete every variable *other than* the variable you want to import. Re-save the copy, then use that as your 'seed' document to import the variable in question across multiple files. This works as stated for user-defined variables. For system variables (from memory) you have to be a bit more careful, as FrameMaker doesn't allow you to delete them. I do not know of a way to import one system variable across a population of files that have different system variable values. This is where a tool (or Rick) could maybe help. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] FrameMaker vs InDesign
At 22:12 +0100 22/6/17, Steve Rickaby wrote: >[This sender failed our fraud detection checks and may not be who they appear >to be. Learn about spoofing at http://aka.ms/LearnAboutSpoofing] I definitely am who I appear to be. I have been who I appear to be since I joined this group in 2003, and maybe even before that. In fact I am sure that I have been who I appear to be since I first appeared, in July 1949. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] FrameMaker vs InDesign
Echoing others' queries as to why? Many years ago I attended an interview for a contract with a client that had advertised a job as requiring 'Pagemaker skills'. I did not have 'Pagemaker skills' (even by then Pagemaker was obsolete), but I was intrigued. In discussion it turned out that "someone who knows about technical documentation told us that we should do it in Pagemaker". I got the contract, and did it in FrameMaker. Moral? Management often operates on hearsay, and your say is often better that their say ;-) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] FrameMaker keyboard shortcuts just stop
This is going OT but it's interesting to see how much deep and embedded bitterness bullets and numbering in Word have engendered. FWIW, when I faced this issue in anger many, many years ago I hired an MVP I knew to sort it all out. She assured me that Word's underlying numbering 'engine' was ok, but the issue lay in its interface with the dialog that allows you to 'customize' bullets and numbering: beyond that, There Be Dragons. Her solution was to talk to the numbering engine in VB. It all just worked. I forget the details. -- Steve [Trim e-mails: use less disk, use less power, use less planet] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Configuring FrameMaker default page size in Parallels
Dear Frame Gurus I'm recent to FrameMaker on Windows, but have been using FrameMaker itself since v 3 on Mac. So I have no direct experience of the fminit (?) file (?) other than vaguely knowing of its existence. I need to do a trivial config to set the default page size to A4 rather than US Letter. I looked at the Adobe documentation, but the files it seemed to suggest I could modify (C:...FmInstallDir/fminit/maker) turned out to be a directory containing a couple of files that appear to be binary: tmpltbrw and tmpltbrw_s. Can someone point me in the direction of an idiot's guide to changing the default printer page size, and/or the actual ASCII file for configuring FrameMaker's startup defaults? Or does this originate with Windows itself? I'm on Windows 7 Pro in Parallels Desktop 9. I wouldn't mind so much if the page size was stored with the document, but it isn't. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] What do you say when FrameMaker disappoints?
Rick, it strikes me that it is not so much FrameMaker that is disappointing, but Adobe support. If this is a 'straightforward' software bug, equipped with the problem document and development environment Adobe Support ought to be able to work out what the problem is and run out a patch in short measure. Proper practise with complex commercial applications is to maintain an instrumented development environment for every version of a product that can back-trace a crash and zero in on a specific bug quickly. If Adobe does *not* do the above, then I share your feelings. -- Steve [ex-software developer] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Question about differentiating heading levels
Yes, this is true: there is a lot of stuff around these days that emphasizes style over content. That's why I used the word 'suitable', although I should maybe have made the point clearer. At 20:01 +1100 24/1/17, Michael Lewis wrote: >Trouble with many commercial designs is that "design" outweighs communication. >So many graphic designers focus on "what looks nice" rather than "what works >to promote the purpose of the document". Granted, that's at best a failure in >the training of such designers, but it does constitute a warning that "best >practise" isn't always "best practise". > >- Michael Lewis > > >On 2017-01-24 19:38, Steve Rickaby wrote: >>... For those of us who aren't (such as me), I've often found it useful to >>look for suitable commercial designs and then emulate them. I don't mean >>copy, but extract the underlying principles. Your eye will tell you what >>looks right and what look weird. >> -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Question about differentiating heading levels
There are a number of ways to delineate heading levels. The general rule is that they should be: a. Clear b. Beautiful ;-) It's real easy to create an ugly design. It's real hard to create a beautiful one - which is why there are folks called graphic designers. For those of us who aren't (such as me), I've often found it useful to look for suitable commercial designs and then emulate them. I don't mean copy, but extract the underlying principles. Your eye will tell you what looks right and what look weird. You can use: . Font size (as has already been said) . Space above/below - generally more space above the higher the heading level, less below the lower. . Font style - I don't like this, but I have seen it done, for example with italics or condensed . Side-head for major hearings, run-in for minor . Side-head for major hearings, in-column for minor . Numbered vs unnumbered headings, if the design calls for it . Suitable widgets/graphics Apologies if I am repeating what others have said: no coffee yet this lovely morning in SW UK. I do have a concern over more than three heading levels, although I know sometimes a fourth level is necessary. More than three levels makes the structure hard for the reader to follow. H5? Maybe better to use bullet lists or tables? As Tammy says, though, we are often constrained by existing/client-specific document designs and/or entrenched thinking - no matter how ghastly ;-) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Cross reference format (what do you use?)
Hi Bernard >I don't know. There are a LOT of ways to xref to stuff though. Sure are. Quite often dictated by some sort of style guide, or an existing template. What follows are only my personal preferences. >My question is this: What would be the top 3 or 4 ways *you* xref something? >Not the steps to insert an xref, but the way it looks in your output. Given the choice, 'This is shown in Figure 12', where only 'Figure 12' is the xref. Avoid unnecessary words: less is more. So in this case the xref would I guess be 'Figure <$paranum>'. In my opinion the more words you put into an zref format, the more inflexible it becomes. >Do you put in full sentence xrefs? I'm not sure whether you mean an xref containing a full sentence in the xref format (in which case, not if I can help it), or a <$paratext> xref to a sentence somewhere else in the document. I've used the latter case to ensure that a key text block is written once and cited by xref to ensure that it is identical wherever it occurs. I found it tedious to use variables for this, but I have forgotten why - probably the inability to inset character formats within variables. >Do you use words in them? The minimum, and only if absolutely necessary: I prefer to avoid more than one word. However, an exception would be if you want to repurpose the content for print and online by (amongst other things) switching templates, and you want to have words (for example, 'See page <>') for print, but not for online. Single-sourcing means that xref formats needs a lot more thought. As an aside, publishers of textbooks destined for both print and eBook were keen to ensure that *every* object in a document had an xref to it. This makes sense, as an unreferenced object often (always?) cannot be found in eBook format. We had to include this in our editorial checks, but it sometimes resulted in a bit of a deluge of xrefs that didn't entirely make sense in the context of the body text. Superfluous xrefs are an irritant. > Do you use quotes around content? Definitely not, looks old-fashioned imho: much better to use a distinctive font or text face to make it clear that it's an xref. This is just my 10c. Ultimately it all depends on the context. As Fred has pointed out, the situations are different in documents that haves numbered headings. If you want more info I can look back through past books and list some actual xref formats for you if that would help. In many cases I inherited templates that contained xrefs like 'For more information, see Section "<$paratext>" on page <$pagenum>'. I found these very cumbersome and usually reformatted them. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Who's in charge?
At 22:33 + 29/11/16, I wrote: >As others have said, don't use the formatting bar. It is heap bad juju, and >only there to stop folks who are used to work feeling uncomfortable ;-) Dang: fniger truoble. What I mean to write was '... and only there to stop folks who are used to Word feeling uncomfortable.' -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Who's in charge?
At 22:33 + 29/11/16, Steve Rickaby wrote: >This sender failed our fraud detection checks and may not be who they appear >to be. Learn about spoofing at http://aka.ms/LearnAboutSpoofing I don't know who or what added this, but I am who I say I am. Mind you, these days I can't be entirely sure about anything ;-) This is me... -- Steve Rickaby BSc MBCS CITP MISTC <http://www.linkedin.com/in/steverickaby> WordMongers Ltd<http://www.wordmongers.com> Registered office Larks Cottage, Treen, St Levan, Penzance TR19 6LG Registered in the UK, no. 3130681, VAT reg no GB 557 4598 91 Telephone: 44 (1) 736 810575 ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Who's in charge?
Dennis - other have answered most of these points. I sympathize: FrameMaker is a big learning curve, but you likely won't regret it. My 10c below... At 08:46 -0800 29/11/16, Dennis Brunnenmeyer wrote: >As a relatively new beginner, I hate to bother experts with this question, but >where can I find concise information about the topics below. I have the >original Adobe 7.0 book as well as their Classroom In A Book. Neither of them, >as far as I can tell, address the overall concept of how these tools described >below interact with each other. Instead, those books seem to be just a list of >step-by-step procedures on how to accomplish tasks. I never rated the Classroom in a Book series much, although others may disagree. However, although FrameMaker 7 is old, it's entirely usable as long as you don't need anything like DITA or structure. (Actually, it's also usable for structured docs, but that isn't of interest to you right now.) >Oh, and I also have The Complete Reference / FrameMaker 7 book by Sarah >O'Keefe and Sheila Loring. It's size alone is intimidating, but maybe the >information I need is somewhere in there. Yes, it is. It's a very comprehensive book. You could do worse than work through the earlier chapters on FrameMaker basics. >It seems to me that there are three ways to affect paragraph styles: 1) >Paragraph designer while in Body view mode, 2) Paragraph designer while >viewing Master and Reference Pages, and 3) the Formatting Bar. Not really. Paragraph styles are defined in the Paragraph Designer and are global to a document. Similarly, character styles are designed in the Character Designer, and table styles in the Table Designer. You get the idea. These are independent of whether you are viewing body, master or reference pages. As others have said, don't use the formatting bar. It is heap bad juju, and only there to stop folks who are used to work feeling uncomfortable ;-) >Compounding my confusion is the fact that there are character and paragraph >styles on the Reference pages that aren't in the Character catalog and >Paragraph catalogs. Not really. The stuff on the reference pages of a black FrameMaker document is not paragraph and character style definitions, which are global to a document. The reference pages contain a rag-bag of special-purpose stuff, the meanings of which will become clearer as you progress with FrameMaker. If you have inherited a FrameMaker document/template, it is not impossible that someone has added a reference page that lists the paragraph and character styles and their definitions and/or purposes, but these would only be documentation, not the actual definitions. It's hard to be clear on this without seeing your document. >When working on a paragraph on the body pages, it seems like the Formatting >bar and the Paragraph designer sometimes "disagree" with each other. Trying to >change the Default font style for a paragraph sometimes doesn't "take hold," >meaning no visible changes are made when applying the desired change. I think this has been answered already, but always use the respective designers to define your styles. >If I want to change the color of the text in a paragraph designer, do I need >to create a new character format or a new paragraph format? It depends on what you are trying to achieve. If the colored text will always be applied to an entire paragraph, such as a warning message, then define a paragraph style for it. If the color will only be required to be applied to one more words, define a character style. Note that character style attributes are additive. If you wish to define a style that *only* applies color, use the 'Set Window to As Is' command in the Character Designer's Commands pop-up menu, then define just the color. This will ensure that the new character style will apply only the color attribute to the underlying text, rather than forcing/changing the font, text size and so on. >Again, all I'm looking for, as far as I can tell, is a proper reference >document that explains the interaction between these tools, a general >discussion of when and how they interact, and which one to use. I'm not quite sure what you mean by a proper reference document, but I suspect that what you are looking for is something that explains the theory and thinking behind the FrameMaker document design model. If you master this early on, you will be well set to leverage the power of FrameMaker. If either of the books you mention and the online help don't help you, you might find this article, which give an overview of creating an unstructured FrameMaker template from scratch, of assistance: <http://www.frameusers.com/uploads/2016/09/Locking-down-document-design.pdf> -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to fra
Re: [Framers] Mif wash .book files
At 19:14 + 17/11/16, Stamm, David wrote: >You, too, have hit upon something. Your test resulted in no joy again. ¿So, >what does Notepad do that corrupts the .mif file? Wildly guessing here based on Mac experience A MIF file is an ASCII text file. So you have to think, what could go wrong with an ASCII text file? . Variations in character encoding standards . Non-compliance with the expected line end character/character combo (i.e. LF, CR, CR+LF and so on) . Fniger troulbe when editing ;-) and so on. On Mac I never had any issues with MIF-washing, but saying that doesn't help you. I've now got a mixed-platform system and editors that can display invisible characters, so happy to run trials if that would help. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Pros/Cons: Separate file per chapter, or one REALLY BIG FILE for an entire book
Going public on this... I think the question is, what would be the advantages of putting multiple chapters in a single document? FrameMaker has supported the 'book' concept almost from the get-go: why on earth would you not want to use it? (I am ever-open to suggestions ;-) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Tecom November 8-10, 2016 in Stuttgart
At 10:19 +0200 19/9/16, Klaus Daube wrote: >- Awful dialogue for sorting in table revised? Ouch - I see what you mean. I am reminded of the joke about the gynecologist who painted his front hall through the letter-box. It was all so much better in Mac FrameMaker 7. [Patronizing note for US readers: 'letter-box' is not the same as 'mailbox'. A letter-box is a hole in your front door though which mail is pushed. It gives Brit and Euro dogs something to bark at ;-)] -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] OT: Adobe Tool Question
At 20:03 -0500 9/9/16, Mike Wickham wrote: >EPS is also the only way to keep Windows GDI from automatically converting >CMYK graphics to RGB. If your destination is printing press, CMYK is preferred >over RGB. EPS was also the only way to keep Windows from converting Pantone >colors to RGB. So, if your destination is printing press, EPS graphics are >still the safest way to go (although PDF graphics can also do the job now). This begs a question, with my apologies if it has been belabored here in the past. In pre-press work on Mac, I often had extensive struggles with the final PDFs for all sorts of reasons (extraneous plates, hairlines and so on), but 'helpful' conversion *from* CMYK was never one of them. Is this still an issue with Windows FrameMaker? The thought of Pantones being converted to RGB is the stuff of nightmares. -- Steve [newish to Windows FrameMaker, old lag with Mac FrameMaker] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Pods for southpaws
I have to admit that I have not revisited this issue recently, but merely writing a short letter in FrameMaker reminded me of it. Perhaps because I am left-handed, I would greatly prefer pods on the left and the document window to their right, but all my previous struggles to get FrameMaker to maintain this were in vain. Is there a trick? FrameMaker 12.0.4.445. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Is the Framers list still working?
The last mail I received was 8/15. Regards, Steve Waldenga ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Longtime Frame File suddenly cannot be printed to postscript for PDF production
At 13:07 -0600 31/8/16, Tammy Van Boening wrote: >Of course, removing the Front cover file resolves the issue, but that isn't an >option . .. this has to be part of the final PDF production. Yeah, good stuff goes bad for no reason. That's part of the fun of computers. If you separate out the first page/page pair, can you distill that into a PDF? If so, a workaround might be to do that and then stitch onto the rest of the PDF with Acrobat. If you have the full Acrobat, of course. Aside from that, I'm not up to speed with recent version of FrameMaker/FrameMaker on Windows, I'm mostly familiar with the same process with the old Mac versions of FrameMaker, so I can't guess what might have gone wrong. When you say that nothing has changed, are you sure? Has the version of FrameMaker you are using changed? If you remove the graphic from the cover, does the rest of it distill? Do you know at what stage the hang is happening? Does it distill if you temporarily substitute another graphic? If you build a new one/two page FrameMaker doc with the graphic, will that distill? This sort of thing might give you some clues as to where the problem is. Back in the day I used to use an Adobe printer driver on Mac that worked just fine for years and years and years, generating good .ps files for dozens of books, and then one day just didn't, and never did again, for no apparent reason. Shit happens - especially when there are deadlines. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Import AutoCad dwg files
At 12:16 +0200 17/8/16, Yves Barbion wrote: >Well, AutoCad (DWG) is in the list of file formats in the Import dialog, so >I suppose Frame should be able to import it. There have been many versions of the .dwg format: that might be the root of the problem. I've not had anything to do with .dwg, but we used to hit this sort of issue a lot with native Visio files for a similar reason. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] heading text in "Running H/F #" - clever truncation ?
At 09:01 -0700 15/8/16, Monique Semp wrote: >So, what sorts of schemes/work-arounds have people created to deal with this >sort of issue? The few times I've hit this issue, I've negotiated a shorter heading with the author(s). Fred's tip is bang on if you have to use foxy stuff. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Thumb Tabs
In this interesting discussion about master page strategies, it's worth remembering that FrameMaker gives you the tools to apply master pages automatically in both a structured and unstructured environments: the UnstructMasterPageMaps and StructMasterPageMaps tables on the reference pages. These only appear (FrameMaker creates them for you) when you use the Apply Master Pages... command. They allow you to trigger the application of specific master page based on named paragraph tags on the respective body pages. To those of you who know this, it's old hat, but I'm posting this for anyone who's not aware of this feature. It can save a load of time and increase layout security. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Thumb Tabs
At 09:39 -0500 11/8/16, Theresa de Valence wrote: >On 8/10/2016 11:37 AM, Steve Rickaby wrote: >>I would suggest you use thumbs tabs on every page, and move them down >>the page as the chapters increment. This makes them easier to use. I >>can tell you how to do this (automatically, unstructured) if you >>decide to go down this route. > > >I would be interested to know how to do this. Sending you an article off-line. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Thumb Tabs
At 14:53 + 10/8/16, Denis Daly wrote: >Do you think this is a sensible idea, and can it be done using FM? Yes, and yes. However, I would suggest you use thumbs tabs on every page, and move them down the page as the chapters increment. This makes them easier to use. I can tell you how to do this (automatically, unstructured) if you decide to go down this route. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] [OT] Dublin literary pub crawl? Writers Museum?
At 04:31 -0400 1/7/16, John Sgammato wrote: >My wife and I are vacationing in Ireland. Hurrah! ;-) >Today we're in Dublin, and tonight we may join the literary pub crawl. >Does anyone have experience with the pub crawl or the Writers Museum? Not that, but I have a fair bit of experience of pub crawls in Dublin ;-) Like the time I set off to walk the four miles to a favorite pizza joint in Ballsbridge but was lured into O'Donoghues Bar for a quick Guinness on the way. That was 7:30 pm; I never made it to the pizza place, and got out of O'Donoghues at 11:30 having drunk seven pints of Guinness, only the first of which I'd paid for. By the end of the evening the customers were packed so tight that the bar staff had to stand on the bar and hand the drinks down over people's heads. >Any other attractions we mustn't miss? Dublin has some great street statuary, all of which have hilarious nicknames. The LUAS (tram) is fun to travel on. I'd recommend restaurants but the last time I was in Dublin was 2004 and eating places tend to have a short life. The National Galley of Ireland if you're into art, the Post Office if you're into history, or any of the museums. Sheridan's if you're into cheese. Bernard Shaw's house in Portobello. The Grand Canal towpath. For that matter, the whole of Ireland - I love it ;-) <http://sheridanscheesemongers.com> >I'll see some of the sites in Ulysses, but my wife would never endure doing >the whole walk. Pretty much like the book, then ;-) -- Steve [ex long-distance walker, mostly in Ireland] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] "Exemplified" - use in technical documentation?
For some reason the original posting for this thread did not arrive here (or has not arrived yet), so forgive me if I've misunderstood. 'Exemplified' is a word that should not appear in technical documentation imho. For a start, as Bernard has commented, in many (here in the UK, anyway) cases we should be writing for an audience that may not have English as its first language. 'Exemplified' has four syllables. Why use a long word when a short one will do? Yes, we should always try to stick to the active voice, unless it introduces ambiguity, or in specialized circumstances, such as academic writing. Also, what is the context? Obfuscatory language (i.e. language that uses words like 'obfuscatory' ;-) can pose a serious risk in, for example, safety-critical applications. If the original poster's example was something like '...as exemplified in Figure x.x.', absolutely prefer 'Figure x.x shows...'. Or even just the tried and tested 'Yah de yah: see Figure x.x'. 'As exemplified' poses a relative reference that the reader is forced to resolve (What exemplifies it? What exemplifies what?), distracting them from understanding the content. If some flavor of 'exemplified' is required, how about 'Figure x.x. shows an example'? -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] What causes documentation to fail
Has anyone mentioned structure in this discussion? I don't mean structured vs. unstructured, I mean documentation design. Documentation can be basically sound, but rendered unusable by poor information design and/or lack of suitable navigation tools. This problem becomes geometrically worse as documentation sets grow, especially for complex systems with many interacting components. Many years ago I worked with Hewlett Packard minicomputers (the HP1000 series, if anyone remembers those). These machines were ferociously good for their time, but the documentation was pretty dire. As the capability of the machines had grown, the documentation set had grown alongside them by merely adding new manuals, much as Nature evolved the human brain by adding new bits on top of old bits ;-) There was no global view, so solving a technical issue often involved picking through multiple, thick, manuals that deal with older, newer, higher and lower levels of detail. I often found myself five or six deep in open manuals at the end of a happy day of debugging. I am sure this was very good for my mental training, but it was not an efficient way to work. I doubt if this was an isolated problem. I would be a lot richer now if I'd applied the same level of concentration to Unix systems, but sadly I merely became expert in an operating system that was soon to become obsolete. But the memory lingers: great hardware, awesome operating system, ghastly documentation. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Conditional Expression build crashing FrameMaker with Internal Errors
At 09:43 -0400 10/5/16, Lin Sims wrote: >...but as soon as I try to enclose the entire "and not" clause in parens, >Frame crashes. The same thing happens if I enclose the second clause first >(it saves fine) and then try to enclose the first clause. > >I tried editing in the MIF, but the entire expression disappears from the >pick list when I do that. > >Any ideas on why Frame might be crashing? Any solutions? Is there a simpler >way of doing this? Do I even have the expression set up correctly? > > I guess the FrameMaker team should employ you as a tester ;-) My surmise is that you are pushing complex conditionals further than they have. Have you reported this as a bug? Looks like maybe a stack problem. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Searching for content in FrameMaker files
At 10:50 -0700 7/5/16, Robert Lauriston wrote: >Is there a search utility that knows how to parse .fm files so you >could find multi-word strings reliably? Could PDFs also be an intermediate? Tiresome to produce, agreed, but if a searchable textbase is mandatory... -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Deleting Colours
At 22:19 + 25/4/16, Craig, Alison wrote: >At a guess, I would say any colour with "" is >"in use", while any colour without that tag is an "unused" colour (per the 2 >examples below). > >Is that correct? AFIK the reserved color are FrameMaker's basic set of predefined colors. Your example would tend to confirm this: Cyan is a predefined color, 'Dark Yellow' is not. I will have to fire up my old FrameMaker (which has Color Tools installed) to work out how to delete unused colors, as I'm sure I've used it for that in the past. You might have to build and edit a color list first. Unless Steve Kubis is still here, in which case maybe he could settle the issue. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Deleting Colours
At 15:05 -0700 25/4/16, Robert Lauriston wrote: >You can do it by editing an exported MIF. Check the book MIF as well, >I've seen them stored there. Also, SiliconPrairie have a plug-in for managing colors, Color Tools. <http://www.siliconprairiesoftware.com/Products.html> -- Steve [happy customer] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Generate list of FrameMaker para, char, table, etc., formats?
At 17:35 + 6/4/16, Craig, Alison wrote: >The plug-ins are very inexpensive and highly useful and also include versions >for Tables, Variables, Colors, etc. Seconded, in spades. And with knobs on. Although I would upgrade 'highly useful' to indispensable'. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] RE Taking and inserting screen captures in FrameMaker 2015
I do not recall (or see on my computer) a separate SnagIt plugin file. I believe the plugin was an option in SnagIt 8's installation screens. Regards, Steve Waldenga MitraStar Technology Corp. Creative Design Department +886-3-577-7998 ext. 55691 www.mitrastar.com This email and any files transmitted with it may contain information of MitraStar Technology Corporation that are privileged / confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, disclose, distribute, copy, or use this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Re Screen Capture tools ...
Thank you for everyone's replies. Micheal, thank you for mentioning the Snipping Tool. This is the first I'd heard of it and it seems handy. Robert, the SnagIt plugin streamlines and partially automates taking and inserting a screen capture. It lets me: 1. In FM, select a graphic frame and click SnagIt > Perform a SnagIt Capture. 2. SnagIt minimizes FrameMaker, takes the capture, and opens the Save As dialog. 3. I name and save the file. 4. Snagit automatically opens FM's graphic import dialog. RoboScreenCapture adds an FM menu item to launch the tool. I still have to: 1. In FM, click File > Launch > RoboScreenCapture. 2. Manually select the screen I want to capture. 3. Manually go back to RoboScreenCapture. 4. Click capture and take the capture. 5. Click Save. 6. Name and save the file. (Although it does not always use the name I specify.) 7. Manually go back to FrameMaker. 8. Select the graphic frame and click File > Import > File. Regards, Steve Waldenga MitraStar Technology Corp. Creative Design Department +886-3-577-7998 ext. 55691 www.mitrastar.com This email and any files transmitted with it may contain information of MitraStar Technology Corporation that are privileged / confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, disclose, distribute, copy, or use this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
[Framers] Taking and inserting screen captures in FrameMaker 2015
Hi, Does anyone know of a screen capture plugin for FM2015? (Or some another convenient method for taking and inserting screen captures?) The SnagIt plugin with FM9 makes it easy to take, save, and insert a screen capture. I have not found an equally convenient tool or method for FM2015. Adobe's RoboScreenCapture tool in Tech Comm Suite 2015 requires extra steps and seems buggy when saving captures. Judging from the 2006-2007 copyright dates I do not expect Adobe to update it soon. Best regards, Steve Waldenga MitraStar Technology Corp. Creative Design Department +886-3-577-7998 ext. 55691 www.mitrastar.com This email and any files transmitted with it may contain information of MitraStar Technology Corporation that are privileged / confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, disclose, distribute, copy, or use this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] FrameMaker 7.2 Not Responding on New PC
At risk of getting flamed left, right and center, and with due respect for Art, I'd just point out that FrameMaker 7 for Mac still runs like a train on my 2003 MDD Mac dual PowerPC under Classic (the OS 9 emulator). I've long since upgraded, but certainly not because of FrameMaker. I've done macho (for me) things on it, including home-brewed structured docs. You could probably pick up both FrameMaker 7 for Mac and a serviceable PowerPC machine (OS no later than Tiger, OS X 10.4) for peanuts on eBay. -- Steve [sorry everyone...] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Framers archives are restored!
At 21:56 + 19/1/16, Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote: >The earliest message I have is Dec 07, 2004. So, Steve's 2001 messages are >earlier than mine for sure ... Carol posted that there were over 64k messages in the archive. I appear to have about half that number here, so incomplete. But there are some 2050 prior to 1/1/2005. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to Framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at %http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers_lists.frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Framers archives are restored!
At 10:20 -0700 19/1/16, Carol J. Elkins wrote: >Framers, I'm happy to announce that the good people over at MailArchive.com >have managed to restore all of the Framers archives dating back to 2005. There >were over 64,573 of them! Well done - terrific! I seem to have not-guaranteed-to-be-complete archives going back to 25 October 2001 )when I joined), so if anyone can't find relevant stuff in the archive, mail me off-list and I'll dig. -- Steve [Eudora rules ok!] ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to Framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.frameusers.com Archives located at %http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/ Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers_lists.frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Mif2Go conversion to Word
At 16:27 + 6/1/16, Denis Daly wrote: >Does anyone have an opinion on using Acrobat Writer to edit the PDF file >created from FM? The intention being to not revert to the original FM file and >that all future edits would be done using Acrobat writer only. > >This process only to be used on a small number of FM files. 'Normal' practice >is to use FM exclusively. I am thinking of doing this as my workload is >increasing and we do not intend to purchase a second FM licence or train a >second user in FM. Instead a second person is available but that person has >Acrobat writer experience. This sounds like bad practise to me - it has the makings of a version control nightmare. How, for example, are you going to link the (possibly several) changed PDFs with their FrameMaker master document? You do not say which version of FrameMaker you are using, but later versions have the ability to import PDF review comments: <http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/05/handling-pdf-review-comments-in-framemaker.html> The note 'Note: The source document should not be changed between generating PDF and importing comments' is no longer true with FrameMaker 12's enhanced Acrobat comment import feature: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xbwAMeB6-A> Might help? (Disclaimer: I have to used this feature.) -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to Framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.frameusers.com Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers_lists.frameusers.com
Re: [Framers] Mif2Go conversion to Word
At 18:00 + 6/1/16, Steve Rickaby wrote: >(Disclaimer: I have to used this feature.) Did I? I of course meant to write 'I have *not* used this feature.' Yet. -- Steve ___ This message is from the Framers mailing list Send messages to Framers@lists.frameusers.com Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.frameusers.com Subscribe and unsubscribe at http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers_lists.frameusers.com
Re: Importing clear, sharp images
Sean Brierley's document might help: http://www.stc-carolina.org/wiki_attachments/Screen_Captures_102.pdf -- Steve ___ 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: Is there a way to get around the issue of a book not allowing the same file more than once?
At 11:54 -0400 17/6/15, john.x.pos...@us.hsbc.com wrote: Why? In case it proves flaky to do it in FrameMaker. -- Steve ___ 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: Is there a way to get around the issue of a book not allowing the same file more than once?
At 22:46 +0100 17/6/15, Steve Rickaby wrote: At 11:54 -0400 17/6/15, john.x.pos...@us.hsbc.com wrote: Why? In case it proves flaky to do it in FrameMaker. Sorry, not a good answer. Let me elaborate. As I understand it, you want to include the same content multiple times in a book. FrameMaker might make that tricky unless you have, as has already been suggested (Monica?), multiple book files with different names but with the same content. If you follow this approach, it should all work and only leave you with the issue of being confident that the included content is always identical. However, you only want to have to edit that content in one place. Hence a master document for the multiply included content, and some convenient means outside FrameMaker that ensures that edits to the master content are always propagated to multiple included clones. Gets you around using text insets, although I'd probably try that also if the cloned content is short. -- Steve ___ 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: Is there a way to get around the issue of a book not allowing the same file more than once?
At 10:59 -0400 17/6/15, Art Campbell wrote: I'd second Peter's approach. Two container files each pulling the single insert All good advice so far, but I think I'd initially try to implement this outside of FrameMaker, using one master source file for the multiple includes and some script or app that kept multiple clones of it in sync wrt to the content, if not the numbering. Just my 10c... -- Steve ___ 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: Adobe announces FrameMaker (2015 Release)
At 17:25 + 2/6/15, Keith Soltys wrote: Adobe has announced the new version of FrameMaker. It looks like a more substantial release than FrameMaker 12. http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker.htmlhttp://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker.html Klunky name: hope the rest of it is slicker. I look forward to user feedback - although some of the touted features, such as better Word import, CMS/DropBox integration and PDF reviewing, have been touted before. Conditional table columns: yay! Packaging! Better pods! Conditional books! -- Steve ___ 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: Adobe Customer Care-less - Yet another round
At 07:43 -0600 30/5/15, Tammy Van Boening wrote: Priyank came to my assistance and had the whole issue solved in 15 minutes. Yet again the huge value of this group is validated. -- Steve ___ 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: Adobe Customer Care-less - Yet another round
At 11:22 -0700 30/5/15, Tori Muir wrote: Well.. yes and no. It's ridiculous that a paying customer of so many years can only get timely, competent assistance by venting in a forum. Indeed it is: that was what I meant ;-) -- Steve ___ 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: Example of a good Accessory User Guide
At 09:19 + 17/4/15, Denis Daly wrote: Would anyone have a good example of an effective template of a user guide for an accessory, please? Without meaning to be critical, Denis, your question isn't really answerable as it stands. What sort of accessory, and for what? Is there anything on the thing for which the accessory is an accessory for? Do you need to match that? Looking at your company's website, it seems that you are involved in ordnance detection and disposal. That's a pretty specialized and technical field and would, I imagine, involve many legal requirements for hazmat warnings and so forth. Doesn't your company have an already-defined set of documentation guidelines, look-and-feel and/or templates? If you can provide more details, maybe someone on this list can give you some leads. Aside from that, unstructured FrameMaker template construction isn't hard, but if you want to start with something that will stand the test of time you might consider involving a document designer. It's a big field, which starts with the document end-users' requirements, delivery media and so on. -- Steve ___ 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: What is your experience with FM12 using the 5K Retina screen?
At 05:26 -0400 15/4/15, Austin Meredith wrote: Because of fading eyesight due to old age, I have been thinking about upgrading my hardware and software. I'd like to purchase a new iMac loaded with the Windows operating system, because of Apple's amazing brilliant precise 5K Retina monitor on which print appears so crisp, and then run FrameMaker 12 under Windows on that iMac. However, when I contacted Adobe about whether it was possible to run FrameMaker 12 at full screen resolution on the 5K Retina monitor, they responded that -- despite the fact that the 5K Retina monitor has been being sold for some time now, they have yet to test this! Failing Scott's response pointing you in the direction of people with hands-on experience, and if you have a FrameMaker 12 install you can de-license from your current machine, why not try your local Apple store (if you have one) and see if they'd let you trial it on a real machine and 5k display? Here in the UK I got surprisingly good support from the business team at my nearest Apple store (about two hours from here), even though they knew perfectly well that I was only in for a single machine. In fact it was they who came up with the idea of hosting OS X Snow Leopard under Parallels (which you would need for Windows) and running all my legacy software there. Kept me out of the clutches of the Adobe licensing model, and allowed me to go on using Eduroa for mail. I don't have a Retina Display, but I have the latest Apple stand-alone big-screen Thunderbolt display (2560 x 1440), and I've not had any issues with FrameMaker 12 on that. I don't know if this is comparable though. -- Steve ___ 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: try not to laugh out loud at this question...
At 21:45 -0400 13/4/15, Veronica Kutt wrote: I believe you can get results in Word, if you use a tool called SmartDocs, a content management and reuse solution for Microsoft Word. Interesting to see that SmartDocs is still around. It even does conditional text. License model only, $395-$695/pa, but the cheaper versions look fairly hobbled. -- Steve ___ 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 ExtendScript Webinar Materials
At 15:30 -0400 30/3/15, Rick Quatro wrote: 3) Any ideas for automation that you have identified in your FrameMaker workflow. What are your production bottlenecks? These could range anywhere from a few repetitive actions that you find yourself doing consistently to major workflows. I am open to any and all suggestions. Oddly, someone on another tech author group I'm on has just asked for more or less the same sort of input, but for Word, for an article. Here's my starter for 10 (Brit expression) in case it's helpful (assuming that books haven't gone out of fashion)... Most of my workflow for technical books needed manual work and was not that susceptible to automation, but the time when I resorted most to simple automation was for indexing. A simple example of a short script might be to create a marker from selected text using predefined character formats. For example, select 'John Doe' in body text by searching for two consecutive words that both had leading caps and have an index marker created containing NameDoe, JohnDefault Para Format optionally with a controllable custom marker type if I was creating the main or a subsidiary dictionary. I expect that ExtendScript could automate this in such a way the marker type was not overridden if the selected text already contained a marker, which was certainly an issue in FrameMaker 7, and could loop through an entire document or book. The method I used, with keystroke macros, required a second pass to change all the markers that were incorrectly set as hypertext or xref markers back to index (or custom) markers. I will look forward to the webinar with interest. -- Steve ___ 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: Training
At 18:47 + 30/3/15, Craig, Alison wrote: Over the years, I've seen several of you mention a training website where you can take courses on various programs - but the name completely escapes me. As you did not specify what sort of training you were looking for, there is also http://www.w3schools.com/ for webby stuff, and http://spreadsheets.about.com/ for Excel, and probably more. -- Steve ___ 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: User's manual vs. User manual
That's some of the most impressive pseudogerman I've ever seen. Kudos! :D We are getting truly off topic, but my favorite German compound is 'Gemeinschaftsgefül' (if I have spelled it correctly). It's a real word, taken from Adlerian psychology, and is rather lovely. It means, as best I know, 'a spontaneous feeling of unity with the whole of Mankind'. Which I get a bit of from this group. To make this e-mail a bit more on-topic, in the UK at least I have never come across 'User's Manual', only 'User Manual' or 'User Guide'. -- Steve ___ 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: User's manual vs. User manual
Applying the Google Popularity Test (yeah, I know) gives: User Manual: 223 million hits User's Manual: 19.7 million hits It would seem therefore that the former is 11.3197 times more usual ;-) -- Steve [Trim e-mails: use less disk, use less power, use less planet: PLEASE!] ___ 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: Scripting issues
At 08:22 +0100 8/3/15, Klaus Daube wrote: After a look on QuickKeys website I see that the equivalent on Windows would be http://www.pcshorthand.com/screenshot.htmlShortHand on Windows. I had used this for many years, but switched to AHK in 2005. AHK provides nearly all Windows functions - and the support from ShortHand was limited. And their website looks even worse than mine... ;-) Thanks - I'll look at that too. The tough thing about ShortHand is it's price: Single PC License (non-expiring): $149.95 Ouch. Still, if these things work well (and are used sensibly, see below), they can pay for themselves very quickly in saved time. Sensible use of macros... A long time ago some software guru whose name I forget wrote a book about software project management. In this book he classified software engineers into groups by character type. I thought about this and realized that I fell into the 'toolmaker' group: I got a big kick out of building software tools that saved time. I also realized that the 'get you' here is the tool that takes longer to build than it returns in time saved through its use ;-) The moral, as in so much else, is 'keep it simple'. (I looked it up: it was Gerald M Weinberg, 'The Psychology of Computer Programming', Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1971). Long time ago, but still all true.) -- Steve ___ 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: Scripting issues
My thanks to Adam, Rick, Carol and Klaus for very useful feedback. The vote is AutoHotKey 3, AutoIt 1 - but as the 1 vote comes from Rick, I have to give greater weight to it ;-) Lots to go on here. -- Steve ___ 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.
Scripting issues
Yves' e-mail about scripting has reminded me of something I need advice about. Until quite recently I was using the ancient FrameMaker 7 for Mac. Over many years of working with it I had developed a series of custom toolbars and macros for cutting the workload of book production, using QuickKeys, a Mac macro utility. FrameMaker for Mac has now gone, as has QuickKeys for that matter, and I am now working with FrameMaker 12 in Parallels. This leaves me without some important but pretty simple automation, for example inserting 'CharStyleNameDefaultParaFormat' and so on into index markers. Can anyone recommend a Windows text macro tool that could fill this gap? Please note that I am not talking about automating FrameMaker with either of the (at least?) two powerful methods now available, I am only talking about simple text manipulation and user interface short-cuts. QuickKeys could cut, paste and inject text and invoke menu commands, which is all I'm after. Any advice welcome. -- Steve ___ 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: Word (was Re: Frame vs. Flare for My Needs)
I do not think I have posted this story to this group before, so, as Word is being discussed... This really happened: I was there, I watched. Long time ago, I worked as a contractor for a small but upwardly mobile company. At that time the staff occupied a single floor of an office block in West London, a couple of directors, a secretary and a bunch of very bright and highly-paid engineers. One of the senior staff came in with the words 'This memo is urgent: can you get it out quickly.' (Probably a strategic error, triggering a local perturbance in the Universal Murphy Field). The secretary set to work typing up the one-page memo in Word. Something went wrong, she struggled with it, and got nowhere. So she called over one of the very bright and highly-paid engineers to help. He struggled with it and got nowhere, so he called over another very bright and highly-paid engineer. I don't know what they were struggling with, but the words 'I've never seen it do that before' occurred more than once. After a while most of the company's technical staff were helping the poor girl to lash Word into producing this one-page memo. Finally they succeeded, and the print command was issued. The printer jammed. One of the highly-paid engineers unjammed the printer. The print command was issued again... and again the printer jammed. I cannot remember how many times this happened, but I do distinctly remember that at the very point when the printer was finally coaxed into life, just as I thought 'Surely, nothing else can go wrong'... the toner cartridge exploded. I am not making this up. -- Steve ___ 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: User interface view option customization
At 10:14 + 25/2/15, Steve Rickaby wrote: I guess what I was hoping for was that 'fit window to page' could somehow be set to be the default state of a document view. Maybe it cannot. As FrameMaker can now save workspaces, it would be nice if a saved workspace included view defaults, but maybe they don't quite fit the paradigm. It gets worse! When two or more documents are open in a tabbed view, switching document tabs often seems to remove the 'set window to page' setting. This is really annoying, and with the workspace I've got set up, means that a bunch of pods on the right-hand side (I'm left-handed) are repeatedly overlaid by a large blank gray area, requiring 'set window to page' to be repeatedly re-selected again. Can this really be the intended behavior? I'm running FrameMaker 12 under Win7 in Parallels, but that should not make any difference, although what happens when switching views sometimes seems to be affected by whether or not full-screen viewing is enabled. An app like FrameMaker shouldn't make more fingerwork for users. I guess I'm just grumbling, so I'll stop, but it anyone has experience of taming document window behavior in when using FrameMaker in Parallels I'd be happy to hear about it. -- Steve ___ 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: User interface view option customization
At 11:27 +0200 25/2/15, Shmuel wrote: The view size is saved with each file. If you change the view size it's considered a change to the file, and the Save button becomes active so that you can save the change. Since that's the way FM works, I don't see how there could be any option for a default view (unless you mean the default view size for a new document). You are right, of course. My bad for not being sufficiently clear in my posting. Yes, the zoom size is saved with the document. What I'm getting sick of is having to repeatedly re-select 'fit window to page' every time I open a document. As this is in the same menu as the document zoom setting, I'd lumped it in together with the zoom setting in my mind. You could change the view size of all files in a book at once by selecting all the files in the book window and then selecting ViewZoom100%. This changes the view size of all files, even if they are closed. It took me a long time to figure this out. This is a big time saver. Sure: it took me a long time to figure it out too, and yes it is ;-) I guess what I was hoping for was that 'fit window to page' could somehow be set to be the default state of a document view. Maybe it cannot. As FrameMaker can now save workspaces, it would be nice if a saved workspace included view defaults, but maybe they don't quite fit the paradigm. -- Steve ___ 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: User interface view option customization
At 19:31 + 24/2/15, David Spreadbury wrote: Do a search for framemaker_11_ini_reference (without the quotes or go to http://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/ini/framemaker_11_ini_reference.pdfhttp://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/ini/framemaker_11_ini_reference.pdf. There are a couple settings listed in this document that might do just what you are looking for. I do have the document. I will look at it again - thanks. -- Steve ___ 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.
User interface view option customization
I am still feeling the pain of transition from FrameMaker 7 on Mac to the sunny uplands (maybe) of FrameMaker 12. But it does give me access to customization via the maker.ini file that was not possible on Mac. I have searched - oh how I have searched - for a setting that controls the default view of a document when it is opened (100%, set window to page and so on). I even found the INI documentation for FrameMaker 11, but no joy. Does anyone know - is this configurable? I find myself correcting the view every time I open a document, and it's getting tiresome. -- Steve ___ 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.
