Re: Text Insets: Any Gotchas?

[Steve Rickaby]

At 13:22 -0700 15/5/07, Angela Akridge wrote:

Are there any gotchas with using text insets? For example, can I insert
xrefs so long as all books that use the text inset have the section to which
the text entity references? I assume that I'd need to regenerate to get the
appropriate page number as the page number will vary from book to book.

Yes, there are, although it depends a lot whether the inset files are pure text 
(plain ASCII) or formatted text such as another FrameMaker file. It's a pity 
that the term 'text inset' is used, rather than, say, 'file insets', as the 
fact that text insets are most often *not* pure text is confusing:

. There is a bug in FrameMaker that causes an inset of a FrameMaker file to 
apply the paragraph formatting to the line following the inset. There are 
workarounds to this, which you should be able to find in the archives.

. For the same or a related reason, consecutive text insets can pose problems.

. A normal FrameMaker cross-reference into a text inset will break when/if the 
inset is updated. The workaround for this is the create an explicit 
cross-reference to a named marker. That is, you must create a named marker in 
the FrameMaker file to be inset, import it, and then explicitly reference that 
marker in your cross-reference(s). You cannot, of course, create a 
cross-reference into an ASCII inset.

. Search/replace and spell checking don't look inside text insets. A way around 
this is to separately create an ur-book that contains all your text inset 
files, and spell check/search that. The ur-book is merely a maintenance device, 
and has no relationship to your working book(s).

. The inheritance of variables in text insets is complex and depends on the 
formatting options of the inset. It could therefore pose a maintenance headache.

. Ditto conditional text settings.

I recently wrote an article about the use of text insets to construct modular 
books. Mail me off list if you'd like a copy.

I don't really understand your point about page numbering, other than to say 
yes, you always have to update a book to get correct page numbering.

-- 
Steve
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RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Steve Rickaby]

At 12:40 -0700 15/5/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:

I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group. Internal 
candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I always 
asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all responded that 
they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They wrote lots of 
corresondence and updated their draft letters with the edits from their 
bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to start posting 
BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a minimal requirement 
with no equivalency allowed.

I think if I were in that position, a screening question I would ask would be 
'Do you think that Word is a suitable tool for technical writing: discuss'. ;-) 
I'm sure the answers would be quite illuminating.

However, about half the tech writers I know never formally trained as tech 
writers - although all are of graduate level. One reason for this is that for 
my generation there wasn't much in the way of formal courses for tech writers 
when we were at college - I only first heard about the profession in the late 
80s.

-- 
Steve
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TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Diane Gaskill]

Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience.  And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well.  I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well.  A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer.  I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer.  But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the edits
from their bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no equivalency allowed.

  Rene


 Keith Smyth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  As in So easy a Caveman could do it?

 I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
 thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
 our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
 become a tech writer, because if you can do it, anyone can do it.

 And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.


 You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
 writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
 warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job. As
 if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
 experience could do it.
 
 
 Thank you,
 
  -Gillian

 --
 Keith L. Smyth
 President
 Smyth Consulting
 -
 Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
 -
 Technical Documentation Consultant

 ___


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 Rene L. Stephenson
 eNovative Solutions, Inc.
 Business Phone: 678-513-0051
 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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Re: TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Deb]

Hi All,
I agree with Diane.
I have encountered candidates with english degrees and certifications in
english who have failed badly when it comes to the writing piece and working
on the relevant documentation tools.

Regards,
Debashish



On 5/16/07, Diane Gaskill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with
MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience.  And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well.  I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience
when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well.  A
degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL
writer.  I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer.  But people with those degrees are
usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them.
I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the
edits
from their bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no equivalency allowed.

  Rene


 Keith Smyth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  As in So easy a Caveman could do it?

 I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
 thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
 our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
 become a tech writer, because if you can do it, anyone can do it.

 And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.


 You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
 writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
 warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job.
As
 if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
 experience could do it.
 
 
 Thank you,
 
  -Gillian

 --
 Keith L. Smyth
 President
 Smyth Consulting
 -
 Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
 -
 Technical Documentation Consultant

 ___


 You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 To unsubscribe send a blank email to
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 or visit
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 Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit
 http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.



 Rene L. Stephenson
 eNovative Solutions, Inc.
 Business Phone: 678-513-0051
 Email: [EMAIL 

Re: TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

Those are good points. 
  Rene

Diane Gaskill [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer. I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:
 I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the edits
from their bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no equivalency allowed.

 Rene


 Keith Smyth wrote:
 As in So easy a Caveman could do it?

 I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
 thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
 our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
 become a tech writer, because if you can do it, anyone can do it.

 And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.


 You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
 writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
 warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job. As
 if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
 experience could do it.
 
 
 Thank you,
 
  -Gillian

 --
 Keith L. Smyth
 President
 Smyth Consulting
 -
 Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
 -
 Technical Documentation Consultant

 ___


 You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 To unsubscribe send a blank email to
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 or visit
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 Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit
 http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.



 Rene L. Stephenson
 eNovative Solutions, Inc.
 Business Phone: 678-513-0051
 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]



 ___


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Re: TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Peter Courlis]

I like these views on qualifications. Very revealing,
however, I am convinced that to do or accomplish
anything (task or objective) in life, there is but one 
key word and that is: motivation.

Do you, or more correctly how do you assess
the motivation of the candidate?

Thanks for comments

peter

Rene Stephenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Those are good points. 
  Rene

Diane Gaskill  wrote:
  Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer. I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:
 I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the edits
from their bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no equivalency allowed.

 Rene


 Keith Smyth wrote:
 As in So easy a Caveman could do it?

 I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
 thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
 our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
 become a tech writer, because if you can do it, anyone can do it.

 And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.


 You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
 writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
 warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job. As
 if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
 experience could do it.
 
 
 Thank you,
 
  -Gillian

 --
 Keith L. Smyth
 President
 Smyth Consulting
 -
 Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
 -
 Technical Documentation Consultant

 ___


 You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 Send list messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 To unsubscribe send a blank email to
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 or visit
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 Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit
 http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.



 Rene L. Stephenson
 

Re: TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

I don't think anyone thinks that an English degree alone means a person is 
qualified. It's just a way to try to weed through applicants when you're buried 
under a pile of resumes of applicants with no writing experience. As I said, it 
was a response to a particular situation at a particular company, and if you 
knew all the HR constraints in that company and what it forced into various 
decisions and how much of the decision could be forced based on HR policies 
rather than hiring manager's input, you'd have likely made the same decision in 
that situation.
   
  Even tenure in the field isn't always a good indicator. We hired one writer 
with a 25 year history, but then found out over the course of the next 6 mo 
that there was very little discipline or tool knowledge, and a prevalent 
attitude that edits are a luxury and little things like consistently referring 
to AC power in caps was considered making it pretty and that writer didn't 
have time for pretty even though there was time built into the schedule and 
not plenty of writer bandwidth.
   
  Certainly, there have been good writers with non-English degrees and prior 
work experience in a technical field. I have hired a couple myself, and I work 
with one now. It's hard to find a good blend of writing skill and technical 
expertise, but it's out there.
   
  Rene
   
  

Deb [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  Hi All,
I agree with Diane.
I have encountered candidates with english degrees and certifications in
english who have failed badly when it comes to the writing piece and working
on the relevant documentation tools.

Regards,
Debashish



On 5/16/07, Diane Gaskill wrote:

 Rene, All,

 Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
 an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

 As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with
 MAs
 and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
 hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
 experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
 look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience
 when
 screening and hiring writers.

 I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A
 degree
 in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL
 writer. I'd
 personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
 science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are
 usually
 sw developers or designers, not writers.

 Diane Gaskill
 San Jose, CA

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Behalf Of Lise Bible
 Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
 To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
 Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


 Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
 my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
 assume that if you can type and spell
 (or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
 you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

 But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
 in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
 I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
 specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
 ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
 Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
 department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
 acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
 position here opened up, and I applied.

 I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
 out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
 department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
 classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
 Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

 Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
 outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
 out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

 -Lise

 On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:
  I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
 Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them.
 I
 always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
 responded that they had good English and were experts with MS Word. They
 wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the
 edits
 from their bosses, so they knew how to handle document review. We had to
 start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
 minimal requirement with no equivalency allowed.
 
  Rene
 
 
  Keith Smyth wrote:
  As in So easy a Caveman could do it?
 
  I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone 

Re: TW hiring qualifications

[Chris Borokowski]

This reminds me of the certification debate a few
months ago. I don't believe there is any single way to
accurately predict whether someone will be a good
technical writer. But, much like the SAT predicts
general aptitude and the rest is up to you regarding
college, a degree in any field requiring structured
thinking and communication is good to see. I would
look more at philosophy and literature majors, as well
as people with experience writing in the lab sciences.
They have the basic skill, and the rest is a matter of
experience.

--- Rene Stephenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 I don't think anyone thinks that an English degree
 alone means a person is qualified. 

User Interface design blog
http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
Code::Design::UI::Consulting
http://www.dionysius.com/


 

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Character switching FM/Distiller

[Bodvar Bjorgvinsson]

Hi all,

I am trying to use Zapf Dingbats (that has never failed me!) to
display and print a.o. the digit 2 in a ring. The FM shortcut is
CTRL-q - (dash) or ALT-0173.

The weird thing is that in both instances (using CTRL-q - (dash) and
ALT-0173) or by copy - pasting from the character map, the character
shows correctly in FM 7.2 but after distilling, the pdf shows the hand
holding pen turning left.
Both characters are using the dash, according to the character map,
with the difference that the hand is hard dash and the 2 circled is
the soft dash.

Any ideas? Will I need to use the circled numbers from Wingdings 1?

I have no problems with the circled 1.

Bodvar Bjorgvinsson,
Supervisor Publishing,
Air Atlanta Icelandic.
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RE: Figure Numbering Problem

[eric . dunn]

Lester C. Smalley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 05/15/2007 04:24:11 
PM:

 Are any of the figures inside either another text frame, or a table?
 
 Numbering usually works extremely well, provided all the paragraph tags
 are in the same text flow. Either of these instances creates a different
 text flow and/or evaluation order of the numbering building blocks
 (counters) that may account for the weird behavior.

But... Here's some interesting behaviour:

If a disconnected text frame is in an anchored frame, and the paragraph 
format contains the word figure, it will autonumber. If the paragraph 
format does not, autonumbering is independent.

If you update all the figure title paragraph formats to a new name, the 
currently linked and autonumbered paragraphs stay sequentially numbered as 
do new paragraphs in separate anchored and text frames.

However, you sometimes see bizarre behaviour such as figure titles not 
incrementing or restarting or intermittently having to change the 
numbering for the first item in a legend to n=1 manually or by different 
paragraph tag.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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Re: Figure Numbering Problem

[eric . dunn]

To address the initial problem:

The only repair I have found that works is to rebuild the files anchored 
frames from the point at which the numbering is broken. To be extra sure, 
rebuild them all.

Save a copy of your file, in the working file delete all anchored frames, 
then with the working file and copy side by side, create a new anchored 
frame for each in the copy. Use the copy only to get the graphic and text 
for the title.

I've identified that it usually breaks when anchored frames containing 
text frames with numbered content are copied and pasted. At some point, 
FrameMaker gets confused as to which text frames to keep out of the 
numbering flow and which to include.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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copy, use or disclose the contents of this communication to others. Please 
notify the sender that you have received this e-mail in error by reply 
e-mail, and delete the e-mail subsequently. Please note that in order to 
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les présentes avisée qu?il est strictement interdit de le diffuser, le 
distribuer ou le reproduire. Si vous l?avez reçu par inadvertance, 
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RE: How many FM users are there?

[Bernard Aschwanden]

Just as a further note to the info Max passed on, I'm happy to say that several 
of the features shown included some awesome tools that Frame has been missing 
for years. While it was demo of a pre-release and not all versions may make it 
into the final copy (that should keep legal happy) it was neat to see things 
like track changes and multiple conditions being added into the application.

Add to that the expected inclusion of solid DITA support and the software can 
easily hold its own against Arbortext. While the default export of DITA content 
in 7.2 was weak (I built an independent way to create some DITA while Adobe 
sorted this out) the DITA Application Pack (Free download from Adobe) does a 
great job. I've created numerous DITA documents including maps, task, 
references, concepts and more with it and run transforms and validation against 
the files. I did so in third party tools and other DITA tools. No issues. Frame 
is solid and will continue to get better.

Add support for a variety of other publishing features and Adobe has shown that 
the rumor of Frame's demise are entirely wrong. The product is strong and 
viable. The feature set that has been publicly shown results in rounds of 
applause. I'm so happy to see that there is ongoing  development and that the 
Adobe booth was mobbed with requests for info on a variety of new tools.

All the best,

Bernard



Bernard Aschwanden
Director of Technology and Publishing Architecture
Bright Path Solutions

[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

www.brightpathsolutions.com 


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Maxwell Hoffmann
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:45 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Diane,

Thank you for checking with me; your timing could not be better. I am at the 
STC Annual Convention in Minneapolis, where I've had an opportunity to peak in 
on several DITA presentations and solicit feedback on FrameMaker's DITA 
capabilities from a variety of sources.

I won't say that Arbortext is lying to you, but they are 100% wrong, and 
clearly misinformed. The only real difference between Arbortext DITA and 
FrameMaker that I am aware of is that the current release of FrameMaker (V7.2) 
requires the user to download the DITA toolkit instead of finding it bundled in 
the product as it ships.

If you used structured FrameMaker with the DITA app pak, you will be able to 
produce DITA that is 100% compliant with OASIS standards. As long as your 
company's division in Japan is producing DITA-compliant output from Arbortext, 
there is no reason that you cannot have a seamless exchange.

I hope that this ends the argument, but based on past experience of my own  
with Arbortext sales people, you can probably expect further claims like this 
to surface. My feedback comes from a variety of sources, including users who 
are currently creating DITA from structured FrameMaker 7.2.

Incidentally, I had a sneak peak of the next release of FrameMaker at a 
session today and I got permission from the PM to share this much: DITA will be 
bundled with the next release and end the 5 minutes or so that it takes to 
download the DITA toolkit. Feedback from STC attendees who have seen the brief 
sneak peaks of the next FrameMaker has been overwhelmingly positive.

I hope this helps. 


Maxwell Hoffmann
Manager of Consulting  Training Solutions
ENLASO Corporation
T: 805 494 9571 * F: 805 435 1920
E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ♦ ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise language 
solutions and exceeds client expectations through continuing research, 
development, and implementation of effective localization processes and 
technologies.  Visit: www.translate.com for more information or to subscribe to 
our complimentary localization newsletter. 
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann

-Original Message-
From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:09 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; Maxwell Hoffmann; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Max,

The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not compatible with 
anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me that the PTC version of DITA is 
standard (whatever that means).

One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We are leaning toward 
structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to exchange XMS files between SFM and 
AT.  Some of the comments (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed 
to say that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light on this?

Thanks a bunch.

Diane

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Re: TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

I have found that open-ended questions and carefully listening help during the 
interview, but it's really hard to figure out what motivates someone you don't 
know.  You could ask some questions that pose difficult choices and follow up 
with why they chose what they did. You could ask questions about if they were 
told they had to choose to spend  a month in various undesireable situations, 
which one would they choose. That could give you an understanding if they are 
transparent, but sometimes candidates will tell you either what they think you 
want to hear or what they think is the most benign choice.
   
  I have found with employees, as with my children, that motivation is largely 
internal. You can give incentives, but that only works for those who are 
motivated by wanting more. You can give praise, but that only works for the 
pleasers. You can give challenges, but that only works for those not easily 
intimidated. You can give encouragement, but those who like to be coddled may 
well just settle into a comfort zone and demotivate. I think it's more key to 
understand what's important to them first. Then you can figure out how to 
balance what's important to them with the needs of your company and what you 
can offer to keep everyone moving forward.  
   
  If the question isn't WHAT motivates, but rather IF they're motivated, that's 
another issue altogether. In that case, you can glimpse some hints sometimes by 
probing into recent projects (tell me about a recent project that you found 
enjoyable/frustrating/challenging/bothersome and why).  Around my town, tech 
writing is a small community, so it's easy to find out about someone by word 
of mouth, too. 
   
  I know some people who don't check references, unless they personally know 
the listed reference, because folks aren't going to put down a reference that's 
not going to just say how grand the candidate is. However, I have gotten some 
good insight from references from time to time, so I don't know that I agree 
with that tack.
   
  My 2¢US  (right, that's not the strongest currency these days LOL)
  Rene

Peter Courlis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  I like these views on qualifications. Very revealing,
however, I am convinced that to do or accomplish
anything (task or objective) in life, there is but one 
key word and that is: motivation.

Do you, or more correctly how do you assess
the motivation of the candidate?

Thanks for comments

peter

Rene Stephenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:  Those are good points. 
Rene

Diane Gaskill wrote:
Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer. I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell...hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?) then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the admin mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, 

RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

That's still true in some regions. Not all universities offer any training 
toward technical writing, and some of the ones locally that do are really only 
teaching basic grammar and writing business letter. It would appear that the 
department head there has no clue what tech writing is, or that syllabus would 
be returned for heavy revision!
   
  Among candidates with no direct tech writing experience and short job 
histories, I have found that candidates who majored in literature or English 
rhetoric/composition (or other field that requires a lot of writing that's 
graded by prof's who know how to write well) and minored in a technical field 
such as computer science, a type of engineering, or other scientific field -- 
are the candidates who seem to settle in to the odd mix of skills required in 
our field. I also had a good experience with someone whose BS was in biology 
and minored in journalism, and her family background was a very goal-oriented. 
As a writer, she was detail-oriented and adjusted well to the demands of 
timelines and multiple overlapping deadlines, but she didn't seem to get stuck 
in the conundrum of perfectionism that plagues some.
   
  Rene

Steve Rickaby [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  At 12:40 -0700 15/5/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:

However, about half the tech writers I know never formally trained as tech 
writers - although all are of graduate level. One reason for this is that for 
my generation there wasn't much in the way of formal courses for tech writers 
when we were at college - I only first heard about the profession in the late 
80s.

-- 
Steve

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RE: How many FM users are there?

[Gillian Flato]

Max,

Any idea of when the next version of Frame will be released? Will it be 7.3 or 
8.0? 

-Gillian 


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Maxwell Hoffmann
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:45 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Diane,

Thank you for checking with me; your timing could not be better. I am at the 
STC Annual Convention in Minneapolis, where I've had an opportunity to peak in 
on several DITA presentations and solicit feedback on FrameMaker's DITA 
capabilities from a variety of sources.

I won't say that Arbortext is lying to you, but they are 100% wrong, and 
clearly misinformed. The only real difference between Arbortext DITA and 
FrameMaker that I am aware of is that the current release of FrameMaker (V7.2) 
requires the user to download the DITA toolkit instead of finding it bundled in 
the product as it ships.

If you used structured FrameMaker with the DITA app pak, you will be able to 
produce DITA that is 100% compliant with OASIS standards. As long as your 
company's division in Japan is producing DITA-compliant output from Arbortext, 
there is no reason that you cannot have a seamless exchange.

I hope that this ends the argument, but based on past experience of my own  
with Arbortext sales people, you can probably expect further claims like this 
to surface. My feedback comes from a variety of sources, including users who 
are currently creating DITA from structured FrameMaker 7.2.

Incidentally, I had a sneak peak of the next release of FrameMaker at a 
session today and I got permission from the PM to share this much: DITA will be 
bundled with the next release and end the 5 minutes or so that it takes to 
download the DITA toolkit. Feedback from STC attendees who have seen the brief 
sneak peaks of the next FrameMaker has been overwhelmingly positive.

I hope this helps. 


Maxwell Hoffmann
Manager of Consulting  Training Solutions
ENLASO Corporation
T: 805 494 9571 * F: 805 435 1920
E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ♦ ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise language 
solutions and exceeds client expectations through continuing research, 
development, and implementation of effective localization processes and 
technologies.  Visit: www.translate.com for more information or to subscribe to 
our complimentary localization newsletter. 
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann

-Original Message-
From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:09 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; Maxwell Hoffmann; framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Max,

The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not compatible with 
anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me that the PTC version of DITA is 
standard (whatever that means).

One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We are leaning toward 
structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to exchange XMS files between SFM and 
AT.  Some of the comments (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed 
to say that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light on this?

Thanks a bunch.

Diane
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Re: How many FM users are there?

[Paul Findon]

On 16 May 2007, at 16:00, Bernard Aschwanden wrote:

Just as a further note to the info Max passed on, I'm happy to say  
that several of the features shown included some awesome tools that  
Frame has been missing for years. While it was demo of a pre- 
release and not all versions may make it into the final copy (that  
should keep legal happy) it was neat to see things like track  
changes and multiple conditions being added into the application.


Adobe is looking for FrameMaker 8 beta testers.
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/

Paul
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Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

[Gillian Flato]

I marked a bunch of terms with the glossary marker. When I try to update
my book and generate the glossary, Frame crashes. I get that internal
error dialog. When I update the book without the glossary, everything is
fine. Has anyone else experienced this? What was the solution.
 
Frame 7.0 p492
Win XP
 

Thank you,

 

mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

nanometrics

1550 Buckeye Dr. 

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] .com
blocked::mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

 
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RE: How many FM users are there?

[Lester C. Smalley]

I will hazard the guess that this assertion is based on the same
argument ArborText used to (maybe still does?) make about FrameMaker not
being real SGML (or XML) because it saves files in its own internal
format.

Now that is no longer true for XML w/ version 7+, but it would not
surprise me that they still are making such a statement.  Chalk it up to
FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) marketing tactics.  And several others
have given you the ammunition to counter such claims to your management.

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:09 PM, Diane Gaskill wrote:

| Hi Max,
| 
| The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not 
| compatible with anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me
| that the PTC version of DITA is standard (whatever that means).
| 
| One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We 
| are leaning toward structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to 
| exchange XMS files between SFM and AT.  Some of the comments 
| (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed to say 
| that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light
| on this?
| 
| Thanks a bunch.
| 
| Diane

- Lester 
---
Lester C. Smalley  Email: lsmalley AT infocon DOT com   
Information Consultants, Inc.  Phone: 302-239-2942 FAX: 302-239-1712
Yorklyn, DE  19736   Web: www.infocon.com   
---

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RE: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

[Gillian Flato]

Thanks Fred! That was the problem. 


-Gillian


-Original Message-
From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 9:52 AM
To: Gillian Flato; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

One well-documented cause of this behavior is markers that include 
returns. Check your markers. 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Gillian Flato
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:50 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

I marked a bunch of terms with the glossary marker. When I try to update
my book and generate the glossary, Frame crashes. I get that internal
error dialog. When I update the book without the glossary, everything is
fine. Has anyone else experienced this? What was the solution.
 
Frame 7.0 p492
Win XP
 

Thank you,

 

mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

nanometrics

1550 Buckeye Dr. 

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] .com
blocked::mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 

 
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Interview: JoAnn Hackos on Moving Legacy Documentation into DITA

[Grant Hogarth]

 JoAnn Hackos on Moving Legacy Documentation into DITA: An Interview
 
   Dr. JoAnn Hackos, content management and information  
   design expert, gives her best advice on what organizations 
   need to know about moving legacy documentation to DITA in this
   exclusive interview. 

   http://www.dclab.com/DCLNews0903.asp#LSTORY2
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Can't open FM 6.0 book file in FM 7.2

[Jennifer Randel]

Hi all, 
I upgraded to FM 7.2 (WinXP) last week and it's been behaving perfectly,
but suddenly I've stumbled upon some .book files (created in 6.0) that
will not open in 7.2. 

The error message reads: Although filename.book appears to be a
FrameMaker document, it can't be opened with this release of the
product. 

I know that I can work around this by creating a new book file, but I'd
like to not have to do that. I'm also curious to know if anyone else has
encountered this. I do have other book files that were created in 6.0
which open just fine in 7.2. 

Thanks in advance, 
Jennifer Randel
Data Processing Technical Writer 
Kern High School District

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Re: Character switching FM/Distiller

[Kenneth C. Benson]

From: Bodvar Bjorgvinsson [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 The weird thing is that in both instances (using CTRL-q - (dash) and
 ALT-0173) or by copy - pasting from the character map, the character
 shows correctly in FM 7.2 but after distilling, the pdf shows the hand
 holding pen turning left.


I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm getting the same thing. I don't
think it's Distiller, because I get the same thing if I print directly to a
PS printer. I think it has something to do with how Frame treats the soft
hyphen character. It's printing it as 002D, a regular hard hyphen.

Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

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Missing Characters in PDF

[Alison Carrico]

I have an intermittent, but incredibly annoying, problem with PDFs
printed from Frame missing large chunks of text at random.  Sometimes it
is  just a few words out of a paragraph, sometimes it's the whole
paragraph. Some time ago, I found an article on Adobe's support site
that addressed the issue, but I can no longer reach that page. The
Knowledge Base search returns a link to it, but the link gives a page
not found error (quite a number of pages return errors).  

 

One of the solutions was to change the Graphic Print Quality setting in
the printer properties to 300 dpi, which works some of the time.
Sometimes, I can restart either Frame or my machine and print
successfully. Sometimes I can use a different machine.  Sometimes, I can
save the file as MIF and print.  Unfortunately, not one of these tricks
always works so I'm looking for a more reliable workaround or perhaps
(dare I hope?) even a permanent solution.  

 

Is anyone familiar with this problem?  Any help would be much
appreciated.  

 

Thanks!

alison

 

(I'm running Frame 7.1 on Windows XP with all the latest updates 
printing with Adobe PDF Converter, driver PSCRIPT5.dll version 5.02.)

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Re: Missing Characters in PDF

[rebecca officer]

For me, a 100% reliable workaround (so far, but that's several years of
the issue on and off) is to print the document to PS twice. The second
one is always fine.

Deleting the font cache file fixes the problem temporarily for me
(yay!), but when it comes back, printing twice is much quicker than
rebooting as an immediate workaround.

Also, a reliable way for me to tell if a file is corrupted is to search
the postscript for grenewfont (case insensitive). 
It beats a visual check of the PDF - sometimes the amount of missing
text is small so hard to spot on a quick check, and visually checking
big documents isn't feasible anyway.

Cheers, Rebecca

 Alison Carrico [EMAIL PROTECTED] 17/05/07 08:59

I have an intermittent, but incredibly annoying, problem with PDFs
printed from Frame missing large chunks of text at random.  Sometimes
it
is  just a few words out of a paragraph, sometimes it's the whole
paragraph. Some time ago, I found an article on Adobe's support site
that addressed the issue, but I can no longer reach that page. The
Knowledge Base search returns a link to it, but the link gives a
page
not found error (quite a number of pages return errors).  

 

One of the solutions was to change the Graphic Print Quality setting
in
the printer properties to 300 dpi, which works some of the time.
Sometimes, I can restart either Frame or my machine and print
successfully. Sometimes I can use a different machine.  Sometimes, I
can
save the file as MIF and print.  Unfortunately, not one of these
tricks
always works so I'm looking for a more reliable workaround or perhaps
(dare I hope?) even a permanent solution.  

 

Is anyone familiar with this problem?  Any help would be much
appreciated.  

 

Thanks!

alison

 

(I'm running Frame 7.1 on Windows XP with all the latest updates 
printing with Adobe PDF Converter, driver PSCRIPT5.dll version 5.02.)

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If you have received this message in error please
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Any views expressed in this message are those of the
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Text Insets: Any Gotchas?

[Steve Rickaby]

At 13:22 -0700 15/5/07, Angela Akridge wrote:

>Are there any gotchas with using text insets? For example, can I insert
>xrefs so long as all books that use the text inset have the section to which
>the text entity references? I assume that I'd need to regenerate to get the
>appropriate page number as the page number will vary from book to book.

Yes, there are, although it depends a lot whether the inset files are pure text 
(plain ASCII) or formatted text such as another FrameMaker file. It's a pity 
that the term 'text inset' is used, rather than, say, 'file insets', as the 
fact that text insets are most often *not* pure text is confusing:

. There is a bug in FrameMaker that causes an inset of a FrameMaker file to 
apply the paragraph formatting to the line following the inset. There are 
workarounds to this, which you should be able to find in the archives.

. For the same or a related reason, consecutive text insets can pose problems.

. A normal FrameMaker cross-reference into a text inset will break when/if the 
inset is updated. The workaround for this is the create an explicit 
cross-reference to a named marker. That is, you must create a named marker in 
the FrameMaker file to be inset, import it, and then explicitly reference that 
marker in your cross-reference(s). You cannot, of course, create a 
cross-reference into an ASCII inset.

. Search/replace and spell checking don't look inside text insets. A way around 
this is to separately create an ur-book that contains all your text inset 
files, and spell check/search that. The ur-book is merely a maintenance device, 
and has no relationship to your working book(s).

. The inheritance of variables in text insets is complex and depends on the 
formatting options of the inset. It could therefore pose a maintenance headache.

. Ditto conditional text settings.

I recently wrote an article about the use of text insets to construct modular 
books. Mail me off list if you'd like a copy.

I don't really understand your point about page numbering, other than to say 
yes, you always have to update a book to get correct page numbering.

-- 
Steve

Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Steve Rickaby]

At 12:40 -0700 15/5/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:

>I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group. Internal 
>candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I always 
>asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all responded that 
>they had "good English" and were experts with MS Word. They wrote lots of 
>corresondence and updated their draft letters with the "edits" from their 
>bosses, so they "knew" how to handle document review. We had to start posting 
>BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a minimal requirement 
>with no "equivalency" allowed.

I think if I were in that position, a screening question I would ask would be 
'Do you think that Word is a suitable tool for technical writing: discuss'. ;-) 
I'm sure the answers would be quite illuminating.

However, about half the tech writers I know never formally trained as tech 
writers - although all are of graduate level. One reason for this is that for 
my generation there wasn't much in the way of formal courses for tech writers 
when we were at college - I only first heard about the profession in the late 
80s.

-- 
Steve

TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Diane Gaskill]

Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience.  And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well.  I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well.  A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer.  I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer.  But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell..."hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?") then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the "admin" mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson  wrote:
> I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had "good English" and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the "edits"
from their bosses, so they "knew" how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no "equivalency" allowed.
>
>  Rene
>
>
> Keith Smyth  wrote:
>  As in "So easy a Caveman could do it"?
>
> I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
> thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
> our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
> become a tech writer, "because if you can do it, anyone can do it".
>
> And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.
>
>
> >You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
> >writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
> >warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job. As
> >if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
> >experience could do it.
> >
> >
> >Thank you,
> >
> > -Gillian
>
> --
> Keith L. Smyth
> President
> Smyth Consulting
> -
> Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
> -
> Technical Documentation Consultant
>
> ___
>
>
> You are currently subscribed to Framers as rinnie1 at yahoo.com.
>
> Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com.
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com
> or visit
http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rinnie1%40yahoo.com
>
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit
> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
>
> Rene L. Stephenson
> eNovative Solutions, Inc.
> Business Phone: 678-513-0051
> Email: rinnie1 at yahoo.com
>
>
>
> ___
>
>
> You are currently 

TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Deb]

Hi All,
I agree with Diane.
I have encountered candidates with english degrees and certifications in
english who have failed badly when it comes to the writing piece and working
on the relevant documentation tools.

Regards,
Debashish



On 5/16/07, Diane Gaskill  wrote:
>
> Rene, All,
>
> Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
> an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.
>
> As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with
> MAs
> and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience.  And I
> hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
> experience and writing talent as well.  I would strongly encourage you to
> look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience
> when
> screening and hiring writers.
>
> I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well.  A
> degree
> in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL
> writer.  I'd
> personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
> science and who is a good writer.  But people with those degrees are
> usually
> sw developers or designers, not writers.
>
> Diane Gaskill
> San Jose, CA
>
> -Original Message-
> From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com
> [mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
> Behalf Of Lise Bible
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA
>
>
> Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
> my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
> assume that if you can type and spell
> (or *not* spell..."hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?") then
> you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.
>
> But it is hard to break out of the "admin" mold. I don't have a degree
> in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
> I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
> specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
> ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
> Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
> department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
> acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
> position here opened up, and I applied.
>
> I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
> out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
> department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
> classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
> Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.
>
> Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
> outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
> out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.
>
> -Lise
>
> On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson  wrote:
> > I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
> Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them.
> I
> always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
> responded that they had "good English" and were experts with MS Word. They
> wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the
> "edits"
> from their bosses, so they "knew" how to handle document review. We had to
> start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
> minimal requirement with no "equivalency" allowed.
> >
> >  Rene
> >
> >
> > Keith Smyth  wrote:
> >  As in "So easy a Caveman could do it"?
> >
> > I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
> > thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
> > our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
> to
> > become a tech writer, "because if you can do it, anyone can do it".
> >
> > And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.
> >
> >
> > >You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
> > >writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
> > >warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job.
> As
> > >if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
> > >experience could do it.
> > >
> > >
> > >Thank you,
> > >
> > > -Gillian
> >
> > --
> > Keith L. Smyth
> > President
> > Smyth Consulting
> > -
> > Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
> > -
> > Technical Documentation Consultant
> >
> > ___
> >
> >
> > You are currently subscribed to Framers as rinnie1 at yahoo.com.
> >
> > Send list messages to framers at 

TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

Those are good points. 
  Rene

Diane Gaskill  wrote:
  Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer. I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell..."hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?") then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the "admin" mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.

-Lise

On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:
> I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them. I
always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
responded that they had "good English" and were experts with MS Word. They
wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the "edits"
from their bosses, so they "knew" how to handle document review. We had to
start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
minimal requirement with no "equivalency" allowed.
>
> Rene
>
>
> Keith Smyth wrote:
> As in "So easy a Caveman could do it"?
>
> I am sure all of us have had the experience of someone totally clueless
> thinking all we do is type. Had a gal at one of our square dances from
> our church in 1983 tell me that while she is a store clerk, she is going
to
> become a tech writer, "because if you can do it, anyone can do it".
>
> And she went to an interview. Never heard from her again.
>
>
> >You think that's insulting? When we had a req open for another tech
> >writer in January, we had people from our shipping department and the
> >warehouse coming to us and asking us if they could apply for the job. As
> >if Tech Writing was so easy, someone with shipping or warehouse
> >experience could do it.
> >
> >
> >Thank you,
> >
> > -Gillian
>
> --
> Keith L. Smyth
> President
> Smyth Consulting
> -
> Religion was in charge during the dark ages.
> -
> Technical Documentation Consultant
>
> ___
>
>
> You are currently subscribed to Framers as rinnie1 at yahoo.com.
>
> Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com.
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com
> or visit
http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rinnie1%40yahoo.com
>
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit
> http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
>
>
>
> Rene L. Stephenson
> eNovative Solutions, Inc.
> Business Phone: 678-513-0051
> Email: rinnie1 at yahoo.com
>
>
>
> 

TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

I don't think anyone thinks that an English degree alone means a person is 
qualified. It's just a way to try to weed through applicants when you're buried 
under a pile of resumes of applicants with no writing experience. As I said, it 
was a response to a particular situation at a particular company, and if you 
knew all the HR constraints in that company and what it forced into various 
decisions and how much of the decision could be forced based on HR policies 
rather than hiring manager's input, you'd have likely made the same decision in 
that situation.

  Even tenure in the field isn't always a good indicator. We hired one writer 
with a 25 year history, but then found out over the course of the next 6 mo 
that there was very little discipline or tool knowledge, and a prevalent 
attitude that edits are a luxury and little things like consistently referring 
to AC power in caps was considered "making it pretty" and that writer "didn't 
have time for pretty" even though there was time built into the schedule and 
not plenty of writer bandwidth.

  Certainly, there have been good writers with non-English degrees and prior 
work experience in a technical field. I have hired a couple myself, and I work 
with one now. It's hard to find a good blend of writing skill and technical 
expertise, but it's out there.

  Rene



Deb  wrote:
  Hi All,
I agree with Diane.
I have encountered candidates with english degrees and certifications in
english who have failed badly when it comes to the writing piece and working
on the relevant documentation tools.

Regards,
Debashish



On 5/16/07, Diane Gaskill wrote:
>
> Rene, All,
>
> Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
> an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.
>
> As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with
> MAs
> and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
> hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
> experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
> look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience
> when
> screening and hiring writers.
>
> I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A
> degree
> in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL
> writer. I'd
> personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
> science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are
> usually
> sw developers or designers, not writers.
>
> Diane Gaskill
> San Jose, CA
>
> -Original Message-
> From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com
> [mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
> Behalf Of Lise Bible
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA
>
>
> Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
> my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
> assume that if you can type and spell
> (or *not* spell..."hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?") then
> you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.
>
> But it is hard to break out of the "admin" mold. I don't have a degree
> in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
> I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
> specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
> ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
> Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
> department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
> acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
> position here opened up, and I applied.
>
> I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
> out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
> department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
> classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
> Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.
>
> Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's not a bad thing to think
> outside the box, hiring-wise, but yes, it is hard to effectively weed
> out the unqualified while finding the right person for the job.
>
> -Lise
>
> On 5/15/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:
> > I have had secretaries apply for tech writer openings in my group.
> Internal candidates always get phone screening, so I'd have to call them.
> I
> always asked what they felt were their qualifications, and they all
> responded that they had "good English" and were experts with MS Word. They
> wrote lots of corresondence and updated their draft letters with the
> "edits"
> from their bosses, so they "knew" how to handle document review. We had to
> start posting BA or higher in English or directly relevant field as a
> minimal requirement with 

TW hiring qualifications

[Chris Borokowski]

This reminds me of the certification debate a few
months ago. I don't believe there is any single way to
accurately predict whether someone will be a good
technical writer. But, much like the SAT predicts
general aptitude and the rest is up to you regarding
college, a degree in any field requiring structured
thinking and communication is good to see. I would
look more at philosophy and literature majors, as well
as people with experience writing in the lab sciences.
They have the basic skill, and the rest is a matter of
experience.

--- Rene Stephenson  wrote:

> I don't think anyone thinks that an English degree
> alone means a person is qualified. 

User Interface design blog
http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
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Character switching FM/Distiller

[Bodvar Bjorgvinsson]

Hi all,

I am trying to use Zapf Dingbats (that has never failed me!) to
display and print a.o. the digit 2 in a ring. The FM shortcut is
CTRL-q - (dash) or ALT-0173.

The weird thing is that in both instances (using CTRL-q - (dash) and
ALT-0173) or by copy - pasting from the character map, the character
shows correctly in FM 7.2 but after distilling, the pdf shows the hand
holding pen turning left.
Both characters are using the dash, according to the character map,
with the difference that the hand is hard dash and the 2 circled is
the soft dash.

Any ideas? Will I need to use the circled numbers from Wingdings 1?

I have no problems with the circled "1".

Bodvar Bjorgvinsson,
Supervisor Publishing,
Air Atlanta Icelandic.

Figure Numbering Problem

[eric.d...@ca.transport.bombardier.com]

"Lester C. Smalley"  wrote on 05/15/2007 04:24:11 
PM:

> Are any of the figures inside either another text frame, or a table?
> 
> Numbering usually works extremely well, provided all the paragraph tags
> are in the same text flow. Either of these instances creates a different
> text flow and/or evaluation order of the numbering building blocks
> (counters) that may account for the weird behavior.

But... Here's some interesting behaviour:

If a disconnected text frame is in an anchored frame, and the paragraph 
format contains the word "figure", it will autonumber. If the paragraph 
format does not, autonumbering is independent.

If you update all the figure title paragraph formats to a new name, the 
currently linked and autonumbered paragraphs stay sequentially numbered as 
do new paragraphs in separate anchored and text frames.

However, you sometimes see bizarre behaviour such as figure titles not 
incrementing or restarting or intermittently having to change the 
numbering for the first item in a legend to 

Figure Numbering Problem

[eric.d...@ca.transport.bombardier.com]

To address the initial problem:

The only repair I have found that works is to rebuild the files anchored 
frames from the point at which the numbering is broken. To be extra sure, 
rebuild them all.

Save a copy of your file, in the working file delete all anchored frames, 
then with the working file and copy side by side, create a new anchored 
frame for each in the copy. Use the copy only to get the graphic and text 
for the title.

I've identified that it usually breaks when anchored frames containing 
text frames with numbered content are copied and pasted. At some point, 
FrameMaker gets confused as to which text frames to keep out of the 
numbering flow and which to include.

Eric L. Dunn
Senior Technical Writer

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How many FM users are there?

[Bernard Aschwanden]

Just as a further note to the info Max passed on, I'm happy to say that several 
of the features shown included some awesome tools that Frame has been missing 
for years. While it was demo of a pre-release and not all versions may make it 
into the final copy (that should keep legal happy) it was neat to see things 
like track changes and multiple conditions being added into the application.

Add to that the expected inclusion of solid DITA support and the software can 
easily hold its own against Arbortext. While the default export of DITA content 
in 7.2 was weak (I built an independent way to create some DITA while Adobe 
sorted this out) the DITA Application Pack (Free download from Adobe) does a 
great job. I've created numerous DITA documents including maps, task, 
references, concepts and more with it and run transforms and validation against 
the files. I did so in third party tools and other DITA tools. No issues. Frame 
is solid and will continue to get better.

Add support for a variety of other publishing features and Adobe has shown that 
the rumor of Frame's demise are entirely wrong. The product is strong and 
viable. The feature set that has been publicly shown results in rounds of 
applause. I'm so happy to see that there is ongoing  development and that the 
Adobe booth was mobbed with requests for info on a variety of new tools.

All the best,

Bernard



Bernard Aschwanden
Director of Technology and Publishing Architecture
Bright Path Solutions

bernard at brightpathsolutions.com 

www.brightpathsolutions.com 


-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com 
[mailto:framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter@lists.frameusers.com] On 
Behalf Of Maxwell Hoffmann
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:45 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Diane,

Thank you for checking with me; your timing could not be better. I am at the 
STC Annual Convention in Minneapolis, where I've had an opportunity to peak in 
on several DITA presentations and solicit feedback on FrameMaker's DITA 
capabilities from a variety of sources.

I won't say that Arbortext is "lying" to you, but they are 100% wrong, and 
clearly misinformed. The only real difference between Arbortext DITA and 
FrameMaker that I am aware of is that the current release of FrameMaker (V7.2) 
requires the user to download the DITA toolkit instead of finding it bundled in 
the product as it ships.

If you used structured FrameMaker with the DITA app pak, you will be able to 
produce DITA that is 100% compliant with OASIS standards. As long as your 
company's division in Japan is producing DITA-compliant output from Arbortext, 
there is no reason that you cannot have a seamless exchange.

I hope that this ends the argument, but based on past experience of my own  
with Arbortext sales people, you can probably expect further claims like this 
to surface. My feedback comes from a variety of sources, including users who 
are currently creating DITA from structured FrameMaker 7.2.

Incidentally, I had a "sneak peak" of the next release of FrameMaker at a 
session today and I got permission from the PM to share this much: DITA will be 
bundled with the next release and end the 5 minutes or so that it takes to 
download the DITA toolkit. Feedback from STC attendees who have seen the brief 
sneak peaks of the "next" FrameMaker has been overwhelmingly positive.

I hope this helps. 


Maxwell Hoffmann
Manager of Consulting & Training Solutions
ENLASO Corporation
T: 805 494 9571 * F: 805 435 1920
E: mhoffmann at translate.com ? ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise 
language solutions and exceeds client expectations through continuing research, 
development, and implementation of effective localization processes and 
technologies.  Visit: www.translate.com for more information or to subscribe to 
our complimentary localization newsletter. 
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann

-Original Message-
From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:dgcal...@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:09 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; Maxwell Hoffmann; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Max,

The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not compatible with 
anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me that the PTC version of DITA is 
"standard" (whatever that means).

One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We are leaning toward 
structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to exchange XMS files between SFM and 
AT.  Some of the comments (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed 
to say that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light on this?

Thanks a bunch.

Diane

TW hiring qualifications was: RE: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

I have found that open-ended questions and carefully listening help during the 
interview, but it's really hard to figure out what motivates someone you don't 
know.  You could ask some questions that pose difficult choices and follow up 
with why they chose what they did. You could ask questions about if they were 
told they had to choose to spend  a month in various undesireable situations, 
which one would they choose. That could give you an understanding if they are 
transparent, but sometimes candidates will tell you either what they think you 
want to hear or what they think is the most benign choice.

  I have found with employees, as with my children, that motivation is largely 
internal. You can give incentives, but that only works for those who are 
motivated by wanting more. You can give praise, but that only works for the 
pleasers. You can give challenges, but that only works for those not easily 
intimidated. You can give encouragement, but those who like to be coddled may 
well just settle into a comfort zone and demotivate. I think it's more key to 
understand what's important to them first. Then you can figure out how to 
balance what's important to them with the needs of your company and what you 
can offer to keep everyone moving forward.  

  If the question isn't WHAT motivates, but rather IF they're motivated, that's 
another issue altogether. In that case, you can glimpse some hints sometimes by 
probing into recent projects ("tell me about a recent project that you found 
enjoyable/frustrating/challenging/bothersome and why").  Around my town, tech 
writing is a small community, so it's easy to find out "about" someone by word 
of mouth, too. 

  I know some people who don't check references, unless they personally know 
the listed reference, because folks aren't going to put down a reference that's 
not going to just say how grand the candidate is. However, I have gotten some 
good insight from references from time to time, so I don't know that I agree 
with that tack.

  My 2?US  (right, that's not the strongest currency these days LOL)
  Rene

Peter Courlis  wrote:
  I like these views on qualifications. Very revealing,
however, I am convinced that to do or accomplish
anything (task or objective) in life, there is but one 
key word and that is: motivation.

Do you, or more correctly how do you assess
the motivation of the candidate?

Thanks for comments

peter

Rene Stephenson  wrote:  Those are good points. 
Rene

Diane Gaskill wrote:
Rene, All,

Be careful about rejecting applicants without a degree, and don't count on
an applicant having a degree being qualified for the job.

As a Tech Pubs Manager for 10 years, I disqualified several people with MAs
and even PhDs because they had little or no technical experience. And I
hired more than one writer with no degree but had a great deal of tehnical
experience and writing talent as well. I would strongly encourage you to
look at each applicant individually and consider equivalent experience when
screening and hiring writers.

I suggest that you consider other degrees besides English as well. A degree
in English does not by itself qualify anyone to be a TECHNICAL writer. I'd
personally rather hire someone with a degree in engineering or computer
science and who is a good writer. But people with those degrees are usually
sw developers or designers, not writers.

Diane Gaskill
San Jose, CA

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
Behalf Of Lise Bible
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA


Well, I guess I can kind of see both sides. I've been a tech writer at
my company for a year and a half, and it is frustrating when others
assume that if you can type and spell
(or *not* spell..."hey, that's what spell-check is for, right?") then
you're fully qualified to be a tech writer.

But it is hard to break out of the "admin" mold. I don't have a degree
in English, but I have a BA in Psychology. I majored in Psych because
I thought the classes were really quite interesting, not having a
specific career goal in mind. After college, I started temping, and
ended up in an admin/customer service role at a manufacturing company.
Among other things, I wrote work instructions and the like for my
department, learned PageMaker and became an expert at Word. Two
acquisitions, two office moves and 2 years later, the tech writer
position here opened up, and I applied.

I think my former boss went to bat for me, as they moved the position
out of the marketing department and into the Engineering Services
department (where I was already), and here I am. I've since taken
classes in Frame and a Tech Writing course through University of IL at
Chicago, and I find I have an affinity for the job.

Moral of my story, I guess, is that it's 

Entry Level Technical Writer - Contract - Moorpark, CA

[Rene Stephenson]

That's still true in some regions. Not all universities offer any training 
toward technical writing, and some of the ones locally that do are really only 
teaching basic grammar and writing business letter. It would appear that the 
department head there has no clue what tech writing is, or that syllabus would 
be returned for heavy revision!

  Among candidates with no direct tech writing experience and short job 
histories, I have found that candidates who majored in literature or English 
rhetoric/composition (or other field that requires a lot of writing that's 
graded by prof's who know how to write well) and minored in a technical field 
such as computer science, a type of engineering, or other scientific field -- 
are the candidates who seem to settle in to the odd mix of skills required in 
our field. I also had a good experience with someone whose BS was in biology 
and minored in journalism, and her family background was a very goal-oriented. 
As a writer, she was detail-oriented and adjusted well to the demands of 
timelines and multiple overlapping deadlines, but she didn't seem to get stuck 
in the conundrum of perfectionism that plagues some.

  Rene

Steve Rickaby  wrote:
  At 12:40 -0700 15/5/07, Rene Stephenson wrote:

However, about half the tech writers I know never formally trained as tech 
writers - although all are of graduate level. One reason for this is that for 
my generation there wasn't much in the way of formal courses for tech writers 
when we were at college - I only first heard about the profession in the late 
80s.

-- 
Steve

How many FM users are there?

[Gillian Flato]

Max,

Any idea of when the next version of Frame will be released? Will it be 7.3 or 
8.0? 

-Gillian 


-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+gflato=nanometrics.com at lists.frameusers.com 
[mailto:framers-bounces+gflato=nanometrics@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf 
Of Maxwell Hoffmann
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:45 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Diane,

Thank you for checking with me; your timing could not be better. I am at the 
STC Annual Convention in Minneapolis, where I've had an opportunity to peak in 
on several DITA presentations and solicit feedback on FrameMaker's DITA 
capabilities from a variety of sources.

I won't say that Arbortext is "lying" to you, but they are 100% wrong, and 
clearly misinformed. The only real difference between Arbortext DITA and 
FrameMaker that I am aware of is that the current release of FrameMaker (V7.2) 
requires the user to download the DITA toolkit instead of finding it bundled in 
the product as it ships.

If you used structured FrameMaker with the DITA app pak, you will be able to 
produce DITA that is 100% compliant with OASIS standards. As long as your 
company's division in Japan is producing DITA-compliant output from Arbortext, 
there is no reason that you cannot have a seamless exchange.

I hope that this ends the argument, but based on past experience of my own  
with Arbortext sales people, you can probably expect further claims like this 
to surface. My feedback comes from a variety of sources, including users who 
are currently creating DITA from structured FrameMaker 7.2.

Incidentally, I had a "sneak peak" of the next release of FrameMaker at a 
session today and I got permission from the PM to share this much: DITA will be 
bundled with the next release and end the 5 minutes or so that it takes to 
download the DITA toolkit. Feedback from STC attendees who have seen the brief 
sneak peaks of the "next" FrameMaker has been overwhelmingly positive.

I hope this helps. 


Maxwell Hoffmann
Manager of Consulting & Training Solutions
ENLASO Corporation
T: 805 494 9571 * F: 805 435 1920
E: mhoffmann at translate.com ? ENLASO Corporation provides quality enterprise 
language solutions and exceeds client expectations through continuing research, 
development, and implementation of effective localization processes and 
technologies.  Visit: www.translate.com for more information or to subscribe to 
our complimentary localization newsletter. 
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann

-Original Message-
From: Diane Gaskill [mailto:dgcal...@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:09 PM
To: Diane Gaskill; Maxwell Hoffmann; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: How many FM users are there?

Hi Max,

The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not compatible with 
anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me that the PTC version of DITA is 
"standard" (whatever that means).

One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We are leaning toward 
structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to exchange XMS files between SFM and 
AT.  Some of the comments (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed 
to say that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light on this?

Thanks a bunch.

Diane

Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

[Gillian Flato]

I marked a bunch of terms with the glossary marker. When I try to update
my book and generate the glossary, Frame crashes. I get that internal
error dialog. When I update the book without the glossary, everything is
fine. Has anyone else experienced this? What was the solution.

Frame 7.0 p492
Win XP


Thank you,



 

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

nanometrics

1550 Buckeye Dr. 

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* gflato at nanometrics  .com
 

How many FM users are there?

[Lester C. Smalley]

I will hazard the guess that this assertion is based on the same
argument ArborText used to (maybe still does?) make about FrameMaker not
being "real SGML" (or XML) because it saves files in its own internal
format.

Now that is no longer true for XML w/ version 7+, but it would not
surprise me that they still are making such a statement.  Chalk it up to
FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) marketing tactics.  And several others
have given you the ammunition to counter such claims to your management.

On Tuesday, May 15, 2007 09:09 PM, Diane Gaskill wrote:

| Hi Max,
| 
| The PTC rep told me today that FM DITA is proprietary and not 
| compatible with anything else.  Is this true?  She also told me
| that the PTC version of DITA is "standard" (whatever that means).
| 
| One of our divisions in Japan has decided to go with AT.  We 
| are leaning toward structured FM.  I was hoping to be able to 
| exchange XMS files between SFM and AT.  Some of the comments 
| (which you probably read) on the framers list seemed to say 
| that I could, but now I am not sure.  Can you shed any light
| on this?
| 
| Thanks a bunch.
| 
| Diane

- Lester 
---
Lester C. Smalley  Email: lsmalley AT infocon DOT com   
Information Consultants, Inc.  Phone: 302-239-2942 FAX: 302-239-1712
Yorklyn, DE  19736   Web: www.infocon.com   
---

Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

[Ridder, Fred]

One well-documented cause of this behavior is markers that include 
returns. Check your markers. 

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Gillian Flato
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:50 PM
To: framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

I marked a bunch of terms with the glossary marker. When I try to update
my book and generate the glossary, Frame crashes. I get that internal
error dialog. When I update the book without the glossary, everything is
fine. Has anyone else experienced this? What was the solution.

Frame 7.0 p492
Win XP


Thank you,



 

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

nanometrics

1550 Buckeye Dr. 

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* gflato at nanometrics  .com
 


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Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

[Gillian Flato]

Thanks Fred! That was the problem. 


-Gillian


-Original Message-
From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:fred.rid...@intel.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 9:52 AM
To: Gillian Flato; framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject: RE: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

One well-documented cause of this behavior is markers that include 
returns. Check your markers. 

-Original Message-
From: framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com] On
Behalf Of Gillian Flato
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:50 PM
To: framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject: Frame crashes when generating a Glossary

I marked a bunch of terms with the glossary marker. When I try to update
my book and generate the glossary, Frame crashes. I get that internal
error dialog. When I update the book without the glossary, everything is
fine. Has anyone else experienced this? What was the solution.

Frame 7.0 p492
Win XP


Thank you,



 

Gillian Flato

Technical Writer (Software)

nanometrics

1550 Buckeye Dr. 

Milpitas, CA. 95035

(408.435.9600 x 316

7  408.232.5911

* gflato at nanometrics  .com
 


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Interview: JoAnn Hackos on Moving Legacy Documentation into DITA

[Grant Hogarth]

 JoAnn Hackos on Moving Legacy Documentation into DITA: An Interview

   Dr. JoAnn Hackos, content management and information  
   design expert, gives her best advice on what organizations 
   need to know about moving legacy documentation to DITA in this
   exclusive interview. 

   http://www.dclab.com/DCLNews0903.asp#LSTORY2

Can't open FM 6.0 book file in FM 7.2

[Jennifer Randel]

Hi all, 
I upgraded to FM 7.2 (WinXP) last week and it's been behaving perfectly,
but suddenly I've stumbled upon some .book files (created in 6.0) that
will not open in 7.2. 

The error message reads: "Although .book appears to be a
FrameMaker document, it can't be opened with this release of the
product." 

I know that I can work around this by creating a new book file, but I'd
like to not have to do that. I'm also curious to know if anyone else has
encountered this. I do have other book files that were created in 6.0
which open just fine in 7.2. 

Thanks in advance, 
Jennifer Randel
Data Processing Technical Writer 
Kern High School District

Can't open FM 6.0 book file in FM 7.2

[Jennifer Randel]

Please ignore my previous message. 
I closed FM, re-opened it, and voila! Works fine. 

Sorry for the interruption, 
Jennifer 

-Original Message-
From:
framers-bounces+jennifer_randel=khsd.k12.ca.us at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+jennifer_randel=khsd.k12.ca.us at lists.frameusers.
com] On Behalf Of Jennifer Randel
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:06 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Can't open FM 6.0 book file in FM 7.2

Hi all,
I upgraded to FM 7.2 (WinXP) last week and it's been behaving perfectly,
but suddenly I've stumbled upon some .book files (created in 6.0) that
will not open in 7.2. 

The error message reads: "Although .book appears to be a
FrameMaker document, it can't be opened with this release of the
product." 

I know that I can work around this by creating a new book file, but I'd
like to not have to do that. I'm also curious to know if anyone else has
encountered this. I do have other book files that were created in 6.0
which open just fine in 7.2. 

Thanks in advance,
Jennifer Randel
Data Processing Technical Writer
Kern High School District

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Japanese variables and formatting

[Alison Carrico]

1. Watch out for character substitutions, e.g. some Japanese fonts will
display a trademark symbol as a JPN character. Using combined ENG/JPN
fonts can prevent this.  The combined font option is only supposed to be
available on an Asian localized OS (in ENG Frame), but I figured out how
to edit the .ini files to make it available on my ENG systems. 

2. Don't know.  We use only English Frame.

3. You have to be on a JPN localized OS in order to enter JPN characters
into dialog boxes. You can often copy/paste from one dialog box to
another. If you have a doc with the necessary variables already defined,
you can get probably around that limitation, but you should always check
to make sure that the correct characters are displayed. 

4. Getting Asian text into or out of Frame can be a problem. You can't
copy/paste but you can import or Save As.

-Original Message-
From:
framers-bounces+acarrico=adamsglobalization.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+acarrico=adamsglobalization.com at lists.frameusers
.com] On Behalf Of David Shaked (Wernick)
Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 9:51 AM
To: Framers
Subject: Japanese variables and formatting

I am processing Japanese documents in English FM 7.2, on English Windows
XP
Pro. Japanese fonts are installed on the system.

1. The document looks fine. Are there limitations on the formatting or
editing that I can perform?

2. Are there limitations on transferring documents between Japanese and
English FM?

3. How can I define an FM variable that has a Japanese value? When I
paste
Japanese text into the variable definition, I get gibberish.

4. Are there any other pitfalls I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance.

David Shaked (Wernick)

AlmondWeb Ltd.
http://www.almondweb.com
Technical Documentation * Web Development * Word and WebWorks
Consultants


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Character switching FM/Distiller

[Kenneth C. Benson]

From: "Bodvar Bjorgvinsson" 

> The weird thing is that in both instances (using CTRL-q - (dash) and
> ALT-0173) or by copy - pasting from the character map, the character
> shows correctly in FM 7.2 but after distilling, the pdf shows the hand
> holding pen turning left.


I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm getting the same thing. I don't
think it's Distiller, because I get the same thing if I print directly to a
PS printer. I think it has something to do with how Frame treats the soft
hyphen character. It's printing it as 002D, a regular hard hyphen.

Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

Missing Characters in PDF

[Alison Carrico]

I have an intermittent, but incredibly annoying, problem with PDFs
printed from Frame missing large chunks of text at random.  Sometimes it
is  just a few words out of a paragraph, sometimes it's the whole
paragraph. Some time ago, I found an article on Adobe's support site
that addressed the issue, but I can no longer reach that page. The
"Knowledge Base" search returns a link to it, but the link gives a "page
not found" error (quite a number of pages return errors).  



One of the solutions was to change the Graphic Print Quality setting in
the printer properties to 300 dpi, which works some of the time.
Sometimes, I can restart either Frame or my machine and print
successfully. Sometimes I can use a different machine.  Sometimes, I can
save the file as MIF and print.  Unfortunately, not one of these tricks
always works so I'm looking for a more reliable workaround or perhaps
(dare I hope?) even a permanent solution.  



Is anyone familiar with this problem?  Any help would be much
appreciated.  



Thanks!

alison



(I'm running Frame 7.1 on Windows XP with all the latest updates &
printing with Adobe PDF Converter, driver PSCRIPT5.dll version 5.02.)

Missing Characters in PDF

[Dov Isaacs]

Yes, this is indeed a known issue, although at this point
we don't know exactly what the cause of the problem is.

We do know that (1) it is not necessarily repeatable between
two identically-configured systems or even on the same system
and (2) there is a hack to at least temporarily "fix" the
problem.

This fix is as follows:

(a) Exit all applications

(b) Delete file 

(c) Reboot

Upon rebooting, the system font cache is rebuilt as needed by
Windows. And according to those who have tried this "fix," the
problem is gone, at least for a while.

Since there is nothing that FrameMaker as a program can do to
corrupt that system file or even open it, the problems are
probably secondary to some issue associated with FrameMaker's
novel use of its own character set in combination with standard
Windows GDI calls.

If you really want to be defensive, one thing you could do would
be to write a script that deletes that font cache file every time
you power down your system.

Let us know if this solves the issue for you.

- Dov


> -Original Message-
> From: Alison Carrico
> Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 1:59 PM
> 
> I have an intermittent, but incredibly annoying, problem with 
> PDFs printed from Frame missing large chunks of text at 
> random.  Sometimes it is  just a few words out of a 
> paragraph, sometimes it's the whole paragraph. Some time ago, 
> I found an article on Adobe's support site that addressed the 
> issue, but I can no longer reach that page. The "Knowledge 
> Base" search returns a link to it, but the link gives a "page 
> not found" error (quite a number of pages return errors).  
> 
> One of the solutions was to change the Graphic Print Quality 
> setting in the printer properties to 300 dpi, which works 
> some of the time.
> Sometimes, I can restart either Frame or my machine and print 
> successfully. Sometimes I can use a different machine.  
> Sometimes, I can save the file as MIF and print.  
> Unfortunately, not one of these tricks always works so I'm 
> looking for a more reliable workaround or perhaps (dare I 
> hope?) even a permanent solution.  
> 
> Is anyone familiar with this problem?  Any help would be much 
> appreciated.  
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> alison