re: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring
Hi Verner We are migrating to XMetal DITA from RoboHelp and Frame/webworks. We like that XMetal is in one package and we don't have to worry about maintaining multiple applications to output our deliverables (chm, single html, and pdf). Granted the PDF output has been difficult to achieve, but we have a Tools person who has been able to customize output to meet our needs. Translation was another driver in adopting XMetal. We localize into many languages and the ease of working with pure XML files makes life much easier for Translators, who could not process .fm files directly. As the others have written, analyze and base your choice on your needs. Mind that converting legacy to XML DITA, no matter what your tool, will have a huge impact on translation memory. If you do translation, make sure to involve that team for input. Good luck. Joe Campo DS SolidWorks Concord, MA USA Today's Topics: 1. Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Andersen, Verner Engell VEA) 2. Re: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Yves Barbion) 3. Re: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Writer) -- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:04:20 +0200 From: Andersen, Verner Engell VEA verner.ander...@radiometer.dk Subject: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring To: framers@lists.frameusers.com, FrameMaker discussion list (omsys) (FrameMaker discussion list (omsys)) fram...@omsys.com Message-ID: fd738d92925fdd4183417fcae6660d7605015...@dhreinsvxb03.messaging.danaher ad.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi I currently use unstructured Framemaker for pdf output. I single-source my content - and via Webworks Publisher I output to context-sensitive help in Webworks help format. My 5 colleagues use Word and output to pdf for printing. We plan to go structured and are considering whether we should use Framemaker or XMetal. Do any of you know where I can find an unbiased comparison of the two tools? I have been told that the major disadvantage of using Framemaker is that you are required to save in binary format to keep the Framemaker-specific XML processing instructions (pls). If you store in xml-format you cannot retrieve and maintain conditional text. Callouts on drawings (the graphics tool in Framemaker) will be rasterized, and even paragraph styles can be discarded if you save a document as XML. What are the implications of sacrificing saving documents as XML? Another advantage in favor of XMetal should be that it has vendor-supported integration with most content management systems (CMS). Apparently XMetal seems to be the best choice. What are your comments? Thanks, Verner ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring
Hi Verner We are migrating to XMetal DITA from RoboHelp and Frame/webworks. We like that XMetal is in one package and we don't have to worry about maintaining multiple applications to output our deliverables (chm, single html, and pdf). Granted the PDF output has been difficult to achieve, but we have a Tools person who has been able to customize output to meet our needs. Translation was another driver in adopting XMetal. We localize into many languages and the ease of working with pure XML files makes life much easier for Translators, who could not process .fm files directly. As the others have written, analyze and base your choice on your needs. Mind that converting legacy to XML DITA, no matter what your tool, will have a huge impact on translation memory. If you do translation, make sure to involve that team for input. Good luck. Joe Campo DS SolidWorks Concord, MA USA Today's Topics: 1. Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Andersen, Verner Engell VEA) 2. Re: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Yves Barbion) 3. Re: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring (Writer) -- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:04:20 +0200 From: "Andersen, Verner Engell VEA" <verner.ander...@radiometer.dk> Subject: Framemaker vs XMetal for structured authoring To: , "FrameMaker discussion list (omsys) (FrameMaker discussion list (omsys))" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi I currently use unstructured Framemaker for pdf output. I single-source my content - and via Webworks Publisher I output to context-sensitive help in Webworks help format. My 5 colleagues use Word and output to pdf for printing. We plan to go structured and are considering whether we should use Framemaker or XMetal. Do any of you know where I can find an unbiased comparison of the two tools? I have been told that the major disadvantage of using Framemaker is that you are required to save in binary format to keep the Framemaker-specific XML processing instructions (pls). If you store in xml-format you cannot retrieve and maintain conditional text. Callouts on drawings (the graphics tool in Framemaker) will be rasterized, and even paragraph styles can be discarded if you save a document as XML. What are the implications of sacrificing saving documents as XML? Another advantage in favor of XMetal should be that it has vendor-supported integration with most content management systems (CMS). Apparently XMetal seems to be the best choice. What are your comments? Thanks, Verner
Framers Digest, Vol 43, Issue 3
Verner We no longer use Frame, but perhaps our experiences are similar. We have about 10,000 html files in English, localizing into 12 languages, so we have over 100,000 files to manage. We don't currently have a lot of re-use. Over a year ago we started using XMetaL DITA to author all new content. We have started slowly migrating html to xml, which will take years. We recently purchased a CMS after a lengthy search. Our reasons are highly driven by Translation requirements. Our processes are very manual to get source to translation. So our big savings we hope to achieve in efficiency improvements. With the xml, we also hope to leverage more re-use as we go. The major goal is to maximize our source for localization. So somewhere down the road I hope we can implement a source style guide /copy editor to link our TM to our source. SDL GAMS (authorassistant) and acrolinx are the two applications I'm aware of. We did hire a consultant to guide us when we moved from html to xml and this was reassuring to make sure our own research was validated. In my opinion, that was a worthwhile expense. We did the search for a CMS vendor on our own. I might be able to send you a slide presentation one of my colleagues just presented at the CMS conference in florida last week. She presented on how we chose our cms vendor in 11 weeks. Let me know if you would like this and I will ask her to send you a copy. Joe Campo DS SolidWorks Concord, MA USA -Original Message- 2. Alternative to expensive CMS system (Andersen, Verner Engell VEA) Message: 2 Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 10:41:49 +0200 From: "Andersen, Verner Engell VEA" <verner.ander...@radiometer.dk> Subject: Alternative to expensive CMS system To: , "FrameMaker discussion list (omsys) (FrameMaker discussion list (omsys))" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi We are evaluating wheteher we should migrate to Structured Framemaker. Our situation: * 4200 English source pages to convert, * no multi-channel output, * releatively small possibility of reuse, approximately 30% (if we can use conditions) * translation into more than 20 languages. We have Trados translation memory and the company is going to implement Master Control, a document control sw system. I know, it is now that we should discuss the situation with an unbiased consultant! We have already contacted one consultant. They had a very large system in mind, which was also used in the car industry and companies producing cell phones. Such a system would cost hundres of thousands of dollars. As I understand it, you only get real value out of structured Framemaker if you have a CMS system. Are there other content management systems that can do the job and be integrated with a translation memory system? Best regards, Verner Andersen Med venlig hilsen - Best regards Verner Andersen Technical Writer Radiometer Medical ApS Phone +45 3827 3612 Fax +45 3827 2727 verner.andersen at radiometer.dk Radiometer Medical ApS Akandevej 21 2700 Bronshoj Denmark Phone: +45 38 27 38 27 CVR: 27 50 91 85 *
Installing Frame5.5 - virtual memory issue
When I tried installing Frame 5.5 on my new pc, a message popped up saying Director 5.5 needed 3MB of free virtual memory. I kept trying to adjust my virtual memory in Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance, Advanced, Virtual memory, Change. However, the Currently Allocated value continually shows the old value, not the new size value I put under Custom Size. Are there any secrets to setting the virtual memory size? Frame is the only application I've ever installed that causes this issue. Anyhow know why? I also got this same problem when installing 7.0 on my office pc. At home, I had to manually install via individual setups and of course, the distiller didn't install properly so I can't save as pdf. So I really need to solve this Virtual memory issue. I'd appreciate any advice/help. Thanks. Joseph Campo | Senior Technical Writer SolidWorks Corporation | www.solidworks.com 300 Baker Ave. | Concord | MA | 01742 | USA Phone: 978-371-5164 ___ 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 http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Installing Frame5.5 - virtual memory issue
When I tried installing Frame 5.5 on my new pc, a message popped up saying Director 5.5 needed 3MB of free virtual memory. I kept trying to adjust my virtual memory in Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance, Advanced, Virtual memory, Change. However, the Currently Allocated value continually shows the old value, not the new size value I put under Custom Size. Are there any secrets to setting the virtual memory size? Frame is the only application I've ever installed that causes this issue. Anyhow know why? I also got this same problem when installing 7.0 on my office pc. At home, I had to manually install via individual setups and of course, the distiller didn't install properly so I can't save as pdf. So I really need to solve this Virtual memory issue. I'd appreciate any advice/help. Thanks. Joseph Campo | Senior Technical Writer SolidWorks Corporation | www.solidworks.com 300 Baker Ave. | Concord | MA | 01742 | USA Phone: 978-371-5164
Flare
Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of AJ Coots Let me re-phrase the question: Has anyone here used Madcap Flare? AJ I've used Flare's trial version and am now a tester of their Version2 Alpha. We're researching potential replacements for RoboHelp to create online help. We generate chms now. Flare Help says it can also output source as MS Word and FrameMaker formats. I don't know the quality of those outputs, but if you download a trial version of Flare, you can test it out. My experience so far with the Chm output, RoboHelp project conversion, and Flare in general has been positive. Hope that helps. JoeC ___ 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 http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Flare
Original Message- > From: framers-bounces+rshelton=opentext.com at lists.frameusers.com > [mailto:framers-bounces+rshelton=opentext.com at lists.frameusers.com]On > Behalf Of AJ Coots > > Let me re-phrase the question: Has anyone here used Madcap Flare? > AJ I've used Flare's trial version and am now a tester of their Version2 Alpha. We're researching potential replacements for RoboHelp to create online help. We generate chms now. Flare Help says it can also output source as MS Word and FrameMaker formats. I don't know the quality of those outputs, but if you download a trial version of Flare, you can test it out. My experience so far with the Chm output, RoboHelp project conversion, and Flare in general has been positive. Hope that helps. JoeC
Conditional text and images question
Frame 7.1 We have an image that we place in an anchored frame. We want to place a second image on top of the first image and make only that second image conditional. We have tried a few options but cannot come up with a solution. If anyone has ever successfully done this, please let me know how you accomplished this? Thanks. Joseph Campo Senior Technical Writer | Certified SolidWorks Professional | Documentation Department SolidWorks Corporation | 300 Baker Avenue, Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA Phone: 1-978-371-5164 | Fax 1-978-371-7303 | www.solidworks.com ___ 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 http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Conditional text and images question
Frame 7.1 We have an image that we place in an anchored frame. We want to place a second image on top of the first image and make only that second image conditional. We have tried a few options but cannot come up with a solution. If anyone has ever successfully done this, please let me know how you accomplished this? Thanks. Joseph Campo Senior Technical Writer | Certified SolidWorks Professional | Documentation Department SolidWorks Corporation | 300 Baker Avenue, Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA Phone: 1-978-371-5164 | Fax 1-978-371-7303 | www.solidworks.com
Syntax for relative path links from pdf to html topics in a chm
Hi Framers Shlomo has been helping me with this issue. With a TimeSavers shortcut, we want to link from PDF to HTML topics in a chm. We concluded that Acrobat Reader v5.05 supported relative paths, but that as of Acrobat Reader v6, absolute paths are required, or the links fail. I've finally gotten a contact at Adobe who writes that he believes the relative paths are still supported, but that the syntax in Frame has changed. Does anyone know if this is true, and if yes, what is the required syntax when you want to use a relative path for these links? Thank very much for your help. Joe Campo SolidWorks Corp. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Syntax for relative path links from pdf to html topics in a chm
Hi Framers Shlomo has been helping me with this issue. With a TimeSavers shortcut, we want to link from PDF to HTML topics in a chm. We concluded that Acrobat Reader v5.05 supported relative paths, but that as of Acrobat Reader v6, absolute paths are required, or the links fail. I've finally gotten a contact at Adobe who writes that he believes the relative paths are still supported, but that the syntax in Frame has changed. Does anyone know if this is true, and if yes, what is the required syntax when you want to use a relative path for these links? Thank very much for your help. Joe Campo SolidWorks Corp. Joe.campo at solidworks.com
Link from PDF to topics in CHM
I had a solution from MicroType for linking from a PDF to topics in a CHM. However, as of Acrobat 7, the links require absolute paths. This is unacceptable because the links will fail for all Network Server installations, or any customized installs that deviate from the default. So I'm back to the beginning. Does anyone have any other ideas how to link from PDF to topics in a CHM that will work with relative paths? Could you link from the PDF to an HTML topic via a relative path, then use some kind of redirection from the HTML topic to topics in a CHM? Is that possible? Any other ideas? I'd appreciate any help/ideas you can provide. Thanks. Joe Campo Joe.campo at solidworks.com I've cross-posted this to multiple forums today.
