Footnote placement improvement for practical and aesthetic reasons

2007-03-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
As well as allowing multiple short footnotes on a line, Adobe could allow long footnotes to flow from a right to the left following page. It could also balance footnotes on facing pages. If a footnote reference is on a right page, it should flow back a long footnote onto the facing left page.

Job Opening: Long-Term Contract Publications Production

2007-03-16 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
I can also walk on water and charge only $780/hour. As it happens, I have used FM since v. 3.0 on Sun OpenLook, Solaris, HP-UX, Macintosh, and Windows, wrote UNIX scripts to capture and automatically size screen shots, have about 30 FM plug-ins, including IXgen, IndexRef, etc., and have used

Hyperlink marker gotcha to be aware of

2007-03-09 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
**BUG** Hypertext markers in generated files with long strings crash FrameMaker 7.0p578, 7.1p114 , 7.2p158 Steps to reproduce bug: 1. Create a book with a number of components, including a test-target file which is nested deeply in folders so that its relative pathname from the *.book

The living dead: RoboHelp for FrameMaker walks among us!

2007-03-09 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
No doubt this link had already been posted on the lists and I'm the last to know -- as usual. -- Hedley Finger Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist MYOB Australia Pty Ltd P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC

looking for a way to automate alignment in tables

2007-03-08 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Cybele: Just create a special para format just for that column. Then set a decimal tab for that para font and, in the Numbering tab of the Paragraph Designer, insert a single tab \t as the "number". Now any figures typed into that para format will always align on the decimal tab. Hedley --

Structured Frame saving XML

2007-03-05 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Trevor: > Because our XML files are managed by a source control system, ... ... you are using the wrong tool. Source control systems are meant for program source code where line breaks have meaning, usually to separate program statements. You need an XML-aware content management system that

Structured Frame saving XML

2007-03-05 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
As well as the other suggestions re read/write rules, perhaps you could turn Smart Spaces off. -- Hedley Finger Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist MYOB Australia Pty Ltd P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC 3130 Australia 12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business Park East

Character format enhancement, Was: Find / Replace special

2007-03-01 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
> In addition to As Is and setting a hard value, I'd like to be able to > set a relative value, such as a character format that applies a > specific font and makes it 1 point smaller than the paragraph font. When mixing fonts it is considered good form by typographers to make their x-heights

Third-party or "out of the box" plugins [was "re: Frame's future"]

2007-02-23 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Marcus, Marcus, Marcus: > > I attempted to make the point that a study of the third-party plugins > > would indicate to Adobe the gaps in FrameMaker's functionality that > > they need to address, and chose indexing plugins as an example where > > there are many independent plugins to improve this

Third-party or "out of the box" plugins [was "re: Frame's future"]

2007-02-23 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Marcus^3: The example of the Turbo Tarburner was chosen with care. Even as we bicker, a major automotive manufacturer is implementing an on-demand customised workshop manual. The mechanic will simply enter the car's body number or VIN or whatever, and a custom manual for just the equipment

Third-party or "out of the box" plugins [was "re: Frame's future"]

2007-02-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Since my post about plugins diverted this thread from its original topic onto a discussion of the merits of plugins, may I amplify my remarks? The original discussion was, generally, about what Adobe needed to do to find out what functionality their customers would need in the future. I

Frame's future

2007-02-21 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Another thing Adobe could do is look at all the plug-ins and mods that various people have come up with to scratch an itch -- or stem a raging haemorrhage. For example, there are a whole bunch of indexing tools -- IXgen, emDex, Index Tools Pro, IndexRef, etc. -- suggesting that there is a

First Hurdle

2007-02-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
> Regarding FrameMaker content, I don't know myself of any special > issues regarding structure. The general rule with conditional > text is to keep things simple, else it can turn into a > maintenance nightmare. I would avoid using FrameMaker conditional formats in structured documents.

Asking a favor

2007-02-05 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
> an acronym he/she would also write what it > stands for in parentheses at least once The approved nomenclature for "acronym" is TLA or YAA -- Three-Letter Acronym or Yet Another Acronym. 8^) Hope this amuses, if not helps. -- Hedley Finger Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist

FrameMaker 5.5.6 > Word > InDesign help needed

2007-01-31 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: A former client of mine has a thesis with many graphics imported by reference into FrameMaker 5.5.6 running in Classic Mac 9.1 on PowerMacintosh. She wants to convert them to InDesign v. 2.0. I suggested that she save to Mac Word 4, 5, or 6, or to RTF using the Japanese converter, in

FM 7.1 Compatibility

2007-01-31 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Will: > he had > some OLE issues but that is not surprising. You don't need OLE. Import graphics by reference. If you double-click on them, they will open in the associated graphics program. Regards, Hedley -- Hedley Finger Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist MYOB Australia Pty

Highlighting in M

2007-01-19 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Diane and awl: > With Acrobat Pro 7.0 or 8.0, you > can save the PDF for review and the writers in Japan will have similar > tools to the Word doc with highlighting, notes and editing. Actually, the new *free* Adobe Reader v. 8.0 will do all this stuff and even, I believe, allow a group of

Ipsum Lorem?

2007-01-15 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
You can install a Lorem Ipsum generator in Firefox called Dummy Lipsum. -- Hedley Finger Training Content Developer and Tools Specialist MYOB Australia Pty Ltd P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC 3130 Australia 12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business Park East Burwood VIC 3151

Grouping Definitions

2007-01-08 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
As well as grouping para and char tags alphabetically by beginning their names with their general class and adding a specific suffix (e.g. "HeadingChapter", "HeadingSection", etc.) may I suggest that you prefix them with short codes to quickly apply them from the keyboard. Thus

Some Pointers for IXgen

2007-01-05 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
John: I suggest you stay right away from using a list of keywords generated from one book to automatically add index markers to another book for a few reasons. First, you will find when you apply the list of keywords to the second book that there will be many false hits which you will have to

Some Pointers for IXgen (AMENDMENT)

2007-01-05 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Second thought: 8 Generate individual indexes for each of the three separate books. 9 Read through each book and add extra index entries for concepts, etc. within topics that really are important enough to be indexed. The master index already generated will ensure that these final

Difference between us and international english Framemaker

2006-12-15 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Gillian: > They write their manuals the English way* (i.e. colour, theatre etc.) > and we write the American way** (color, theater). In 2007, I will be > working on a project with them so the docset will be split up between > their local tech writer and me. > So the question is, which English

Fw: third party vendors

2006-11-23 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Can someone tell me to what thread Karsten was replying? It certainly wan't "Third party vendors"! -- Hedley Hello Michael, you can do this with a recursive function or sub. Set StartDir = 'c:\programme\'; Run RecDir pv_strDir(StartDir); Sub RecDir Using pv_strDir Local

Any way of applying a custom master page to final even page in component file

2006-11-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Occasionally a chapter file ends on a right page (odd-numbered). Because the pagination is set to even number of pages, the default Left master is applied to the final left page (even-numbered) of the chapter. We would like to apply a special master page devoid of running heads and feet,

Where is ?

2006-11-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Firefox (where do they get these names?) and Internet Explorer v. 7 are just showing a blank page for , not even the "Site under reconstruction" message. What gives? Or have I been transported to an alternative universe where it no longer exists? -- Hedley Finger

Acrobatlateral thinking : Implement simultaneous multiple releases [was "RE: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0"]

2006-11-06 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Dov and all: > This is a good time, though, to > repeat my warning that you should not attempt to have > either multiple versions of Acrobat, multiple versions > of Reader, and/or mixtures of Acrobat and Reader installed > on a given system. Although it is possible to coerce the > installers to

Acrobatlateral thinking : Implement simultaneous multiple releases [was "RE: Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.0"]

2006-11-06 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Tina: > I would think it would be very difficult to get multiple > version working together that do not interfere with each other. Difficult, but not impossible. Software manufacturers should not blame their customers and put problems on their shoulders that can easily (or difficultly) be

Cond Text in a text inset

2006-10-24 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Shmuel: > Is there any problem using conditional text inside of a text inset? If the host file does not have that condition, the visibility of the condition in the text inset will be the same in the host file. If the host file does have the condition too, then the visibility, definition of

Can User Variable value be changed at book level?

2006-10-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Rick, David, Radha: > Radha Padmanabhan wrote: > > > I have got a FM book with about 50 chapters (files). But > > they are logically grouped as 5 guides. All chapters in all > > guides have footers with Product Name, Release No. and Date > > and Guide identification. For each guide, the

Document Management System needed for FM

2006-09-14 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Re the discussion of CVS, have a look at Subversion and TortoiseSVN as a GUI client. Both on Sourceforge. Also, Siberlogic Sibersafe is a *** content management system *** that works with FrameMaker content down to the level of paragraphs and also supports the DITA XML system. Note: A

How to download Adobe updates

2006-08-28 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
When I launch FM on Windows XP, an alert informs me that FM is checking for updates, but then an error message states that a file could not be downloaded. This is probably because of IT admin's firewall policies. Are there alternative ways of getting these updates? -- Hedley Finger Technical

how to enlarge conditional text window

2006-08-16 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: > P.S. Hacking the dialogues is so easy (at least up to FM 7.1) that you > wonder why Adobe hasn't assigned the work-experience programmer to do it > for ALL those annoyingly tiny dialogues. It would be only two to three days' work. Then Adobe could release it as FM 8. [Sorry,

Going nutso' with a "phantom" cross-reference

2006-07-17 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Fred, Tammy: > Checking for unresolved x-refs with all conditions showing > establishes that all the x-refs are good, and you should then be > able to document that the "bad" ones that are reported in the Book > Errors windows when you publish any given conditionalized version > are due only to

Odd console message on boot-up

2006-07-10 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: When I boot up FrameMaker 7.2b144, the console window opens and displays these puzzling messages: > FrameMaker: entry for client QuarkXPress Document (3.3-4.1x) is missing fields (4 required) > FrameMaker: entry for client Pagemaker 7.0.x Document is missing fields (4 required) >

I want a numbered list with alphabetized substeps

2006-07-04 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Karyn: > Numbered list

FM Adobe DITA Plugin

2006-06-28 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
In the framemaker-dita Yahoo! group, Carla Martinek has just advised ... > Just got out of the "Benefits of Structured Authoring and Migrating > In Preparation For XML" webinar a little bit ago. > > One phrase I heard at the beginning of it was along the lines of > "the DITA plugin should be

Methodology for Source Code Control

2006-06-26 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: > When you store binary files (like FM files), most source control systems > can't compare/diff those, so they have to store a complete new copy of > the file each time it changes. That's why a lot of source control system > admins don't want you checking in your docs -- you eat up massive >

Opening all text insets in all components in a book ... phew!

2006-06-23 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
> Hedley Finger wrote: > > > Problem: while you can Open All Files in a book, there > > appears to be no global way of opening all the text insets in > > all the components of a book. Thanks to all who contributed to this one. Replies and clarifications in no particular order: (1) The

"File type has changed" (???) when Open Source text inset

2006-06-23 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Following up my previous query re opening all lebenty zillion text inset source files in a book, here is another to tax your brains. I have added an unresolved text inset report to my book and am hunting down each text inset to resolve it. However, most of these text inset source files

Opening all text insets in all components in a book ... phew!

2006-06-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Some time before IBM released DITA to a puzzled and unsuspecting world, a colleague of mine solved the problem of repurposing/reusing small fragments of content using text insets. Basically, the components of a book consist of shell files that contain nothing but text insets. This

Technical Writing Suite From Adobe

2006-04-26 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Bill: > sell into the Academic publishing market And into the commercial publishing non-fiction market! Then publishers can stop using dumb Cindex and Sky Index to produce indexes that don't embed in the source text and have to be done all over again when they (a) publish the illustrated

SourceSafe??? Recommendations needed.

2006-04-24 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Marcus wrote: > If you check in Frame files you are storing a copy of the template > information every single time you commit. This can chew up your storage > space fairly quickly. Visual SourceSafe (VSS) does binary deltas on FrameMaker binary files. Template information is not repeated

More about Subversion [was "Re: SourceSafe??? Recommendations needed"]

2006-04-24 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Thought you might be interested in this summary of Subversion as an alternative to VSS. Hedley - Forwarded by Hedley Finger/AU/MYOB on 24/04/2006 09:46 AM - Zhi Qiang Wu Sent by: dita-users at yahoogroups.com 20/04/2006 04:30 PM Please respond to dita-users To:

Exporting RTF or MIF from InDesign

2006-04-13 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: A colleague wants to know whether there is any way of exporting text content and graphics from InDesign to FrameMaker (either as binary FM or MIF). Otherwise, export to Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) may have to suffice. I've not used InDesign, so can't comment. You would think this

Exporting RTF or MIF from InDesign

2006-04-13 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Of course, if export to FM from InDesign was implemented, certain wild-eyed types would immediately assume that Adobe were going to discontinue InDesign in favour of FrameMaker. Moo-err-h-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! [think Vincent Price]. -- Hedley Finger Technical Communications Tools & Processes

maker.ini entries for Line End Options dialogue

2006-04-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: Does anybody know if there are any maker.ini entries that will set the defaults of the Line End Options dialogue? This dialogue is accessed by clicking the Set Line End Style button on the tools palette. I want the default Cap Style to be Butt. And is it possible to set your own custom

So will Adobe release RoboHelp for FrameMaker ? 8^)

2006-04-10 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
... seeing as how Adobe acquired the code when it took over Macromedia. Or will Adobe just open-source it? -- Hedley Finger Technical Communications Tools & Processes Specialist MYOB Australia P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC 3130 Australia 12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business

Fw: Keycaps fonts lose their already shady characters

2006-03-31 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: > I recently needed to show actual key caps in some documentation. > [...] I was able to find three keycaps fonts, > > If Character Map is set to the keycaps font and I select the > characters corresponding to A B C a b and c , I get the A B C Alt > Return and CapsLock key caps in the

Keycaps fonts lose their already shady characters

2006-03-30 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: I recently needed to show actual key caps in some documentation. After a plea on austechwriters and googling around, I was able to find three keycaps fonts, one shareware and not very aesthetic, and two of unknown provenance, probably copyright. But they all exhibit the same baffling

Can't Override Left/Right Master Page

2006-03-17 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Angela: > When I try to apply a Last Page master page to the last page of a chapter > (to ensure that I have a blank page and that the footer doesn't appear), > Frame applies the Last page, and then, after I save, Frame adds the > Left/Right page back in. Any idea what's going on? Thank you for

Anyone used Tortoise CVS with Frame Files

2006-03-15 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Martha: > I use TortoiseCVS with Frame files. I mark both .fm and .book files > as binary, so that each time I check in the entire file is replaced, And if the product manager has just decided to restore the functionality that was removed a few days ago, how do you retrieve the version of the

I'm lazy

2006-01-17 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Cripes! Rick must be a bigger mover and shaker than I thought. What with ".frameexpert" being a top-level domain up there with "uk", "au", "cn", "de", "fr", etc! http://www.frameexpert/plugins/pagelabeler/ -- Hedley Finger Technical Communications Tools & Processes Specialist MYOB Australia

manipulating headers / footers through API?

2006-01-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Can you explain what the problem is and why you think it is necessary to write a plug-in to solve it? There are many ways to skin the FrameMaker rabbit and there might be solution which can be implemented with FM's many devious capabilities and existing plug-ins. -- Hedley Finger Technical

Answer: Re: Odd bug printing FM to PDF

2006-01-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
All: The hotspot behaviour in generated lists is user-unfriendly but works well for cross-references and index page numbers. A possible fix involving FrameScript follows: @ Create a new character format where all properties are set to null. @ Create a FrameScript event script

Whoops! Nll (As Is) char format WON'T fix hotspots in generated paras

2006-01-12 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Sorry about previous email. The hotspot after a Hyperlink marker is read until the next CHANGE of formatting, whether applied anonymously or by a character format. So if you heading is bold but your page number is light, the hotspot ends with bold. -- Hedley Finger Technical Communications

atw: Frame query

2006-01-03 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Jill: > If anyone is back at work yet - how can I get rid of a graphic I have 'sent to back'. > In this case it is only a circle. I have looked up help and couldn't find anything. A graphic exists in a context. On a page, the context is the page's border, so that the graphic is in a

Those old book numbering blues

2005-12-19 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Steve: > >Then set your chapter title numbering as follows: > > > >Chapter\ <$chapnum>< >< =0>< =0>< =0>< =0>< =0> > > > >The < > placeholder after <$chapnum> is the one you want to continue > >through the book. The < =0> resetters are for the numbering you > >want to restart for each

Those old book numbering blues

2005-12-16 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Steve: > I am using one autonumber thread to control stuff that needs to flow > through a book. I just wanted to check that in this case, i.e. > paragraph number threads not reset between chapters, there is no > alternative to creating a separate

How FM plug-in developers are losing corporate sales

2005-12-06 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Hackers, code-cutters, and devil-whoppers: FrameMaker is indeed blessed with many wonderful plug-ins that vastly increase its utility. Most plug-ins came into being because their developers had an itch to scratch, and marketed them as a useful utility that a fellow sufferer might want. That

How FM plug-in developers are losing corporate sales [Did I mention on-line help?]

2005-12-06 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Addendum: And if all plug-in developers could agree where to stash their HTML Help *.chm files, then the on-line help for all the plug-ins would come up as one apparently seamless help with a merged TOC and Index. [Dream on, Hedley.] Roo guards, Hedley -- Hedley Finger Technical

DITA, and XMetaL working with FM

2005-12-02 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
I saw a few familar names at Blast Radius' webinar (just concluded) on using XMetaL DITA Edition with FrameMaker. I'm pretty sure I heard Paul Prescod say that a build path to go from DITA XML to FM to PDF is being added to the DITA open toolkit. Can anyone confirm this? Or was it that just

Conditional Text and cross-references

2005-11-29 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
An alternative to typing or is to type , which does the same job.** Have you tried these alternatives to see if they fix the problem with cross-references? Hedley ** The second alternative contains the blind Peter, i.e. the backwards facing P, just in case it comes out as some other

markers that include the section *number* in the marker text?

2005-11-29 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Ananda: > [...] The idea is that we should be able to generate a list of > markers or index of markers which will be used to create another doc > that explains the changes in the text. [...] is there a way to have > the marker text grab the auto-generated section number for that > paragraph? You

Merge lists?

2005-11-24 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Moooer aha ha ha ha! Mate, you just asked the Catholics and the Protestants to kiss and make up! -- Hedley Finger Technical Communications Tools & Processes Specialist MYOB Australia P.O. box 371 Blackburn VIC 3130 Australia 12 Wesley Court Tally Ho Business Park

TP for FM?

2005-11-22 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
What about: @ editing fontlists on UNIX platforms @ inserting tables into MML files @ specifying Distiller parameters with PDFmark operators in PostScript flows @ hacking FM 5.5.6 Beta for Linux so it will continue to run beyond its expiry date Hedley -- Hedley Finger

ADMIN Announcing Framers on Mailman!

2005-11-21 Thread hedley.fin...@myob.com
Lisa: "How will this affect you?" Good question; it will probably drive me nuts. All the mailman lists I have seen look more or less like < http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/>. Yes, folks, the archives are grouped by month. No way to see a continuous scrolling list of articles