Frame documnet saved as XML losing formatting

[Mike Feimster]

 Karen wrote:

"They do use paragraph and character tags, though rarely for bold and
italic.
The XML is for a help system, for which I'm having to provide all my
documents in XML format. I am now paying the price in the conversion to XML,
of both my formatting mistakes and those of my predecessors."

Do they want an arbitrary xml format, or do they want a specific syntax such
as DocBook, DITA, or home made?

If they want a specific syntax, you might be better off converting your
unstructured documents to structured and then saving as XML.

<potentially showing my ignorance>
I've never understood why someone would want the generic xml that comes from
Frame (or Word for that matter) unless they planned to convert it to
something else. Feel free to enlighten me.
</potentially showing my ignorance>

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+mike.feimster=acstechnologies.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+mike.feimster=acstechnologies.com at lists.frameusers.c
om] On Behalf Of Karen West
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 11:40 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Frame documnet saved as XML losing formatting

Mike Feimster wrote:

> > I believe that FrameMaker drops that formatting when saving as xml. 
> > If you are using formats from the character catalog it
should
> > > save the formatting.

I stupidly replied:
 
> > Thanks Mike, I've just tried it and it works now using the character 
> > catalog. Excellent, that's rather stupid though, don't you think?

Richard Combs set me straight:
 
> Well, no. In fact, a recent poll of FrameUsers readers found that 35 
> out of 37 thought it was rather stupid to apply ad hoc formatting as 
> you did instead of using defined character tags:

I've just read the relevant thread and I now feel more enlightened. In my
defence I didn't know any better as I've had no formal training in using
FrameMaker. I'm the sole Technical Writer here and kind of got roped into
the position.

Richard asked:

> If you have unstructured, randomly-formatted docs that don't use 
> paragraph and character tags consistently, then what's the point in 
> converting them to XML anyway?

They do use paragraph and character tags, though rarely for bold and italic.
The XML is for a help system, for which I'm having to provide all my
documents in XML format. I am now paying the price in the conversion to XML,
of both my formatting mistakes and those of my predecessors.

Karen West
Technical Writer
Cyberscience Corp
http://www.cyberscience.com
 

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