Frame documnet saved as XML losing formatting

[Bernard Aschwanden]

Hi Karen,

Are you using the default "save as" and then selecting XML? If so you have very little control. If you don't mind spending a bit of time working on it I can send you a document (and anyone else on the list who I haven't given this to) that walks you through a simple EDD, some formatting, a set of read/write rules and the basics of converting to and from Frame and XML.

Let me know if you want a copy of the PDF.

Bernard
 

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com] 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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