Framers Digest, Vol 39, Issue 10

[The Content Wrangler]

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On Jan 10, 2009, at 12:00 AM, framers-request at lists.frameusers.com  
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: OT: question about paragraph reference and section
>      symbols (Bodvar Bjorgvinsson)
>   2. Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
>      (nancy carpenter)
>   3. MIF2Go: specifying anchor names (Rick Quatro)
>   4. Re: MIF2Go: specifying anchor names (Michael M?ller-Hillebrand)
>   5. PDF import issue (Adrianne Mora)
>   6. Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
>      (strewth at rcn.com)
>   7. RE: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?>>FM8 to
>      FM7 to    FM8 conditional text woes (Orly Zimmerman)
>   8. RE: FM8 Boolean Expressions for Conditional Text
>      (Alexandra Wilowska)
>   9. Sections within a structured FrameMaker chapter
>      (RobynWright7 at aol.com)
>  10. Re: PDF import issue (Stuart Rogers)
>  11. BUTTONS in FRAMEMAKER (Michael Zaichenko)
>  12. RE: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis? (Fred  
> Ridder)
>  13. Still time to sign up for the free tool-independent webinar
>      next week (Sharon Burton)
>  14. Re: MIF2Go: specifying anchor names (Jeremy H. Griffith)
>  15. Re: MIF2Go: specifying anchor names (quills at airmail.net)
>  16. Alignment of graphic and text elements in a table format
>      (Shell, Robert)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 10:28:37 +0000
> From: "Bodvar Bjorgvinsson" <bodvar at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: OT: question about paragraph reference and section
>    symbols
> To: "Deirdre Reagan" <deirdre.reagan at gmail.com>
> Cc: Framer's List <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Message-ID:
>    <6c5fb4010901090228t5021d34dp12b47b49a1295b7b at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> With us, it really depends on the type of manual.
>
> We have chapters, sections and paragraphs, all consecutively numbered,
> Chapter, Section and Paragraph (which we control by using numbered
> lists). We never use any symbols for sections, and I don't think
> symbols are used for this by ATA, FAA or EASA (formerly JAA).
> Our references can be to a chapter (Chapter 1), section (Section, 2.1
> meaning Chapter 2, section 1, which is the way the section shows
> anyway -- or just 2.1), or paragraph (list number) which we refer
> alternately to including the Chapter/Section numbers, or, if within
> the same (sub)section, just to the list number ("1.a.iv" or "paragraph
> 1.a.iv"). The reference text (Cross reference format) depends on the
> context, "see...", "...above", "see paragraph...", etc.
>
> If the section includes max. three paragraphs (depending on their
> length), the paragarphs are usually not numbered and a reference is
> then just made to the section.
>
> If your (company's) manuals seem to be using arbitrary numbering
> system, just try to find out whether you can set up a logically
> unified reference system for your manuals (can be impossible for a
> contractor) and what would suite as comfortable numbering system for
> that category, and then apply that system to each manual as the
> revising job allows.
>
> HTH,
>
> Bodvar Bjorgvinsson
> Air Atlanta Icelandic
>
> 2009/1/7 Deirdre Reagan <deirdre.reagan at gmail.com>:
>> Hi all:
>>
>> Any aeronautics people on this list? If yes, (or even if no, feel
>> free to weigh in) in text, when referring to another part of the  
>> text,
>> what is the preferred way to note that reference?
>>
>> I have two documents -- one refers to "paragraph 5.1" and the other
>> refers to [section symbol] 5.1.
>>
>> Do you all refer to "paragraph," use the section symbol, or use  
>> something else?
>>
>> I would prefer to use the the section symbol, but one of my coworkers
>> says that someone would see that symbol and automatically think
>> [section symbol] 5.1 refers to an FAA regulation so we should use
>> "paragraph."
>>
>> I think the word "paragraph" is kind of strange and it always makes  
>> me
>> look twice ("Refer to paragraph 5.1, "Monitoring the Electrical
>> System," for more details . . ") -- at the very least, I'd use
>> Paragraph 5.1. or Para 5.1.
>>
>> A quick perusal of the USGPO Style Guide didn't turn anything up,  
>> so I
>> thought I'd turn to you guys.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Deirdre
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>> You are currently subscribed to Framers as bodvar at gmail.com.
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>
>
>
> -- 
> "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so  
> ingenious."
> -- Edsel Murphy, dec.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 09:15:24 -0500
> From: nancy carpenter <carpentn at genco.com>
> Subject: Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Message-ID:
>    <OF59543603.917F5785-ON85257539.004E27B7-85257539.004E2CE0 at genco.com 
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> I'm on the digest, so this reply might be out of sync with others.
>
> I convert Visio drawings to a windows metafile and import them by
> reference. I've never had a problem with that.
>
>
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 09:55:43 +1300
> From: Alan Litchfield <alan at alphabyte.co.nz>
> Subject: Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
> To: "Combs, Richard" <richard.combs at Polycom.com>
> Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com, orlyz at marvell.com
> Message-ID: <8DA6BA3F-1C33-4830-89B1-DF416CF63ADB at alphabyte.co.nz>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> I would second Richard's recommendation. I would also add that when I
> have printed Visio files to PDF in the past I often get strange
> printing problems show up (depending on the version of Visio). These
> have been lines that appear in the printed output, text that truncates
> or disappears, fonts that get lost, lines that don't print...
>
> Yes the file output filters in Visio are problematic, and the print
> engine seems to parse the file data in strange ways too. So I open the
> files in Illustrator and check that lines are lines and not skinny
> boxes, delete all the strange bounding boxes and masks that Visio
> creates, make certain that all the fonts are of the same variety and
> that text lines are long enough,... In general fix the errors that
> Visio creates. Then use the pdf in Frame and all is good thereafter.
>
> If there are a large number of files the process doesn't take as long
> as it sounds since most of the problems tend to be replicated in each
> of the files.
>
> Alan
>
> On 9/01/2009, at 9:42 AM, Combs, Richard wrote:
>
>> Sent too soon. I also meant to recommend an alternative workflow for
>> Orly. Instead of importing native Visio files as OLE objects (either
>> linked or embedded), print the Visio files to PDF and import that  
>> into
>> FM.
>>
>> I think that's a better solution than Art's suggestion of exporting
>> to a
>> graphics format -- Visio's export filters don't have a very good
>> reputation, but it can certainly print to your Adobe PDF printer.
>> Actually, if you have a recent version of Acrobat, and it was
>> installed
>> after Visio, you'll have Adobe's "make PDF" plugin in Visio.
>>
>> Importing PDF into FM works beautifully. You can probably even get
>> away
>> with embedding the PDFs instead of importing by reference -- the file
>> size will probably be much, much smaller and imported PDF is light-
>> years
>> more stable than OLE objects.
>>
>> Whatever you choose to do, scrapping OLE will be a big improvement.
>>
>> HTH!
>> Richard
>>
>>
>> Richard G. Combs
>> Senior Technical Writer
>> Polycom, Inc.
>> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
>> 303-223-5111
>> ------
>> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
>> 303-777-0436
>> ------
>
> Nancy Carpenter
> Lead Technical Writer
> GENCO Supply Chain Solutions
> 100 Papercraft Park
> Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 10:44:37 -0500
> From: "Rick Quatro" <frameexpert at truevine.net>
> Subject: MIF2Go: specifying anchor names
> To: <framers at lists.frameusers.com>,    <framers at omsys.com>
> Message-ID: <AF142957B0EE44239708D8ABF68755CF at CARMENOFFICE>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>    reply-type=original
>
> I have a series of hypertext links in my document with this form:
>
> openObjectId :2 1003728
>
> I like these kinds of links because I only have to worry about one  
> end of
> the link; in other words, I don't need two markers for each link.  
> These work
> nicely with MIF2Go because it can use the paragraph id for the  
> target of the
> link:
>
> <h3><a name="Xaf1003728"></a>access</h3>
>
> My links are like this:
>
> <p>The granting or withholding of a service or <a
> href="#Xaf1003728">access</a> to a resource to a requestor based...</ 
> p>
>
> Now my client has thrown me what I hope is a little curve: they want  
> more
> descriptive anchor names; for example,
>
> <h3><a name="access"></a>access</h3>
> <p>The granting or withholding of a service or <a  
> href="#access">access</a>
> to a resource to a requestor based...</p>
>
> I will have to use gotolink and newlink markers to accomplish this.  
> Since I
> am inserting markers with FrameScript, this shouldn't be a problem.
>
> My basic question is this: Can I get this output using MIF2Go using  
> gotolink
> and newlink markers?
>
> <h3><a name="access"></a>access</h3>
> <p>The granting or withholding of a service or <a  
> href="#access">access</a>
> to a resource to a requestor based...</p>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Rick Quatro
> Carmen Publishing Inc
> 585-659-8267
> www.frameexpert.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 17:24:55 +0100
> From: Michael M?ller-Hillebrand <mmh at cap-studio.de>
> Subject: Re: MIF2Go: specifying anchor names
> To: framers List <framers at lists.frameusers.com>, framers at omsys.com
> Message-ID: <9D230366-175B-405B-A445-3221CF8B3D4B at cap-studio.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> As an aside, i.e. not answering the original question: I have heard
> such requests also, but in most cases it is a misunderstanding of the
> concept of an ID! I am sure you tried to talk the client out of it,
> but, anyway, I will give you some more reasons *not* to use
> descriptive IDs or anchor names:
>
> * Who guarantees the uniqueness of the anchor names, before and after
> translation? Or speaking in business case: Who pays for the effort
> needed to manage all used anchor names?
>
> * In translation tools marker content can be seen and will be
> translated if it is natural language text! This most probably breaks
> the links in other languages.
>
> * In XML there are certain limits what kind of characters an ID may
> consist of, like beginning with a ASCII letter (I seem to remember).
> So there might be problems if the oh so descriptive term starts with a
> digit or with an accented character from a foreign language.
>
> Even if those reasons are not applicable for your current project, it
> is always a good idea to see potential problems before the clients
> asks us to fix them.
>
> - Michael
>
>
> Am 09.01.2009 um 16:44 schrieb Rick Quatro:
>
>> <h3><a name="Xaf1003728"></a>access</h3>
>>
>> My links are like this:
>>
>> <p>The granting or withholding of a service or <a
>> href="#Xaf1003728">access</a> to a resource to a requestor based...</
>> p>
>>
>> Now my client has thrown me what I hope is a little curve: they want
>> more
>> descriptive anchor names; for example,
>>
>> <h3><a name="access"></a>access</h3>
>> <p>The granting or withholding of a service or <a
>> href="#access">access</a>
>> to a resource to a requestor based...</p>
>
> --
> _______________________________________________________________
> Michael M?ller-Hillebrand: Dokumentations-Technologie
> Adobe Certified Expert, FrameMaker
> L?sungen und Training, FrameScript, XML/XSL, Unicode
> Blog: http://cap-studio.de/ - Tel. +49 (9131) 28747
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 14:47:56 -0500
> From: "Adrianne Mora" <AdrianneM at envipco.com>
> Subject: PDF import issue
> To: <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Message-ID:
>    <7B9177768049DE4CA24FFB2C070F88670174DCF4 at daedalus.ct.envipco.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="us-ascii"
>
> I am using Unstructured FrameMaker 8 on Windows XP. I also have  
> Acrobat
> 8 Standard.
>
>
>
> I have several wiring diagrams in DWG format that I need to import  
> into
> a FrameMaker file. Because of the size and detail of these diagrams,
> they must be printed on Ledger (11x17) sized paper. I print the  
> drawing
> from AutoCAD to PDF. I can open and print the PDF from Acrobat  
> Standard
> and it looks perfect.
>
>
>
> However, when I import (by reference) this same file into a Ledger- 
> sized
> page in FrameMaker, all of the lines look (and print) thicker, which
> makes all of the small details illegible. In the object details, Frame
> says that it is scaled 100%. Considering that the file is imported by
> reference, shouldn't it look the same way? Does anyone have any
> solutions?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
>
>
> Adrianne Mora
>
> Technical Writer
>
>
>
> Please take care of the environment, print only if necessary.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Thu,  8 Jan 2009 16:07:17 -0500 (EST)
> From: <strewth at rcn.com>
> Subject: Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Message-ID: <20090108160717.BWK94834 at ms17.lnh.mail.rcn.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> You can also just save the Visio files as jpegs and import by  
> reference. Works for me.
>
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 09:55:43 +1300
>> From: Alan Litchfield <alan at alphabyte.co.nz>
>> Subject: Re: Does FM crash on Large files on a regular basis?
>> To: "Combs, Richard" <richard.combs at Polycom.com>
>> Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com,orlyz at marvell.com
>>
>> I would second Richard's recommendation. I would also add that when I
>> have printed Visio files to PDF in the past I often get strange
>> printing problems show up (depending on the version of Visio). These
>> have been lines that appear in the printed output, text that  
>> truncates
>> or disappears, fonts that get lost, lines that don't print...
>>
>> Yes the file output filters in Visio are problematic, and the print
>> engine seems to parse the file data in strange ways too. So I open  
>> the
>> files in Illustrator and check that lines are lines and not skinny
>> boxes, delete all the strange bounding boxes and masks that Visio
>> creates, make certain that all the fonts are of the same variety and
>> that text lines are long enough,... In general fix the errors that
>> Visio creates. Then use the pdf in Frame and all is good thereafter.
>>
>> If there are a large number of files the process doesn't take as long
>> as it sounds since most of the problems tend to be replicated in each
>> of the files.
>>
>> Alan
>>
>> On 9/01/2009, at 9:42 AM, Combs, Richard wrote:
>>
>>> Sent too soon. I also meant to recommend an alternative workflow for
>>> Orly. Instead of importing native Visio files as OLE objects (either
>>> linked or embedded), print the Visio files to PDF and import that  
>>> into
>>> FM.
>>>
>>> I think that's a better solution than Art's suggestion of exporting
>>> to a
>>> graphics format -- Visio's export filters don't have a very good
>>> reputation, but it can certainly print to your Adobe PDF printer.
>>> Actually, if you have a recent version of Acrobat, and it was
>>> installed
>>> after Visio, you'll have Adobe's "make PDF" plugin in Visio.
>>>
>>> Importing PDF into FM works beautifully. You can probably even get
>>> away
>>> with embedding the PDFs instead of importing by reference -- the  
>>> file