framers Digest, Vol 86, Issue 17

Mon Dec 17 12:16:48 PST 2012

I have not found Flare an adequate replacement for FrameMaker. It is less stable, does not handle large graphics or vector files well, rotated cells in tables, many open type fonts, and has some bugs with PDF output.

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On Dec 17, 2012, at 10:00 AM, framers-request at lists.frameusers.com wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>   1. RE: TCS 4 as DITA out-of-the-box solution (Kapil Verma)
>   2. Madcap Flare vs Framemaker (laura at lavadome.net)
>   3. RE: Index not generating as expected (Harro de Jong)
>   4. Re: Index not generating as expected (Stuart Rogers)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:14:49 +0530
> From: Kapil Verma <kverma at adobe.com>
> To: Craig Ede <craigede at hotmail.com>, "gillian.flato at nexenta.com"
>    <gillian.flato at nexenta.com>, framers <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Subject: RE: TCS 4 as DITA out-of-the-box solution
> Message-ID:
>    <FF15B4B2822C6345ADAAE9A8041C39E20121259523B8 at indiambx02.corp.adobe.com>
>    
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Craig, Gillian and others,
> 
> Thanks for your post and suggestions. I am the FM product manager at Adobe and wanted to let you know that we will definitely consider the suggestions mentioned in this thread.
> 
> Also, though this post, I wanted to point out that now in FrameMaker 11, you can easily automatically generate cover page, TOC, index, List of figures, list of tables pages etc. through a settings file called ditafm-output.ini. You can auto-generate these components either by (1) directly generating the PDF from the ditamap or (2) by generating a book first from the ditamap.
> 
> 
> *         For the first option, one needs to go to the setting file and turn on the flag called SavePDFViaBookRoute (i.e. make it 1). Afterwards, choose the relevant settings you want e.g. GenerateTOC=1, GenerateIndex=1 etc. Save and close, and generate the PDF. FM would create all the components in the PDF automatically as specified by you in the settings file. You can even choose different templates and specify various numbering options.
> 
> *         For the second option, setting the SavePDFViaBookRoute flag is not required. Rest of the process works the same way.
> 
> Useful resources
> 
> *         See the ditafm-output.ini overview and flag reference documentation for more details http://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/ini/framemaker_11_ini_reference.pdf (Chapter 1 of the documentation). Online version of the documentation can be found here<http://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/ini/index.html>. There are plenty of flags in this file to allow you to configure how the output gets generated
> 
> *   To know more about how you can publish your DITAMAP to a professional PDF, while automatically generating TOC, Index etc., please see the blog post here<http://blogs.adobe.com/tcs/2012/10/uncategorized/iniref.html>
> 
> *         Also, see a related video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSMLpaqKxg which shows this capability in action.
> 
> Hope it helps. Let us know how it goes.
> 
> Thx,
> Kapil Verma
> Sr. Product Manager - FrameMaker line of products
> 
> 
> 
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Craig Ede
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 8:20 PM
> To: gillian.flato at nexenta.com; framers
> Subject: RE: TCS 4 as DITA out-of-the-box solution
> 
> I am currently working a contract for a company where we are writing DITA files using FM11 (not TCS 4). Producing DITA using FM 11 is fairly easy, but there as some caveats. The built in EDDs, etc. allow producing more-or-less adequate PDF using SaveAsPDF from ditamap files. To get TOCs, covers and other nicities, you have to save the ditamap as a composite FM file and then add the additional files into a FM book containing the composite file. Exactly how to massage paragraph formats to get the results you desire withing the composite FM file is not transparent. Structured documents are more difficult to change the formats in since the EDD is the source of that information.  (Any tips on how to get the notes that are warnings and cautions will be accepted with much happiness from anyone reading this.)
> 
> Another avenue to PDF (as well as HTMLHELP, javaHelp and other formats) comes through using the DITA Open Toolkit. This is now easy to install so you get what you need and the results are great for many of the formats. Most of the help systems offered come through without muss or fuss except for an occasional unrecognized character that can cause problems but is easily fixed). My boss was astounded at the ease of producing HTMLHelp in this way.
> 
> The DITAOpenToolkit PDF is equally easy to produce from a ditamap, but, of course, has a different look than the SaveAsPDF from FM11. This is because it uses CSS templates to format the output. The result is a terrible cover sheet, a great TOC, nice formatting of Warnings and the like. The regular notes icon is terrible; a finger pointing to the note that seems totally out of place [it reminds me of the similar character used by Walt Kelly in the world ballons for the P.T. Bridgeport character from POGO]. Wading into the OpenToolkits templates to modify the CSS is daughting, but doable. There are tips on this that pop up if you search the web, but, again, it is not particularly straightforward. Be sure to save the original copy of each template before modifying.
> 
> My experience with DITA is that it is great at reducing duplication in manuals, aids in breaking apart tasks that actually combined multiple tasks in one (thus making them both clearer and more reusable), and helps to identify material in manuals that just got in there because the designers of a machine were enamoured of explaining how the pieces of it work (even if that information is useless for any operator or maintainance task). I love it! However, I would take the statement that TCS 4 offers a  single out-of-the-box solution with a big grain of salt.
> 
> I am going to send a separate posting with some DITA codeview interface complaints for Adobe to consider as areas where improvement is desired (at least from this user).
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Craig Ede
> ________________________________
> From: Gillian.Flato at nexenta.com<mailto:Gillian.Flato at nexenta.com>
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Subject: TCS 4 as DITA out-of-the-box solution
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:08:51 +0000
> I went to a presentation last week given by Maxwell Hoffman from Adobe on TCS v4.x. He stated that TCS v4.x is an out-of-the-box DITA solution that contains DTDs, EDDs, etc, so you don't have to go to third-party solutions to obtain the necessary pieces.
> 
> Has anyone used TCS v4.x as a complete DITA solution? Are you liking it? Is it better or worse than using, for example, XMetal or Oxygen with 3rd-party scripts, etc.
> 
> Thank You,
> 
> Gillian Flato
> Senior Content Developer
> Skype: Gillian.B.Flato
> Gillian.Flato at nexenta.com<mailto:Gillian.Flato at nexenta.com>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:42:52 +0000
> From: <laura at lavadome.net>
> To: <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Subject: Madcap Flare vs Framemaker
> Message-ID: <3095ed182b7ffcb8372be425bea0e551 at lavadome.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
> 
> Hi all
> 
> We are a small tech pubs department (2 of us) who currently use Word 
> for our documentation. We mainly publish to PDF, but use RoboHelp for a 
> very small help system. Ideally we?d like to use single-sourcing as much 
> as possible moving forward, and add more online help to our 
> documentation suite.
> 
> We are looking to move away from Word to a tool better suited for 
> technical publications. At the moment we are considering MadCap Flare or 
> Adobe FrameMaker.
> We?ve done a general search for pros and cons of both (we have used 
> Frame extensively in the past), and have installed the latest versions 
> of both. We are interested in hearing if any other writers have 
> experiences that might help us make the right choice!
> 
> If anyone has used Flare and gone back to Frame, or has any other 
> insights that might help us, please do get in touch.
> 
> Many thanks
> Laura
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:58:11 +0000
> From: Harro de Jong <Harro.deJong at triviewgroup.com>
> To: "framers at lists.frameusers.com" <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
> Subject: RE: Index not generating as expected
> Message-ID:
>    <5613EEAC7C0654468B9CB4C9D44494E2042CFE89 at tvnlex01.triviewgroup.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
> 
> When you're on the master pages of the offending file and go to View-Body pages, do you get a prompt to keep/remove master page overrides?
> 
> IIRC sometimes it helps to import the master pages from your template again, or even import from the index file itself. Select 'remove overrides'.
> 
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Harro de Jong
> 
> ________________________________
> From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] on behalf of David Millis [David.Millis at DrakeSoftware.com]
> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 18:46
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: Index not generating as expected
> 
> Hello Framers,
> 
> The master page for my Index looks correct. In other words, it?s a two column page with no side head. When I generate my book, the Index displays with a 1.5 inch side head. I copied the entire book from last year?s project, where the Index still generates as I?d like (2 columns, no side head). I?ve compared the master pages for the two projects and they look the same to me.
> 
> Does anyone have a suggestion please as to how I can remove the side head from the Index pages for the new project?
> 
> I?m using Frame 7.2 on a Windows 7 (32 bit) machine.
> 
> Thank you in advance for your assistance.
> 
> David Millis
> Drake Software
> 
> 
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:23:31 -0500
> From: Stuart Rogers <srogers at phoenix-geophysics.com>
> To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Subject: Re: Index not generating as expected
> Message-ID: <50CF38F3.6030200 at phoenix-geophysics.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
> 
> On 14/12/2012 12:46 PM, David Millis wrote:
>> Hello Framers,
>> 
>> The master page for my Index looks correct. In other words, it?s a two
>> column page with no side head. When I generate my book, the Index
>> displays with a 1.5 inch side head. I copied the entire book from last
>> year?s project, where the Index still generates as I?d like (2 columns,
>> no side head). I?ve compared the master pages for the two projects and
>> they look the same to me.
>> 
>> Does anyone have a suggestion please as to how I can remove the side
>> head from the Index pages for the new project?
>> 
> 
> 
> Check to make sure there's only one master page, properly named, and 
> that another is not being used.  Check to make sure that Apply Master 
> Pages is not set up to apply some other master page during the book update.
> 
> HTH,
> 
> -- 
> Stuart Rogers
> Technical Communicator
> Phoenix Geophysics Limited
> 3781 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 3
> Toronto, ON, Canada  M1W 3K5
> +1 (416) 491-7340 x 325
> 
> http://www.phoenix-geophysics.com
> 
> 
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> End of framers Digest, Vol 86, Issue 17
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