Getting a handle on structured Frame

[Alan Houser]

This is one of the more common and frustrating mis-conceptions I see in 
the FrameMaker community .... that publishing to ePub and other newer 
output formats requires structured FrameMaker. In fact, even when 
working with structured source files, FrameMaker's style mappings are 
based on paragraph and character formats, not elements.

If you are comfortable with unstructured FrameMaker, and have 
unstructured source files, I would start by experimenting with 
FrameMaker's eBook capabilities there. File > Publish. Choose your 
target format, and click the "Edit Settings" button. Play with the 
"Style Mapping" tab and see how that affects your results.

Configuring structured FrameMaker presents a daunting learning curve, 
that I would not recommend climbing unless you have clear requirements 
to do so. And FrameMaker's DocBook implementation is..., well..., 
anybody who tries to use it for real work is in for a world of hurt.

-Alan
---

Alan Houser
Group Wellesley, Inc.
Consultant and Trainer, Technical Publishing
arh on Twitter
412-450-0532

On 8/12/14, 12:08 PM, Theresa de Valence wrote:
> I started my Frame 12 experience with a new convert to ebook/pdf 
> project. I created an unstructured book because I 
> quasi-know-what-I’m-doing in the unstructured world. However, I think 
> to publish this book as an ebook, it has to be structured. I have had 
> a long running affair with trying to understand structured Frame and I 
> have to say that the various pieces of documentation on adobe.com are 
> next to useless and, unfortunately, much of the documentation by 
> others (and Adobe) starts with Frame 6 or segues into Robohelp. While 
> I understand theoretically what’s going on with structured Frame, 
> getting from here to there is no picnic.
>
> Anyway, I’m starting again with the "new" structured templates which 
> came with Frame 12. I can see that I’ll have to create or modify an EDD.
>
> Frame 12 installed 13 versions of structapps.fm on my system, either 
> dated 12/5/2013 or the date I installed the program. There are 6 files 
> which are 282KB. How do I choose which file to open?
>
> The structapps.fm file which I did open has 3 varieties of DocBook in 
> it (SGML DocBook, XML DocBook, DocBook2.2.1). How do I choose which 
> DocBook file to start with?
>
> Also, my project involves converting two novellas into one ebook. I 
> believe I’m going to require one fm book with two nested books within. 
> How do I add that structure to the DocBook file?
>
> I now have ~50 files which are components of my unstructured book 
> file. How would you recommend that I take the contents of those 50 
> files and move them into the structured book?
>
>
> Thanks for your help. I’m sure there will be more questions.
>
> Cheers,
> Theresa
> _______________________________________________