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Adobe FrameMaker 11: Get Miffed

by Barb Binder  

I received another great question from one of myFrameMaker students: 

Hi Barb... A real quick question. I have FrameMaker version 9.  I downloaded the trial for 11 to take your class. My 30 day trial ends today. I attempted to open my FrameMaker 11 files using FrameMaker 9 but can't. Suggestions?

You just need to save the FrameMaker 11 files into a format that FrameMaker 9 will understand. FrameMaker uses a format called MIF for this situation. According to Adobe, "MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a group of ASCII statements that create an easily parsed, readable text file of all the text, graphics, formatting, and layout constructs that Adobe FrameMaker understands. Because MIF is an alternative representation of a FrameMaker document, it allows FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information while preserving graphics, document content, and format."

The very flexible MIF format can be used in a variety of advanced situations, including as a way to interface with database publishing applications. For you, it's going to be the way you save a file in a format that can be opened by an earlier version of the software.

Here's how you create a MIF:

1. Open the file in FrameMaker 11.
2. Choose File > Save as > Save as Type > MIF 7.0
3. Be sure to change the extension of the file to .MIF
4. Close the file in FrameMaker 11
5. Open the .MIF file in FrameMaker 9
6. Choose File > Save as > Save as Type > Document 9.0
7. Be sure to change the extension back to .FM

That should do it! Let me know how it goes.

 It went perfectly. Thank you! 

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Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker quickly? I teach two live, online classes. Adobe FrameMaker Essentials and Adobe FrameMaker Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe TCS4 Suite Available Today!

Adobe just released the latest and greatest version of its Technical Communication Suite (TCS).

I'm a huge fan, and daily user, of the TCS. In my opinion, this suite puts all of the other Adobe suites to shame.

If you're a technical communicator, the TCS 4 contains the essentials tools needed to created technical documentation/PDFs (FrameMaker 11 and Acrobat), help systems (RoboHelp 10), technical illustrations (Illustrator CS6) and eLearning lessons (Captivate 6 and Presenter 8).

If you'd like to purchase the TCS or learn more about how the suite's tools work together, click here.

Adobe FrameMaker: The Page Count Variable for Books (Part I)

FrameMaker's Page Count variable makes it easy to track (and reference) the page count of a single chapter. The Page Count variable, which ships with FrameMaker, makes it possible to set up page numbers that look like this: 1 of 10, 2 of 10, 3 of 10, etc. Here's how:

1. Choose View > Master Pages.
2. Click within the header or footer frame.
3. Choose Special > Variable to open the Variables pod.
4. Add the Current Page # variable (double click to insert, or click once on the name, and click the Insert button on the Variables pod toolbar).
   
   
   
    
5. Press the [spacebar], type the word of and press [spacebar] again.
6. Finish by inserting the Page Count variable and return to the body pages. 

The Page Count variable works by inserting a reference to the last body page of the chapter. As you add and remove pages via editing, the variable updates.

Easy enough. But what about trying to keep track of the last page of a multi-chapter book? Tune in next week to learn more about that.

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

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Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.

Adobe FrameMaker: Shading Behind a Paragraph

by Barb Binder

The question of adding shading to paragraph text comes up in my online FrameMaker class every now and then. In the past (meaning FrameMaker 9 and earlier), the solution was always a single-cell table. In FrameMaker 10, you have a choice: you can simply add a background color behind the paragraph text, or use a single-cell table. Which one is right for you?

FrameMaker 10: Adding a Background Color

1. Create a new paragraph format. I called mine Note.
   
   
2. Enable the Background Color checkbox in the Default Font properties sheet in Paragraph Designer and click Update All.
   
   Note: You may have to reduce the line spacing to remove white space between the lines of text within the paragraph.
   
   
   
   The resulting paragraph using Background Color:
   
   

FrameMaker 10 & Earlier: Creating a Single-Cell Table

1. Create a new paragraph format. I called mine Note2.
   
   
2. Select the paragraph and choose Table > Convert to Table.
   
   
3. Select Treat Each Paragraph As: A Cell with the Number of Columns set to 1. Heading Rows should be set to 0.
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Convert button.
   
   
5. Resize the table to fit the column width.
   
   
6. With your cursor still in the table, create a new Table format. I called mine ShadingTable.
   
   
7. Turn off the Table Title, set your Left & Right margins, set all of the rules to None and set the First 1 Row Shading to the color of your choice.
   
   
   
   
8. Click the Update All button.
   
   
9. The result using a single-cell table:
   
   

Comparing the results of both techniques, I think the single cell table looks better. Using a table format, we have control over the cell margins and I think that's going to provide the better solution.

In either case: don't forget to add the lead-in text to your paragraph tag so that it will appear automatically whenever you use that paragraph format. 

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

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Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.

Adobe FrameMaker: Selectively Using Bold in a Table of Contents

by Barb Binder

I like mixing bold headings in my table of contents with regular weight text, but I don't like the bold leaders and page numbers that go with it:

I just think it looks awkward. My preference is to leave all of the generated paragraph formats in regular weight, and then use a character style to bold just the heading. Here's how:

1. In your table of contents (TOC), use the Paragraph Designer to set up the initial formatting for your text. Leave everything as regular weight.
   
   
2. Create a character format to set the weight to bold. I called mine Bold.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Choose View > Reference pages and turn to the TOC Reference Page.
   
   
   
   
4. On the TOC Reference Page, select the <$paratext> building block for the paragraph formats you would like to bold, and apply the Bold format from the Character Catalog.
   
   
   
   
5. Save your work and return to the Body pages.
   
   
6. Update the TOC to see the change applied.
   
   

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

***

Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.

Adobe FrameMaker & Adobe InDesign: English International vs English US

by Barb Binder

In two recent online classes, one FrameMaker and the other InDesign CS5, I noticed that one of my students had inadvertently installed the International English version of their software.

The FrameMaker installation was subtle. I didn't notice it until we got to our spell-check exercise and we watched as FrameMaker flagged "color" and wanted to replace it with "colour." InDesign was more obvious, starting with new documents defaulting to metric measurements and an A4 paper size.

Both students live and work in the U.S., and both wanted to convert their installation back to English US. Unfortunately, the language option for both programs is selected during the installation of the software, and by the time we caught on, the decision was well in the past. So what can be done?

The simplest answer is to deactivate the program (leave the serial number on the system), uninstall it and then reinstall it. This time, slow down and read the prompts. Choose English US when asked, and then complete the installation.

One could also tweek the International English version to work with US English. Both programs allow you to change defaults: you'll want to change the dictionary language default, measurement defaults, etc. Be aware, however, that unless you uninstall/reinstall, the menus and dialog boxes will still show the International English spelling.

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

***

Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.

Integrating Adobe Captivate eLearning with Adobe FrameMaker

Last week it was my pleasure to lead a 60-minute webinar for Adobe where I demonstrated how to integrate eLearning with Adobe FrameMaker. During the session I recorded an interactive simulation in Captivate, published it and then imported it into FrameMaker. Then I created an interactive PDF from FrameMaker that included both the print materials and images from the document, and interactive eLearning. To top it off, I showed the audience how to create conditional build tags in FrameMaker that allowed me to single source two versions of the document: one for print and one for online viewing via PDF. If you missed the session, no worries. You can check out the recording here.

Adobe FrameMaker versus Microsoft Word

I use FrameMaker as the main authoring tool when I write my skills & drills books. I am often asked why FrameMaker is the better choice over Word. While Word is great for word processing, nothing touches FrameMaker when it comes to creating technical documentation. Chris King of RIMS, Inc. has put together a great document that compares FrameMaker to Word.

Adobe FrameMaker 10: Managing Alert Boxes

by Barb Binder 

FrameMaker has a long history of alerting us to various problems in our documents. We have alert boxes that pop up when we:

Open a document with unavailable fonts:

 

Open a document that was saved using an earlier version of FrameMaker:

 

 

Open a document that contains one or more unresolved cross-references:

 

 

During my live, online FrameMaker class, we perform an activity that will clear the history, effectively removing access to Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo (i.e., changing the margins or columns).

 

New in FrameMaker 10 is the addition of a checkbox in all four alert boxes to turn them off forever. Sounds tempting, doesn't it? Who wants to continually be reminded of something we already know? Well, I think that's the key. I will gladly disable the Clear History message and not look back, because I know which actions clear history. I'm also unconcerned about the alert for converting an older file to the current version of FrameMaker. (Once I upgrade to a new version, I usually don't go back.)

The other two, though? I'd leave them on. There's no way I want to get to the printing stage and then suddenly realize that I have unavailable fonts and/or unresolved cross-references. Sure I can fix them both, but I might miss my deadline doing it.

What? You already turned them all off? No worries. Just choose File > Preferences > Alert Strings and you can restore any of the alert boxes to their original states.

 

 

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

 

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Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.

Adobe FrameMaker 10: New Support for Drag and Drop

by Barb Binder 

I was walking to my airline gate recently and overheard an elderly woman complaining to a younger woman as they passed me. All I heard was, "Why do they give us so many ways of doing the same thing?"

 

Who knows what she was talking about, but it made me smile because I hear the same thing all the time in my various Adobe training classes.

 

One of the (many) benefits to having spent so many years delivering software training is that I've had the opportunity to observe all of the various learning styles and workflow techniques. I try to let each of my students know early on that even though some of us might be dedicated right mouse button clickers, others (like me) prefer keyboard commands, and still others like to rely exclusively on the menus. It's all good... we can still be friends. My statement usually diffuses the otherwise inevitable frustration that can accompany learning more than one way to do the same thing.

With that thought in mind, let's discuss FrameMaker's drag and drop feature. It's just another way to move (or copy) text and elements. To move something, just select it, press down on your left mouse button, and drag the text or element to its new location.

 

If you'd prefer to copy, just hold down the Control key and do the same thing. (If you see a question mark, FrameMaker is telling you that you are trying to move/copy your object to an invalid location.)

Dragging and dropping also works within column rows and tables, as long as you add the Alt key to move and Control + Alt to copy.

And as long as you purchase FrameMaker 10 within the next fifteen minutes (I'm just kidding!), you can also drag and drop across other applications that support the drag and drop feature.

As I said earlier, I'm a happy keyboard shortcut gal... the drag and drop feature isn't likely to change the way I use FrameMaker. I'm betting that some of you are going to love the drag and drop feature and begin using it right away. That's okay. We can still be friends.
 

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

***

 Looking to learn Adobe FrameMaker We offer Beginner and Advanced classes.