Frank Nguyen has written an interesting article that demonstrates how to apply evidence-based practices to the development of your e-learning content. If you follow Frank’s advice, you will be able to use Adobe Captivate 3 to provide consistent learning and job transfer for your learners. Click here to read the article. As a bonus, you’ll learn what to order when dining at an In-N-Out Burger.
Question of the Week…
Adobe RoboHelp 6 Compatibility with Word 2007
I’ve been using RoboHelp for several years. I have been upgraded to Office 2k7, which does not work with RoboHelp HTML X5 or Adobe RoboHelp 6. I do not know to what extent RoboHelp "needs" Word, or if it needs any other components of the Office suite. Do you see any way out of this dilemma?
Answer
You are correct, Adobe RoboHelp 6 does not work with Word 2007. However, RoboHelp 7, which is due out very soon will fully support Word 2007 and Vista.
RoboHelp 6 can be installed on a PC without Word. However, if Word is not installed prior to installing RoboHelp, you will not be able to import Word documents or create printed documentation. Everything else will work fine.
If you have access to Word 2003, there is a way you can get things to work (you’ll have to install Word 2003 prior to installing RoboHelp 6). Here’s a link to an article that will step you through it.
Got a Question? Email it to us.
Adobe RoboHelp 6: Expanding Content Dynamically
Creating Expanding Hotspots in RoboHelp 6 HTML
Dynamic HTML (DHTML) gives you the ability to add myriad special effects to your topics. RoboHelp provides Dynamic HTML formatting of topic elements via the DHTML menu. You can add effects to text or graphics that will make things fly onto the screen, fade in, change color, glow and much more.
While many of the DHTML Effects might seem cool, they can also be annoying–and actually detract from your content.
Expanding Hotspots is one DHTML effect that is far from annoying. In fact, this effect can actually enhance your project by encouraging user interaction.
Here’s a perfect example of when you might want to use an Expanding Hotspot in a RoboHelp topic: You want a Glossary Definition to appear next to a Glossary Term (or vice versa). You only want the Definition to appear if the user clicks the Term. And did I mention that you do not have the JavaScript skills necessary to pull off the effect? No problem. If you make the Glossary Term an Expanding Hotspot, the Glossary Definition will expand (appear) if the user clicks the hotspot. Cool!
Here’s how you create an Expanding Hotspot:
- Open a topic
- Highlight a word or phrase
- Choose DHTML > Create Expanding Hotspot and Text
- Click in the Expanding text editor area and replace "Type your expanding text here" with the text you would like to appear should the user click the hotspot
In the example below, the phrase equal employment opportunity was selected and EEO was typed into the Expanding text editor.
- Click outside the Expanding text editor to close it
- Preview the topic
- Click the hotspot and the expanding text will appear
Want to learn more about RoboHelp 6 HTML? Click here.
Writing and Grammar: Say Hello to the Hyphen… Or Should You Say Goodbye?
An astute reader of last week’s column on commas with adjectives may have noticed that in the example Brian’s comfortable big old brown soft Italian leather driving jacket sleeve was lurking a hyphenation question. Shouldn’t Italian leather be hyphenated?
The answer is it depends. Was it an Italian jacket made of leather? Or was it a jacket made of Italian leather?
Wait. Wait. That is breaking my brain. At least that is what my neighbor’s son says when I try to discuss these matters with him when going over his school work.
Let’s start from the beginning. How do you tell if you need a hyphen with adjectives? You ask whether each adjective can be used by itself to describe your noun. If yes, no hyphens. If no, you probably need a hyphen. "Wait. What do you mean by probably?" I can hear my neighbor say. Let’s look at some examples.
Two small green lizards. Can you use the word two by itself to describe the lizards? Yes. There were two lizards. Can you say they were small lizards? Yes. Can you say they were green lizards. Yes. Each of these words can describe the lizards. You don’t need any hyphens.
Five-mile hike. Can you call it a five hike? No. The word five cannot, by itself, describe the hike. You have to combine it with the word mile before you can have a complete unit that can modify the hike. Editor’s call this a unit modifier. The hyphen combines the two words into one unit.
So far so good. But now comes the probably part. Two things might mean you still do not use a hyphen. One is if the two words are already perceived as a unit by your readers: high school dance. The compound word high school is already a well-known unit. It is even in the dictionary under h for high. Real estate license. Home run hitter.
The other thing you don’t hyphenate is an adverb. If the first word modifies the second, often specifying the degree or intensity of the adjective, then that first word is an adverb. Don’t hyphenate after an adverb.
- The very small lizard.
- The completely green lizard.
- The extremely low discount.
- The previously described report.
- The highly motivated employee.
- The completely correct grammar.
So what about the Italian leather jacket? Without the hyphen, I am saying the word Italian is just one of a list of adjectives describing the jacket. If I had meant that it was a jacket made of Italian leather, I would have needed a hyphen.
Next time: Quiz!
by Jennie Ruby
About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as Essentials of Access 2000; and Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7 to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing. You can reach Jennie at Jenruby@aol.com
FrameMaker 8: Top New Features
I’m a long-time FrameMaker user. While I teach and use all of the major print publishing applications (InDesign, QuarkXPress and, yes, even PageMaker), I use FrameMaker when I produce my "skills and drills" workbooks.
If you create long documents that contain complex numbering schemes, cross references, mixed orientation and lots of tables, I urge you to give FrameMaker a try. You can download a 30-day trial of the software by clicking here.
Here are the top new FrameMaker features according to Adobe:
Unicode support (New)
Edit and create content in multiple languages, and author content for global audiences with dictionary and hyphenation support for more languages
DITA support (New)
Use a prebuilt DITA application to author, publish, and distribute topic-oriented information in XML and create DITA maps
Rich media support (New)
Create more engaging online documentation by incorporating 3D models, rich Adobe® Flash® Player compatible animations, and simulations created with Adobe Captivate™ software. Generate Adobe PDF files with live 3D models. (Windows® only)
Text edit tracking and multiple undo (New)
Highlight, accept, and reject text changes and undo multiple changes with a single click using the History palette.
Conditional output (Enhanced)
Effortlessly single-source variations of the same document for different channels and purposes. Use conditional tags and build complex Boolean expressions for defining output filters in structured and unstructured mode, and easily distinguish multiconditional text through improved color coding.
Attribute-based output (New)
Use attribute values to control conditional output in structured mode.
Conversion tables
Migrate existing content to XML and structured content with minimal manual touch-up.
XML roundtripping (Enhanced)
Preserve comments, variables, and conditional text when importing and exporting structured content and migrating XML content. Now you can roundtrip web-based graphics in XML workflows.
XML Schemas (Enhanced)
Use XML Schemas as an alternative to DTDs for defining the structure of your content.
XSLT support
Incorporate XSLT scripts into your editing workflow. Automatically transform your XML content when you open it in FrameMaker, or save it out from FrameMaker with XSLT scripts.
Migration guide
An introductory migration guide outlines the basic steps required in migrating to XML and structured content.
Microsoft Office 2007 support (New)
Import content created in Microsoft Word 2007 and Excel 2007.
What’s Up, DOCX?
I recently received an email attachment that contained a DOCX extension. Hmmmm? I’d never seen that type of extension before. The person who sent the email was a trusted source and I was assured the file was a Word document. Hmmmm? DOCX? What happened to my friend DOC (which has been the extension for Word documents since the beginning of time)?
Here’s what happened: Word 2007! It turns out that Word 2007 documents use the DOCX extenion. Undaunted, I attempted to open the file using Word 2003. Pow!!!!! Instead of the file opening, I was greeted with a bunch of gibberish. Ouch!
Again, I had to ask myself, "What happened?" It seems that Microsoft has added the new Office Open XML Formats to the following 2007 Microsoft Office programs:
- Microsoft Office Excel 2007
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
- Microsoft Office Word 2007
What’s that you say, "So what! I’m sticking with older version of Word." Nice. But you’ll quickly take one on the chin because older versions of Word cannot open Word 2007 files. Sooner or later, someone is going to send you a DOCX file and you’re going to be stuck.
Don’t panic. Read on…
A compatibility pack is now available from Microsoft that will enable you to open and save Office Open XML Formats in earlier versions of Microsoft Office. You can install the compatibility pack on a computer that is running Microsoft Office 2003 programs, Microsoft Office XP programs, or Microsoft Office 2000 programs. Once you install the compatibility pack, you can open, edit, save, and create files in the robust Office Open XML Formats.