Month: April 2009

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Adobe Acrobat 9: Reading RSS Feeds With Acrobat. Really?

by David R. Mankin  

Really!

Here's a little known trick that is rather handy if you subscribe to any RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. Acrobat's Tracker can follow your subscriptions for you and present the content to you–without the need for a web browser or any other separate application.

First, you will need to open the Tracker. Choose Comments > Track Reviews. Curiously, Adobe doesn't think you'll want to know about RSS subscriptions by default, so you may have to go to Edit > Preferences (Acrobat > Preferences on the Macintosh) to enable RSS reading capabilities.

Enable RSS reading capabilities

Click Tracker on the left and enable RSS Feeds in Tracker. You will need to close and reopen the Tracker to see the RSS options.

Click RSS in the left panel of Tracker. Then click the Subscribe to RSS Feed link on the right. Paste or type the RSS Feed's URL into the dialog box and click OK. That's all that's required to make this magic happen.

Subscribe to RSS Feed

If you then look at Tracker's left side, you'll find your RSS Feed listed under the RSS button. Each subscribed feed will have its own entry.

RSS Feeds

Click the plus sign (or triangle) to expand the topic and to reveal a listing for each article or topic. Clicking on any topic reveals the appropriate article (including graphics!) in Tracker's right panel.

 
***
 
Want to learn more about Adobe Acrobat? Attend Dave's live, online class. Click here for more details.
 
***
 
David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. He is an Adobe-Certified Expert in Acrobat.
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Adobe FrameMaker 9: Pods vs. Panels

by Barbara Binder 

I've barely made the required Creative Suite 4 verbal transition from palettes to panels. Now FrameMaker has incorporated the CS4 panel terminology and then added the term "pods." What's it all about, Alphie?

Let's start with Panels. Panels are the floating, uh, panels that appear on the right side of the various FrameMaker 9 workspaces. They include the indispensable Paragraph and Character catalogs, but also include the various Designers (Paragraph, Character and Table), along with Find/Change, History and more.

Pods are defined by Adobe as "frequently used dialog boxes that have an interface designed to simplify your work, [and includes the] Conditional text pod, Cross-references pod, Marker pod, Fonts pod, Insets pod, [and the] Variables pod."

Here's my definition: panels appear on the right, pods at the bottom. (This is slightly oversimplified, because Pods in the structured environment have additional properties that I won't get into here.) Don't get me started on the Window > Panels menu option that then proceeds to list the pods.

OK, so now we have pods and panels. How do we manage them? I always advise my FrameMaker students with small screens to leave class, drive straight to a store like Best Buy and purchase the largest possible monitor they can afford. All of the current Adobe programs offer a plethora of panels and we need space to store them all. Can't buy a new monitor? How about hooking a second monitor to your XP or Vista system? Then you can push all the panels to the second monitor and do all your layout on your primary display. No? Then, keep reading.

  • Open or close any panel or pod by clicking its name via Window > Panels
  • Rearrange open panels and pods by dragging the panel/pod name
  • Click the gray space to the right of any panel/pod name to collapse/expand an open panel group
  • Click the double white arrows to the right of panel's name to collapse/expand a panel group to icons with labels (not pods)
  • After collapsing the panel groups to icons with labels, resize the panels to just icons by tugging on the left edge of the panel group (again, not pods).
 

The best part? Once you get your panels and pods (and toolbars) just the way you like them, you can click on the Workspace Switcher in the Application bar and save your workspace. That way, you can return to your customized, saved workspace at any time. This is a huge improvement over the old FrameMaker interface.

 
***
 
Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker? Click here.
 
***
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 in the world.
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Editing With MS Word 2007: The First Step is a Plan for Naming Document Files

by Jennie Ruby 

Microsoft Word 2007 makes it easy to track changes, enter comments and review the changes in a document. But before you begin, you should have a clear editorial plan.

One of the first questions to answer in setting up your editorial process is how to name your files. Even one writer/editor working alone may end up creating many different versions of the same file. Naming the different versions clearly is important. When you have several people working on a document, giving different versions clear names becomes an absolute necessity.

A naming system used in many editorial offices is the author's name followed by a keyword indicating the version. The keywords are predefined and agreed upon by everyone who will work on the document. Some examples of keywords are Draft, Original, Revised, Edited, Approved, Marked-up, Final. If you have multiple documents by the same author, you might use a short title instead of the author's name. For ease of organization, you might want to put the keyword before, instead of after, the name or title.

Author + Keyword

  • Smith Original
  • Smith Revised
  • Smith Final


Keyword + Short Title

  • ORIGINAL Publicity Report
  • EDITED Publicity Report
  • FINAL Publicity Report


Keyword + Dash + Short Title

  • DRAFT–Operations proposal
  • REVISED–Operations proposal
  • REV2–Operations proposal
  • REV3–Operations proposal
  • FINAL–Operations proposal


*** 

 

About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" 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.

***


Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

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Adobe Acrobat 9: Expand Your PDF Portfolio Layout Options

by David R. Mankin

By now, many of you have discovered the most amazing new feature of Acrobat 9 Professional–the PDF Portfolio. For those of you who haven't, the PDF Portfolio is a unique and exciting type of file that allows you to share and distribute ANY type of file, not just PDFs.
 
Portfolio's are wrapped up in a beautiful and functional PDF wrapper, which is bathed in Flash. If you are not a Flash developer, no worries because no Flash knowledge is required. In fact, Acrobat 9 does all the fancy Flash work for you.

Click here to see a video of the PDF Portfolio creation process and then continue with this article.

 
In the video, did you catch the part where I got to choose from those four pre-set Layout options? Those four dazzled me when I first installed Acrobat 9 and began making PDF Portfolios. Before long, though, I found myself wanting more choices and functionality. Fortunately, Adobe came to the rescue with new and FREE PDF Portfolio Layouts. If you would like to add to your PDF Portfolio Layout choices, click here and download the appropriate file for your operating system.
 
Adobe actually has you download a PDF Portfolio. Included are folders for the various languages in the release, and specific directions on how to install the new layout options.
 
Portfolio Download
 
Once installed, you'll be able to explore and utilize your original four layouts, plus the new enhanced ones.

Finished Portfolio

 
There's nothing ordinary about any PDF Portfolio, but yours can now be truly extraordinary.
 
***
 
Want to learn more about Adobe Acrobat? Click here.
 
***
 
David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. He is an Adobe-Certified Expert in Acrobat.
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Adobe FrameMaker 9: The Toolbars

 
It's so easy to order a software upgrade, install it, and then just keep working, as if you never upgraded. FrameMaker 9, thankfully, makes this fairly easy. However, this article (and those that follow over the next few weeks) are designed to get you to stop working for a few minutes and actually look at the new FrameMaker 9 interface. Hopefully, I'll be able to increase your productivity by helping you get to know the ins and outs of the new interface.
 
This week, let's take a look at the redesigned toolbars. The visible toolbars are displayed under the Menu bar and above any open documents. Before you start, choose the Authoring workspace from the Workspace Switcher in the Application Bar (top right of your screen).
 
Quick Access Bar

 
The Quick Access Bar appears first, just like it always has. It has been redesigned to pick up more standard buttons that were scattered across various toolbars in earlier versions.
 
Paragraph Formatting Bar

 
Formerly known as just the Formatting Bar, this bar gives you one-click access to commands found in the Basic properties of the Paragraph Designer, plus it harbors the Paragraph Format list, which lists all the Paragraph tags in your document.
 
Text Formatting Bar

 
These buttons used to live on the right of the Quick Access Bar. While it is helpful to see the Font and Size of selected text, and to have easy access to case changes, you still want to rely on Character Tags for your character level formatting, and avoid all the other buttons.
 
If you want more toolbars, you'll need to choose View > Toolbars. In FrameMaker 9, we can now access the Toolbox by choosing View > Toolbars > Graphic Toolbar. The other three options in the old Quick Access Bar are available here as well: Table Formatting, Object Alignment and Object Properties, plus the Track Text Edits toolbar.
 
The new interface allows you to have all the toolbars open at once, if you have the screen real estate to support it: just choose View > Toolbars > Show all.
 
Too many toolbars? No worries. You can turn them all off, or turn them off individually by choosing View > Toolbars. Would you just like to put them back the way they were when we started? Remember how we began by choosing the Authoring workspace from the Workspace Switcher in the Application Bar? Head back to the Workspace Switcher and just choose Reset Workspace. Confirm with a Yes and you are back to a nice clean look.
 
Next week: Pods and panels… what's the difference?
 
***
 
Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker? Click here.
 
***
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 in the world.
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Adobe Captivate 4: Need to Reuse Project Data? Say Hello to System Variables!

by Kevin A. Siegel

Variables serve as placeholders for data. The data can be used to provide feedback to the user, create advanced actions or add content to a slide.
 
There are two types of variables available in Adobe Captivate: System and User-Defined.
 
System Variables, which ship with Captivate 4 and are available in every Captivate project, grab data from your project or computer and allow you to manipulate it. System variables include MovieControls (lesson controls such as pause, resume, previous and next slide), MovieInformation (events such as the current slide and frame), MovieMetaData (Information about the project such as its name, author, and company), SystemInformation (data that can be grabbed from your computer such as current date and time), and Quizzing Lists (allow you to capture quiz data such as the number of quiz attempts or the percentage of questions answered correctly).
 
User-defined Variables, which are typically created to store data that will be used throughout the project are created on the fly by the Captivate developer. You could create a variable that gathers a user's first name. Once the data has been collected by the variable, the name can be displayed over and over again in the project.
 
This week, I'll show you how to use System variables.
 
One of the most common uses of System variables is to return information about the project to your user in the published lesson. For instance, you might want the name of the project to appear in a text caption in multiple locations (and you don't want to have to type it each time). The first thing you'll need to do is add the Document Information to the project by choosing File > Document Info.
 
Document Information filled out
 
Insert a System Variable
  1. After adding the Document Information, insert a text caption (Insert > Standard Objects > Text Caption)
  2. Click where you want the variable to appear and click the Insert Variable button at the far right of the Text Caption dialog box

    Insert Variable Button

  3. If necessary, select System from the Variable Type drop-down menu
  4. Select MovieMetaData from the View by drop-down menu
  5. Select cpInfoProjectName from the Variables drop-down menu

    The Insert Variable dialog box

  6. Click OK

    The variable appears in the text caption in a less than readable format: $$cpInfoProjectName$$.

    The variable in place

  7. Click OK
  8. Preview the project and you'll see that the name of the project appear in the text caption. Cool!
Of course, System variables are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reusing data in a project. I'm betting that what you'll really think is off-the-chart cool is User variables. Of course, that's a story for another day… specifically, next week!
 
***
 
Need to learn Adobe Captivate 4 fast? Attend a live, 2-day online training class. Click here for more information.
 
Note: Our new Advanced Captivate 4 class is now posted on our Web site. Click here for more information.
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Grammar Workshop: Do I Need an Apostrophe?

 
Of course the possessive form normally requires an apostrophe, as in Tom's car or Ella's toy. Even when there is an s on the end of a singular name, you use an apostrophe to show ownership, as in Charles' car or the business' location. Some style guides have you add another s to follow pronunciation, as in Charles's car or the business's location. But is there ever a time when you don't use the apostrophe?
 
Yes. In expressions such as writers group, users group, or workers union, you do not need an apostrophe. These plural words ending in s act more as a label describing the kind of group rather than as a possessive showing ownership.
 
Some proper names of organizations, however, do contain an apostrophe, as in Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The best practice is to look up exactly how the organization spells the name. You may find Childrens Hospital or National Governors' Association or Elmer's glue. You may find Mrs. Fields cookies, but Taster's Choice coffee.
 
Although I would love to give a definitive answer here, there is no logic to the way organizations are named. The only possible advice is just Google the website.
 
Happy hunting!
*** 

 

About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" 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.

***

Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.

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Questions of the Week

Adobe Captivate Question: Buttons?
 
I was wondering if you knew any program(s) that I could use to create menus, background images, and buttons in Captivate.

 

Answer

 
Check out ButtonGenerator.com. They have everything you'll need to create buttons and menus. And much of the stuff you'll find there is free.

 
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Adobe Captivate Question: What's the Best Way to Combine Lessons into One?
 
I started using Captivate 3 a few months back and have upgraded to version 4. I have multiple files to publish as one project. What is the best way to handle this? Or do I just combine into one file? We were using Authorware and produced multiple executables that were accessible from a single project executable file.
 
Answer:
 
Captivate 4 features an Aggregator that will allow you to combine several projects into one (without actually combining them). First, publish your lessons as SWFs. Then create a new Aggregator project via the File menu. After that, it's a simple matter to find the SWFs you published and add them to the Aggregator project file.
 
***
 
Adobe Captivate Question: Why Won't My Links Work?
 
I've created links in my Captivate project. They work fine when tested on my own PC. However, now that they are posted on our server, the links don't work. Any idea why?
 
Answer:
 
The server where you are publishing to needs its Flash security settings cleared up. Refer to this article for more information.
 
Follow Up:
 
This was the fix we needed. One more question: Is this something that we will have to address for ALL of the users for our presentations?
 
Follow Up Answer:
 
No. Once the server is squared away, your users will not have the same problem (assuming they have the Flash player installed… which has nothing to do with the Security issue resolved on your servers).
 
Adobe Captivate Question: How Do I Embed SWFs?
 
I am trying to create a Captivate project, basically, as a shell with 5 slides. Within each slide, I would like to insert SWFs that I have previously published.  As a result, each of the 5 slides will play while the embedded/inserted SWF plays.  Have you ever tried to do this? It seems to work only if I don't include a skin–but I would like to include a skin on each of the SWFs that I have inserted.
 
Answer:
 
You can certainly import a SWF into Captivate. However, with Captivate 3, you'd need to use a "single file" trick to publish a single SWF that includes the playbar. I have an article on my BLOG that will teach you how. If you upgrade to Captivate 4, you can create a single SWF out of the box (the option to embed SWFs is on by default).
 
However, if it's a menu you need, why not consider creating a menu that launches each of the lessons? Or perhaps use the Aggregator feature found in Captivate 4.
 
Adobe Captivate Question: What Happened to My Mouse?
 
I am working with a colleague who is having issues with her mouse. When published, the mouse doesn't display. But it does in the preview mode. Is there a "hidden" setting that we don't know. We looked in Edit > Preferences > Project > Settings. I also suggested that she reboot.

Answer:

 
Don't reboot. In this instance, that won't solve the missing mouse problem. Choose Edit > Preferences > Project Publish Settings. You'll find a check box that will suppress the mouse pointer when you publish. Deselect that option and you'll be fine the next time you publish. (FYI: This same feature can be found in Captivate 3.)
 
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Got a question you'd like answered? Email me.
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Adobe RoboHelp 8: Word Conversion Settings During Import

by Kevin A. Siegel

Last week I talked about how importing Word documents into RoboHelp 8 offers far more options than ever before. During that article, I promised that this week I'd dive a little deeper into the dialog boxes you'll encounter during the import process. So here goes…
 
After choosing File > Import > Word Document and opening the document, you are presented with the Content Settings dialog box. I know it's the first dialog you'll see, but I want to cover that next week since most RoboHelp authors do not take advantage of the options presented here (a shame, but I'll get into that next week).
 
By clicking the Next button, you'll end up on the screen that will occupy our time this week: the Import dialog box. This screen will give you access to options that control how the Word document will be formatted as it is imported into RoboHelp.
 
Click the Edit button to the right of the words Word Document: Edit conversion settings for Word documents.
 
Edit conversion settings for Word docs area
 
The Word document will be scanned and the Conversion Settings dialog box will appear.
 
Map Word Styles to RoboHelp Styles
  1. From the Word Document Settings area, double-click Paragraph to open the Paragraph group
  2. From the Word Document Settings area, select
    Heading 1
  3. From the RoboHelp Style drop-down menu, select
    Heading 1

    When the Word document is imported, the Heading 1 style used in Word will be assigned to use a style of the same name in the RoboHelp project.

  4. From the Word Document Settings area, select Normal
  5. From the RoboHelp Style area, ensure [Source] is selected

    By selecting Source, the Normal style used in the Word document will be retained and used in the imported RoboHelp topics.

Control the Pagination during import
 
  1. From the Word Document Settings area, select
    Heading 1
  2. Select Pagination from the list of options in the middle of the dialog box

    RoboHelp/Word Pagination

    By selecting Pagination for the Heading 1 style, RoboHelp will create a new topic every time it sees that Heading 1 was used in the Word document.

  3. Click OK
  4. Click Finish

And that's it. After clicking Finish, you'll see that your Word document has been split into topics based on how many times the Heading 1 style was used in the Word document. 

***
 
Need to learn Adobe RoboHelp 8 fast? Attend our 2-day online training class from the comfort of your home or office. All you'll need is Adobe RoboHelp 8 installed (the trial version works just fine), a headset and a reliable Internet connection. Click here to learn more.