Category: Uncategorized

Converting Word Documents for Use in FrameMaker

Matt Sullivan of Grafix Training and Consulting has written an article that will improve your efficiency when working with Word documents that you intend to import into FrameMaker.

According to Sullivan, "FrameMaker gives you control over formatting, referencing, and numbering. Follow a few simple rules, and your numbered lists stay properly numbered, and your cross-references, Table of Contents (TOCs), and Indexes (Indices) stay up-to-date.

"All that control doesn’t help unless you have content. This usually means importing legacy documents from Microsoft Word, or accepting submissions from team members who do not work with long documents in FrameMaker."

In his article, Sullivan teaches you some nice techniques such as:

• Legacy document conversion
• Using the Find/Change tool for cleanup
• Common wildcard strings
• Formatting
• Word/FrameMaker integrated workflow

Click here to read the article.

by Quinn McDonald

I was grumbling about all the chrome on the bike. Not a fan of shiny, polish-needing parts on anything, I was using a toothbrush to clean the wheels of the bike. No, I’m not a neat-freak, but the bike is black and chrome, and it had started to look unkempt, insect-spotted and dusty. So I was polishing, wiping, washing and toothbrush- wielding. It felt like the whole bike was made of chrome.

Dan rolled up in the driveway behind me.

"What’s new?" he asked, getting off his bike.

"Polishing up Suzie Lightning, then going for a ride," I said.

He considered the cloud cover and said, "Every minute you spend polishing that thing, you aren’t riding it. And you bought it to ride, not polish."

He was right, but I said, "Gotta keep it clean."

"Sure," he agreed, "but you can keep it clean at night or when it’s cold. Take advantage of what you have."

The same is true of marketing your business.  You can spend a lot of time on prep work, planning, developing and never get the call to present your real work.

Unless you market yourself all the time, you don’t have a marketing plan, and you can’t count on steady work.

Cleaning the office or house, doing paperwork all are important, but the wrong time to do them is when it is time to market.

If you wait till the phone stops ringing, you are too late. By the time you get results from marketing, you won’t have a steady income coming in.

And when the steady income doesn’t happen, you start to take jobs just for the money, and that creates another whole poblem.

There are jobs you should turn down and clients you should say "No,thanks" to.

Regular marketing allows you to say "No" and not regret it.

Life is short, marketing keeps your phone ringing. Do your marketing today so you’ll have a ringing phone to answer tomorrow..

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

Question: How Do I Control The PowerPoint Bullets After Import into Captivate?

I’m trying to figure out how to sync animations from an imported PPT with audio imported to the Captivate timeline (using Captivate 3).

Several slides have bullets that appear on-mouse-click in PPT.  After importing into Captivate, the bullets appear one after the other, spaced by a second or two.  What I would like to be able to do is define a cue-point (e.g., on the slide timeline) that triggers each bullet to appear at a specific time during the audio.

In the Adobe Captivate forum it appears that I can pause the animation by adding an invisible click button, which would display the bullet text when the slide continues.  But this isn’t what I need–I don’t want to require a pause and click, but rather just have the bullets appear as they’re spoken in the audio.

(This is a trivial task in Articulate, and of course they’re entirely different technologies, but I thought that this is the kind of thing that Adobe was talking about when they touted that Captivate 3 imports PPT animation.)

I would appreciate knowing if this is doable in Captivate (even if it requires import into and jiggering in Flash), or just not possible in this version.

Answer

I think you’ll find the PowerPoint bullet builds (animations) do not import as well as you’d hope. As you’ve seen, the animation does import as advertised. But you cannot easily control the speed at which the bullets appear. I haven’t attempted to control the animation in Flash… if your fellow readers have had success, perhaps they’ll contact me and I’ll pass along any recommendations.

In the meantime, you might want to consider importing the slides as backgrounds, use highlight boxes to "reveal" each bullet, synched with your audio.

Question: Em Dashes in RoboHelp Possible?

I’m using RoboHelp 7 and would like to insert an em dash. Is this possible?

Answer

Yes! To insert an em dash in RoboHelp 7, choose Insert > HTML > Symbol and select em dash from the list of symbols.

Question: Which is Better, InDesign or FrameMaker?

I am a technical writer and want to learn a desktop publishing program but am not sure which–FrameMaker or InDesign.
I don’t see a lot of books on the market for FM but I do see them for ID (IconLogic being a prime example).

In your opinion, is ID the future for tech writing or is FM firmly entrenched. My employer has neither but I am considering investing in one to learn it so your opinion would be helpful.

Answer

What a great, great question! Both FrameMaker (FM) and InDesign (ID) have a place in the publishing world. They are both wonderful tools, but if you are a technical communicator like me, and you own the TechCom suite, FrameMaker integrates wonderfully with RoboHelp and Captivate… InDesign simply does not. For the record, I own both QuarkXPress and InDesign (and I teach both applications to the highest levels). However, the program I choose to use every day (when I write and develop my books) is FrameMaker.

Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.

Question: Can Captivate User Interaction Be Reused?

We want to have users enter their details (Name, where they’re studying, name of their course, etc), then take the Captivate assessment and have the results fed back to them at the end with their name, which they can then theoretically print as a certificate.

Is anything even remotely similar to this do-able or are we crazy for assuming it can be done?

Answer

You can insert multiple text entry fields, then put a SWF on the slide that allows users to print the slide (the slide could be made up to look like a certificate).

I wrote an article about inserting multiple text entry fields here. And you can add a Print icon to your Skin playbar that will let users print the slide/certificate.

However, without adding JavaScript’s, there is no way for Captivate to display information that a user types later in the movie. Most people use an LMS to create user certificates (based on their user login, not what they type in the project).

Question: Why is my RoboHelp Project Running Soooo Slowwwwwly?

I’m using RoboHelp 7. Everything I do in my RoboHelp project seems to take forever. For instance, generating the project (it’s small, maybe 50 tiny topics) takes almost 10 minutes. The project is kept on my network drive and my network guys tell me it’s NOT the network causing the problem. Please help!

Answer

You said everything I need to know about the problem in your fourth sentence: "The project is kept on my network drive…" RoboHelp must be installed on your local hard drive (C:\) AND your project must be installed on your local hard drive. If your project is accessed from a network drive, you are likely to experience any or all of the following:

• Lack of speed
• Crashes
• Corrupt projects

I would immediately copy your RoboHelp project folder to your hard drive and open the project via  File > Open (open the XPJ file). Don’t use the Recently Used project to open the project since the link is pointing to project on the network. In the future, only use the network drive to backup your project only.

Follow-Up On Dual Screen Captivate Recording Question

Last week a reader wanted to know if it was possible to use Adobe Captivate to record two screens at one time (could you record actions in, let’s say, Word on one screen and Excel on the other). I don’t have a dual-monitor setup so I couldn’t see if it was possible. But two fellow Captivator’s, Bob Cave and Richard Brimson, tested this for me. They each started Captivate, stretched the red recording area over both monitors and successfully recorded a movie. While they confirmed that it was easy-enough to record a Captivate project across two monitors, the resulting movie is too large to be useful.

Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.

by Quinn McDonald

Note: The article you are about to read is free!!!

There is an annoying trend starting up on websites, and I’d like to nip it in the bud. All of you who sell products and services on your websites, quit hiding the cost of your memberships, classes and products. Quit making me click on "buy now" or fill out registration forms with all my information before I find what I have to pay.

You are probably thinking that telling me the price up front will make me leave, because my buying decision is based on price, and if you can show me a few more facts, I’ll think the price is a bargain.

If I can’t find the price right away, I feel like I’m being scammed. I don’t like searching for things you cleverly hide. You can’t make your clients eat your vegetables on your website.

Put your price where I can see it and consider it. I’m not so dumb that if you’ve led me on a chase through your website, and I finally find the price, I’m going to think it’s worthwhile and buy.

And while I’m at it, stop calling prices "investment fees," "opportunity cost" and other nonsense. It’s a price, and I’m willing to pay it if you give me real information and put the price up front, so I can make a decision like an adult. If you don’t, I’m finding someone who will.

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

Working with XML in FrameMaker 8

If you are tasked with publishing XML documents with Adobe FrameMaker, you’ll be eager to read the "Working with XML in FrameMaker 8" article.

FrameMaker simplifies the XML publishing process–you do not need extensive XML knowledge.

Working with XML in FrameMaker includes authoring in conformance to an XML DTD or schema, formatting XML for print formats, and delivering content for a range of media and formats.

In this document, you will learn about the following topics:

• XML overview
• Single-source publishing with XML
• XML in detail
• XML authoring and publishing with DITA
• DITA support in FrameMaker
• Working with XML in FrameMaker
• Implementing a FrameMaker XML solution

Click here to read the article.

Question: Can I Edit My RoboHelp Glossary Outside of RoboHelp?

I’ve created a RoboHelp project with a Glossary and all is right with the world. Here’s my problem: I want to add a bunch of Glossary terms and definitions. It appears that I can only add one term and its definition at a time. Is there an external editor I can use that would make this process go faster?

Answer

The RoboHelp glossary is actually stored in a text file with a GLO extension. You will find the GLO file in your project among the other project assets such as the XJP (or project file). You can open the GLO file in any word processor (such as Word or NotePad) and copy and paste terms and definitions directly into the file. You’ll find this process much faster than adding them one at a time in RoboHelp via the Glossary pod.

Question: Can Captivate Record More Than One Screen at a Time?

Our medical imaging and reporting applications run on Microsoft Windows based PC systems with dual monitors. Is there any way that Captivate 2 or Captivate 3 can capture the processing from both monitors at the same time?

Answer

Excellent question! I don’t believe you can do that with Captivate. Of course, I only use a single monitor so I haven’t tested my theory. If anyone out there has gotten this to work, please let me know.

Question: FMRs Have Bloated My Captivate Output… What Can I Do?

I’ve used a significant number of Full Motion Recordings (FMRs) in my Captivate projects. When I publish the SWFs, the files are huge. Is there any way to compress the FMR SWFs?

Answer

1. Choose Edit > Preferences.
2. Select the Project category.
3. Select Compress Full Motion Recording SWF file.
4. Republish the project and you should see that the size of your SWFs have been lowered.

Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.

by Quinn McDonald

There is a strong connection between words and art. Not just words used to describe art, but words that form art. Some words look bold and important, others are meant to slip over a page.

My world is on paper. But there are other ways to handle words. Jonathan Harris does it in cyberspace with the Word Count. He’s an artist whose entire body of work exists on computers. Part of Harris’s mind is an engineer’s mind, part is an artist’s mind. Harris created a list of the 86,800 most common words in the English language. He sorted them and posted them. The most common word is "the" and its number is "1." The words "of’" and "and" are in places 2 and 3. You can look up a word to see where it is or type in a position number and see what word it is.

Looking at them turns you into an instant numeric scholar. Click on "666" and you get the word "easy." There is some wonderful divine justice in that. "God" at number 376, is between "began" and "top." It starts to make sense after a while.

"Death" (number 454) is between "church" and "sometimes." There are words in sequence that make sense. "Running" and "Feet" and numbers 698 and 699. "Contagious" (2159) is just one over from "Feverish" (2161).  I live in the desert, so rain is an important word for me. It’s number 1584, followed, in order, by "reality," "welcome," and "clean." Coincidence? Sure, but it makes you think.

Harris wasn’t finished yet. He started a count to see which words people looked at most often and created another list-the Query List. What’s the most common word people looked up? Of course, "sex."

You can also see Harris as a speaker on TED-the conference of interesting ideas told by their fascinating creators. And read his 2007 story, the whale hunt.

Have some fun. Type in your birthday, your age, some special number. See what comes up. Words are art. In many ways.

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

Answer

We’re planning to email a published Captivate project to a colleague for review. If we publish a SWF, we’ll have to worry about the client sifting through all of the published files in the attachment to start the correct file. We cannot send a published EXE because it will be blocked by the Firewall. And we don’t have an FTP server. Any ideas on how to get this to my client short of burning a CD and sending it overnight?

Adobe Captivate 3

If you’ve used Captivate’s library at all, you probably already know you can drag assets from the library and onto your slide. Nice! But did you know you can drag audio objects from the library and onto a slide object? Oh yes! In fact, dragging audio files from the library and onto a slide object is the same as showing the Properties of an object and using the Audio tab–just a bit quicker. (This tip was brought to you by Lisa Marie Johnson. Nice one Lisa!)

Microsoft Word

Ever tried to remove all of that horrible formatting that’s been applied to text in a Word document? Given up? Try this:

1. Open a Word document or create a new one
2. Mess it up (Select text randomly and apply bold formatting to some text, italic to others, apply a color to others. Hey go NUTS! No matter how horrible you make the text look, it won’t matter in a moment anyway.)
3. Select all of the text (Edit > Select All)
4. On your keyboard, press [ctrl] [spacebar]

   Bam! Double-bam! Just like that, all of that nasty formatting is gone!