The Logical Blog

February 17, 2011

Adobe FrameMaker 10: Auto Spell Check

by Barb Binder

I can't tell you how many times my Adobe FrameMaker students ask where the "red squiggles" are when we start the lessons on text editing.

In my humble opinion, there's not a whole lot to like about Microsoft Word, but I have to admit that I do use Word for writing, primarily to take advantage of Word's automatic spelling and grammar checks. I encourage my students to continue writing and editing in Word for the same reasons, before importing their docs into FrameMaker.

Even though FrameMaker was initially conceived as a 3-in-1 program (word processor, illustration and page layout), let's face it, most people use FrameMaker because it excels in technical document layout, but FrameMaker does not excel in word processing or illustrating.

The good news is that the new Adobe FrameMaker 10 offers Auto Spell Check, and with it, those beloved red (and green) squiggles.

To activate (or deactivate) Auto Spell Check, choose File > Preferences > General. Ensure there's a check mark in front of Auto Spell Check and click OK.
Once Auto Spell Check is activated, FrameMaker will scan the document and highlight spelling mistakes.
In Word, you have likely learned to recognize red squiggles as spelling errors. As in Word, you can now correct the spelling in FrameMaker by simply right-clicking and selecting the correct spelling from the list.
In Word, you are probably used to seeing green squiggles to indicate a possible grammar error. You will now see green squiggles in FrameMaker, but it's not quite the same thing. Auto Spell Check is just that: spell check. While FrameMaker will not evaluate your grammar, it will flag other types of mistakes. In this example, FrameMaker found two spaces between the words "was" and "only."

So what else will FrameMaker flag in green? To see the options (which have always been there, even if you never took the time to review them):

Choose Edit > Spelling Checker.
Click the Options button to see what else FrameMaker is looking for (or ignoring). For instance, it's the Extra Spaces checkbox that asked FrameMaker to flag the double spaces above.

I have a couple of authors who send me docs with straight quotes. I am going to enjoy this new feature in FrameMaker 10 to visually flag them. How will this change your workflow?

***

If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Adobe FrameMaker 9 or 10, Introduction class. Hope to "see" you there.

***

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.

February 16, 2011

Adobe Captivate 5: New Slide, Blank Slide… What’s the Deal?

by Kevin Siegel

Take a look at the Insert menu in Adobe Captivate 5 and you'll see two similar commands: New Slide and Blank Slide.

New Slide, Blank Slide. Which one?

Spend a few minutes selecting either menu item and you might find yourself at a loss to explain the difference between the two. In fact, it will likely appear that New Slide and Blank Slide both result in a new, blank slide. So the natural assumption would be that Adobe goofed when adding the menu items and one or the other should have been removed during the beta process.

Not so fast…

There is a difference between the two menu items. If you've created a Master Slide and used the Master Slide on a slide on the Filmstrip, inserting a New Slide will ensure that the new slide also uses the Master Slide. It may not seem like such a big deal, but now you won't have to take the additional step of assigning the Master Slide to the new slide. Nice!

Of course, if you didn't want to use the Master Slide, a trip to the Properties panel would be in order (that's where you can assign Master Slides to Filmstrip slides). Not so nice! No worries, when inserting a new slide, choose the Blank Slide menu item instead and your new slide will be blank.

***

Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes, as well as a half-day course on Advanced Actions. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

February 16, 2011

eLearning & mLearning: It’s All Happening–And Faster Than You Think

by AJ George

About a year ago I wrote about the 2010 Horizon Report and what it said about the impending adoption of mLearning. It's that time of year again so the 2011 Horizon Report has been released with some interesting insights on just how far we've come in a year. Electronic books and mobiles as they apply to

education are slated for adoption in a year or less. I would say that this prediction is spot on-if not even a little behind the times. This adoption isn't coming, it's taking place now.

Last March Gartner predicted that smartphones would outsell PCs in 2012. But, just two months into 2011, it looks like smartphones are already outselling PCs. Smartphones are quickly infiltrating not just everyone's pockets, but the classroom as well. McGraw Hill, commonly known for textbook publishing, is making the move toward mobile with a new mobile learning platform.

As for electronic books, the tablets on which they would be read are already selling remarkably well and it looks like this trend shows no signs of stopping for 2011. Reports are cropping up everyday of schools moving toward tablet integration in the classroom. Some, like a private school in Tennseee, have made iPads in the classroom mandatory. This is not a rare report. iPads in the classroom are becoming increasingly popular nationwide.

The Horizon Report also predicts augmented reality and game-based learning will take two to three years for adoption and gesture based computing and learning analytics will take four to five years.

Check out the links below for more on how these learning technologies are really just around the corner as well.

Game Based Learning

Augmented Reality

Gesture Based Computing

Learning Analytics

***

About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Writer and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."

February 15, 2011

Adobe RoboHelp 9: When Traveling, Never Forget The Map (File)

by Kevin Siegel

Over the past few weeks, I've written about some of the more obvious cool features in new Adobe RoboHelp 9. While the new stuff is great, sometimes you can get so engrossed in the obvious, you don't see the little new things (which are no less cool than the big stuff) until you trip over them.

Such was the case last week as I was wrapping up my new "Adobe RoboHelp 9: The Essentials" book so that it would be ready for the beta team to review. (The new book should be ready for purchase within a few weeks.)

There I was, trying to wrap up the section on Context Sensitive Help (CSH) and Map IDs. As I was testing my data files, the pesky CSH window would not show the correct topic. No matter how hard I tried to convince it to do so, no matter how many times I republished the layout, and no matter how many times I checked my code, the CSH Map ID calls would not work as expected. In fact, instead of opening the intended topic, the layout's default topic opened.

Hmmm… so the link works, but the wrong topic opens. That's a simple fix. Go back and edit the Map file in RoboHelp, ensure the correct topic is mapped to the correct Map ID, save, generate and republish. In this case however, everything was in order.

After hours of tearing out what little hair I have left, I called upon fellow RoboHelp developer and trainer John Daigle to check my web application (the application I was using to test the CSH), my RoboHelp project and my generated layout files for me.

At this point I was blurry-eyed and stumped. There simply had to be something I was missing, and it was probably simple. After a bit of banging around, John found the problem. It seems that RoboHelp 9 has a new, handy-dandy feature that I had overlooked. After creating a Map file and associating Map IDs with project topics, you can specify which Map file is to be associated with which content. Since you can have multiple Map files and multiple Content Categories, this new feature makes all of the sense in the world.

To assign a Map file to a layout, go to the Single Source Layouts pod and show the Properties of your layout.

From the Content Categories group, select Content <Default>. From the Map Files area, select your Map file. Then save, Generate and Publish.

Selecting the Map File is such a simple step. But forget to do it and your CSH calls will give you fits. As mentioned above, the calls will open your layout's default topic instead of the mapped topic.

Thanks John. The first round is on me at WritersUA!

***

Looking to learn RoboHelp, and fast? I'm teaching a live, online class that will give you the most essential RoboHelp skills… and in just two days.

February 14, 2011

PowerPoint 2010: Paste Linking

by AJ George

Recently I was asked if it was possible to paste link an image into PowerPoint so that if the original image is ever updated, the image in PowerPoint would automatically reflect the change. Sadly, PowerPoint cannot do this, but there are some types of source files that can be Paste linked.

Let's say, for example, that you have been sent an Excel spreadsheet for your PowerPoint presentation with the first and second quarter earnings. The spreadsheet has been left blank until the numbers for the remainder of the year are received. By Paste Linking the data into your presentation, the information in your presentation will automatically be updated when the Excel spreadsheet is updated.

To know if something will Paste link into a PowerPoint presentation, first copy the object to the clipboard. (If you are copying from another Office program, make sure that the document has first been saved.) In PowerPoint, click the Paste button from the Home tab and choose Paste > Paste Special.

Paste Special

If Paste link is available at the left side of the Paste Special dialog box, you will be able to Paste Link.

Paste Special dialog box

If you were able to Paste link, try making a change to the content you have copied (in this example you would be editing the Excel spreadsheet) and then save your work. In that case, the content in the PowerPoint slide will automatically update.

***

About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Writer and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."

February 11, 2011

Writing & Grammar Workshop: Premise vs. Premises

by Jennie Ruby

OK, I know we all love the police talk. Law & Order, CSI, COPS, etc. have made police blotter jargon extremely popular. Legalistic language is everywhere. You can even hear little kids saying things like "Please move your vehicle" and moms saying "You have parked your bicycle in an illegal manner." I get it. I understand. I just read a Grisham novel myself. But let's try to at least impose a modicum of grammatical correctness while we are making statements like this:

"The perp was apprehended on the premise/s."

I have seen the singular form of the word premise incorrectly used to mean a home or place of business at least 10 times in the past two weeks. Here's how it works: a premise, the singular form of the word, is a proposition or a kind of hypothesis. It is a working supposition one uses in logic problems. And of course, you can have several propositions, or premises.

That's where the legal term enters. The premises are the preexisting properties–grounds and buildings–upon which a lease or mortgage is based. In this sense, the plural word premises is always used. A good memory aid is to substitute the word grounds where you would use the word premises.

They found the miscreant on the grounds.

They apprehended the perp on the premises.

The first sentence means they found the person on the lawn or on the property surrounding a building. Notice that if you substituted the singular word ground, the meaning would be completely different. Then it would mean they found the person maybe either lying on the ground or on foot, rather than, say, in a car or helicopter. Similarly, if you used the singular word premise, the sentence would nonsensically mean that they found the perp on a logical proposition.

Now that you know what is what with this word, I am betting you will notice people using it incorrectly in the news, in print, on the radio. One last note: when you hear television police officers or newscasters use the word, you might hear them pronouncing it "premisis." There is no such word.

***

Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending my Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. I also teach the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts class.

***

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. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

February 9, 2011

Adobe RoboHelp 9: Content Categories

by Kevin Siegel

RoboHelp has allowed you to create conditional build tags and expressions. If you've never used them, they let you generate multiple layouts from one project, each potentially containing unique content. But what if you wanted to take multiple layouts, combine them into one, and then let your users decide which layout they want after they access the Help system? That's the perfect scenario to use RoboHelp's new Content Categories.

First, create conditional build tags and apply the tags to topics and content within your Help system. In addition, create TOCs and Indexes as necessary for each layout. You'll also need to create the build tag expressions to be used with each Content Category. (Each of these steps are covered during my two-day RoboHelp class.)

Create Content Categories

On the Single Source Layouts pod, show the Properties of your layout.
Select Content Categories and click the New button. (You can create as many categories as you need.)
Give the category a name and press [Enter].
From within the Content Categories group, select your new category.
Change the Content Title, select a Table of Contents and a Conditional Build Expression.
Save and Generate the layout.
From the upper left of the Navigation pane, you will see a content drop-down menu. You can select any of your layouts from the menu.

***

Looking to learn RoboHelp, and fast? I'm teaching a live, online class that will give you the most essential RoboHelp skills… and in just two days.

February 3, 2011

Adobe FrameMaker: Templates

by Barb Binder

At least one student in every one of my Adobe FrameMaker classes inquires about templates. And why shouldn't they? Templates are the single best way to get a jump start on the design of a new document. In FrameMaker, there are two different locations for the templates that come with the software.

Start by exploring the standard templates:

Choose File > New.
Click the Explore Standard Templates button at the bottom of the dialog box.

There are two screens of templates that represent a variety of business documents. I have to admit that they are not the most attractive designs, but don't discount them. Because they demonstrate a wide variety of FrameMaker features, the templates that ship with FrameMaker are a great learning resource for you. Take the outline templates for example. Numbered paragraphs tend to be one of the hardest things for new users to figure out. If you open up these templates and look over their formatting properties, it all becomes very clear.

If you are still looking for inspiration, FrameMaker 9 and 10 ship with additional templates, but you have to know where to look.

In FrameMaker 9, you will find them in:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Framemaker9\samples\More Samples

And for FrameMaker 10, you will find them in

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Framemaker10\samples\More Samples

There are five categories of templates just waiting for you to find them: Books, Data sheets, Reports, Education and Special. Go explore!

***

If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Adobe FrameMaker 9 or 10, Introduction class. Hope to "see" you there.

***

February 3, 2011

Featured Online Classes

Adobe Captivate 5: Essential Skills

During this live, interactive two-day and instructor-led class, you will get an introduction to Adobe Captivate 5 and learn the core, essential skills that will help you create killer eLearning lessons.

Some of the lessons covered in this course:

Best practices for eLearning
Recording Demos and Sims
Adding animation and Flash Video
Recording voice-overs and adding sound effects
Publishing as SWF and other formats

Instructor: Kevin Siegel

Click here to learn more or to sign up.

***

Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts

Created in response to inquiries by IconLogic's audience (including former students), this course quickly gets your writing compass pointed in the most productive direction. Whether you're writing technical documentation, training curriculum and materials, or eLearning scripts, this intensive course delivers instruction and practical experience on critical topics including:

the writing process and structure
identifying and thinking like your audience
facilitating the conversation between SME's and the reader
promoting the "WOW" factor
keeping "the voice" active, accurate… and short
avoiding common grammar mistakes
identifying and eliminating deadwood
writing narratives that will "hook" your audience
writing step-by-step procedures that make the most of the learner's time and effort

Instructor: Jennie Ruby

Click here to learn more or to sign up.

February 3, 2011

Writing & Grammar Workshop: Infinitives and Who versus Whom

by Jennie Ruby

To be, or not to be, asked Hamlet, making those two infinitives among the most well-known phrases in English. An infinitive is a verb form with the word to in front of it, in the form to verb. To be, to think, to ski, and so on.

We use these verb forms as nouns, as adverbs, and as adjectives. But one thing is for sure: these verb forms are never used as the verb in a sentence, and therefore will never have a subject. That is why if the word who/m happens to be in front of an infinitive, it is not the subject of the infinitive.

Here are some problem sentences:

He wondered who/m to hire as the new ski instructor.

Jimmy asked who/m to ski behind.

They told us who/m to see to order the new equipment.

To determine whether to use who or whom, you try to figure out whether the word who is the subject of any verb. In all of these examples, the word who has a verb form immediately after it. But those verb forms are all infinitives. And since infinitives do not have subjects, the word who is not the subject of any of them. Since who is not the subject of any verb in these sentences, all of them should say whom:

He wondered whom to hire as the new ski instructor.

Jimmy asked whom to ski behind.

They told us whom to see to order the new equipment.

The whole infinitive thing is just one more reason who versus whom is one of the hardest parts of English grammar. Just remember–an infinitive never has a subject.

***