FrameMaker – Creating (Unstructured) Content

Learn to use FrameMaker like a pro. This is the full syllabus for my 2-day live online class. For the online course version of this material, see my online course site.

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In FrameMaker – Creating Content you’ll learn the best practices and gritty details that will turn you into a superstar FrameMaker author. You’ll see the techniques that help technical communication professionals around the world to use FrameMaker to easily manage libraries of long documents, and produce consistent, feature-rich documentation.

Class material and features are based on the current release of FrameMaker, and users of previous FrameMaker versions are welcome. Books and class files will be supplied in earlier FrameMaker formats whenever possible.

Need to create FrameMaker templates?

Consider my Template Design Workshop, where you’ll learn everything you need to know about template-driven design. After the workshop, you’ll have a full template developed for your organization that helps you and your team create and maintain beautiful and efficient FrameMaker projects.

FrameMaker – Creating Content Syllabus

Goal: At the end of this material you will be able to author complex content in unstructured FrameMaker.

Understanding FrameMaker

Introduction to FrameMaker and interface

Menu items
Pods
Bottom bar (all 5 controls)
Quick Search/shortcuts/online help
Workspaces
Preferences
Set file info

Word processing Part 1

Create new doc from Memo (Create, not Show Sample)
Show creation of new content with para and char catalog
Manage application of styles using:
- Paragraph catalog
- Character Catalog
- Headings/titles
- Bullets/lists
Insert different types of special characters
Importing Microsoft Word files

Understanding FrameMaker templates and workflow

Explore the scope of what a template can do
Discuss the importance of consistent and logical style names for ALL related projects
Explore the chapter template from Working with Content
Show the strengths of FrameMaker vs. other apps
Look specifically at the advantages of numbering in FrameMaker

Using tables and graphics

Tables

Show table insertion at end of line vs. inserting on a blank paragraph
Manage Table Insert dialog
Add headers, footers, and title
Insert various types of content in table
Adjust cells, columns, rows
Merge/Straddle table cells
Add/Delete table structure
Why you should avoid Custom Cell Shading and Ruling

Graphics and Anchored Frames

Understand native FrameMaker Graphics Tools
Learn when to use/not use Anchored Frames
Anchored frame position options
2-column graphics
Graphic frame vs. anchored frame
Crop
Float
Position of graphic in frame
Position of frame on page
Page graphics
Anchored frames
Moving frames
Moving/cropping frames
Use Object Styles to manage frequently used situations

Object Styles

Apply existing styles in a template
See a brief tour of how to use Object Style Designer (INT)

Cross-referencing content

Cross-References

Link to current
Show format options
Show ways to navigate to source location
Update References
Link to external docs (within same book file)
Unresolved xrefs

Improving your efficiency

Word Processing Part 2

Find/Change
- Find text
- Find other stuff
- Options like wildcards and GREP/Regular Expressions
Thesaurus
Change bars
Revision tracking
Colors
Spelling checker
- Dictionaries
- Customization

Setting master pages

Understand why master page editing is part of the template course
Using master page assignments (the apply master pages command)
Manual master page assignments

Numbering styles

Apply numbering to paras
Show how numbers interrelate
Setting up numbering systems is part of Templates

Content Reuse

User Variables

Company name
Include character style (INT/ADV)
Understand the As-is property in Character tags

Text insets

Create a small document for inclusion in other documents
Import the inset file into other docs and manage content from original

Create long documents

Books

Create new book
Add files
Numbering for page and chapter
(Add TOC)
(Add IX)
Show Update Book

Managing automated tables of contents

Show adding TOC, setting up included para styles
Show application of template (See Creating Books handout)
Use nonbreaking space to control Toc entries
Reference page tour (to discourage editing of TOC!)

Creating sophisticated indexes

Show adding IX, with Index markers already selected
Show application of template (See Creating Books handout)
Reference page tour (to control index dividers)

Index markers

Insert simple single entry
Insert multiple entries per marker
Insert second level markers
Control entries with code
See Fm Handouts.pdf

Publishing

Crafting rich PDF output

Publish pod
Bookmarks
Customizing output settings
Why NOT to use Save As or Print To PDF
(When you might need to use Save As or Print to PDF)

Producing HTML5 for mobile and desktop

Show default behavior
Emphasize importance of mapping styles
Show areas for customization

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