authoring dita in frame maker
DESCRIPTION
Slides that accompanied demonstration of the DITA authoring capabilities built into FrameMaker 8.TRANSCRIPT
DITA Authoring in FrameMaker 8
Terry SmithDITA/TECHCOMM
November 2008
About the presenter
Technical Consultant, Scriptorium Publishing, based in Research Triangle Park, NCFrameMaker 8 ACEAuthored updates to Publishing Fundamentals: FrameMaker 8
Agenda
Overview of DITA support in FrameMakerAuthoring DITA topicsOrganizing topics with a DITA mapGenerating HTML outputProducing quality PDF files
DITA features
FrameMaker 8 supports DITA 1.0.The DITA menu is dedicated to authoring DITA files. This presentation primarily describes how to use the features in this menu.You can create PDF from your DITA files using features available from the DITA menu.A free plug-in lets you generate online output from the DITA menu, too.
Authoring DITA topics
Instead of selecting File > New, select options from the DITA menu.There are four basic topic types:
Topic (the generic topic that can contain other topics)TaskConceptReference
Errors in DITA topics
Sometimes, FrameMaker displays red text when it encounters something it can’t deal with in a DITA file. Usually, the problem is that you have opened a file that has been formatted to look pretty (“pretty print”) in an XML editor such as Oxygen.
Adding cross-references
You can use Assign ID to Element before adding a cross-reference.There are two types of cross-references you can use, xref and fm-xref.The xref element is the standard DITA element and is similar to an HTML href. The fm-xref can use the FrameMaker cross-reference formats.
Reusing content with conrefs
Conref elements let you reuse an element from another topic (or even from the same topic). Similar to a text inset.Both elements (the source and the target) must be the same kind of element.
Indexing DITA topics
By default, FrameMaker adds both the indexterm element and an index marker. You can change this default in the DITA Options dialog box.
Organizing topics with a DITA map
Create your topics first.Add topicref elements to point to your DITA files. You can change the order and hierarchy in the DITA map.The DITA map can include metadata.
Adding related topics
If you want to include related topics in your HTML, create a reltable in the DITA map file. The related topics don’t appear in PDF output.
Setting DITA options
Usually, the default options are fine.You don’t need to change the application files unless you create your own DITA application files.The Conditionalize Prolog on File Open option can cause extra blank pages when you create a FrameMaker file.
Producing PDF files from the DITA map
Create a one-off FrameMaker book or document from the DITA map.Add table of contents, title page, and so on.Generate the PDF file.When you need to make changes to the content, edit your DITA topics, not the one-off FrameMaker files.
Generating online output
If you haven’t already, install the DITA Open Toolkit and the FrameMaker plug-in that adds the Generate Output menu option.Generate either HTML or CHM.Not pretty enough? Edit the CSS files.
