The newsletter of Scriptorium Publishing

Volume 9, Issue 9
September 2006

In this issue:

First Impressions: FrameMaker DITA Application Pack

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Sarah O'Keefe Traveling to Conferences!

Attend a Conference from Your Desk

Fall and Winter Training Schedule

First Impressions: FrameMaker DITA Application Pack

Adobe recently released a public beta version of its FrameMaker 7.2 Application Pack for DITA. The application pack adds a DITA menu, from which you can create files based on the DITA structure and perform other DITA-related functions (such as inserting conrefs, which are displayed as text insets in the FrameMaker files).

Although Scriptorium is credited as a contributor to the application pack, our contribution to the project was minimal. We believe that this is a significant addition to FrameMaker, and we want to share our first impressions with you.

The technical paper that explains the installation process is good; it also provides a summary of DITA and includes helpful tutorials. Although not all features are working in this beta release, we were pleased to see that the dialog boxes created by the application pack are reminiscent of long-existing dialog boxes in FrameMaker. For example, the DITA Reference Manager dialog box is a lot like the Cross-Reference dialog box. The similar look-and-feel of the DITA extensions will most likely reduce the learning curve for the new features.

Before the application pack, getting DITA to mesh well with FrameMaker was a difficult task. FrameMaker was not a good choice for authoring in DITA—but that will probably change thanks to a strong showing by the application pack beta. Adobe is releasing this application pack in the spirit of open source tools; the expectation is that some people will test and push the new features with real-world data. This approach is a little different than what many of us in technical publishing have experienced with tools in the past.

We look forward to seeing (and evaluating) the final release.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Sarah O'Keefe Traveling to Conferences!

In the coming weeks, Sarah O'Keefe will be traveling across MANY time zones to present at three conferences:

• LavaCon 2006 in Kauai, Hawaii, on October 1–4.

• STC Region 2 Conference in London on October 13–14. Matt Arnold will be also be at the conference, and you can meet him at our booth in the exhibition area.

• XML 2006 in Boston on December 5–7.

If you plan to attend any of these conferences and would like to set up a formal meeting, please contact Sarah and Matt at sales@scriptorium.com.

Attend a Conference from Your Desk

If you can't get to the conferences in Hawaii, London, or Boston, consider our TrackAccess webcasts. The TrackAccess program offers you conference-quality presentations at the comfort of your own desk. The webcast schedule for the fall and winter is as follows:

• XML Architecture for Customized User Assistance
  October 16, 11 a.m. Eastern time (convert to your local time)
• Single-Sourcing with XML Transformation in FrameMaker 7.2
  November 3, 11 a.m. Eastern time (convert to your local time)
• Managing Implementation of Structured Authoring
  November 28, 11 a.m. Eastern time (convert to your local time)

Each webcast is only $19.95. Register soon; we limit the number of participants to ensure attendees can ask questions. To participate, you need a web browser with Flash support. We can deliver audio through a phone conference bridge (higher quality) or via Internet audio (less expensive, especially for attendees outside the United States). Attendees can ask questions either through a chat interface or via the phone bridge.

Fall and Winter Training Schedule

Our web-based training lets you eliminate travel costs while still getting many of the benefits of our instructor-led training: small class size, the opportunity to ask questions, and a challenging curriculum that engages you. For more information about online or classroom training, contact training@scriptorium.com.

Web-based training schedule:

• October 17–20: XML and Structured Authoring
• October 23–24: Structured FrameMaker 7: Introduction to Authoring
• October 25–30: Advanced Structured FrameMaker 7: Building EDDs
• October 31–November 1: Advanced Structured FrameMaker 7: Structured Applications
• December 6–11: Unstructured FrameMaker 7: Accelerated Introduction
• December 12–15: Advanced Unstructured FrameMaker 7: Template Design

Classroom training schedule:

• November 6–7: Unstructured FrameMaker 7: Accelerated Introduction
• November 8–9: Advanced Unstructured FrameMaker 7: Template Design
• November 29–December 1: XSL in Publishing
• December 4–5: XML and Structured Authoring
• December 11–12: InDesign CS2
• December 13–14: Photoshop CS2

For those who prefer to learn FrameMaker at their own pace, we also offer our FrameMaker 7 Workbook Series. You can download the workbooks from our online store for $49.95 each. You get the workbook in PDF format, exercise files, and access to video clips that explain the FrameMaker interface.

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