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The newsletter of Scriptorium Publishing |
Volume 11
Issue 11
December 2008
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In this issue:
A cure for XSL:FO memory issues
Free webinar: DITA 101— Why the Buzz?
A new year and a new conference schedule
2009 training calendar
The conversation continues at Palimpsest
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A cure for XSL:FO memory issues |
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When Formatting Object documents are converted to PDF output, the FO processor holds the entire fo:page-sequence in memory. Typically, the body of a document is contained in a single fo:page-sequence element, so a document containing tens of thousands of pages can result in Java heap space errors or memory overflows. It's unlikely that you can cut thousands of pages to reduce the document's size, and you can't give the FO processor herbs to improve its memory. What do you do?
Scriptorium's new white paper, Handling XSL:FO's memory issue with large page counts, shows you the solution. By changing the processing to divide the document into multiple fo:page-sequences, you can solve the memory problems. This 10-page paper includes sample code for an XML publishing workflow and explains how to implement the solution in the DITA Open Toolkit.
Download the PDF (760 KB) or read it in HTML. |
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Free webinar: DITA 101— Why the Buzz? |
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Scriptorium is partnering with MadCap to present DITA 101— Why the Buzz?, a free webinar offered on February 5, 2009.
This webinar is an introductory look at the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), DITA concepts, business cases, and the best scenarios for using DITA.
Register soon. |
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A new year and a new conference schedule |
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Here is our preliminary 2009 conference lineup:
First on the itinerary is DocTrain West from March 17–20 in Palm Springs, CA. Sarah O'Keefe will be presenting a keynote session on the DITA Landscape.
You can find us at STC's 56th annual conference in Atlanta, GA, from May 3–6. Matthew Arnold will be at the tradeshow with free white papers in hand. Scriptorium will offer three sessions: one with Sarah and two with Terry Smith.
We are planning to attend DocTrain DITA from June 3–5 in Indianapolis, IN, to discuss all things DITA and structured authoring.
July is a wonderful time to visit Hawaii, and it just so happens that Sarah will be in Honolulu from July 19–22 for IEEE PCS.
Fall 2009 is your last chance to meet us and grab some free chocolate on the conference circuit with LavaCon in New Orleans, LA.
If you're attending any of the events and would like to speak with us, drop us a line and we'll schedule a meeting. Even if you're not attending conferences in 2009, let us know. Scriptorium is considering additional webinars this year and would like your input for times and topics. |
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2009 training calendar
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We have posted our class schedules through June of 2009.
Structured authoring technologies can improve consistency, enable reuse, and automate your publishing workflow; however, the advantages of structured authoring require new skills and a shift from formatting and paragraphs to elements and hierarchies. If you're interested in learning about structured authoring and how to make it happen, register for one of our upcoming classes on XML, XSL, or DITA:
Scriptorium also offers a full range of FrameMaker courses on the unstructured and structured interfaces.
For information about private on-site or web-based training, see our training options page. If you have any questions, contact training@scriptorium.com or call 919-481-2701.
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The conversation continues at Palimpsest
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Our blog, Palimpsest, is updated several times a week and covers anything and everything to do with Scriptorium, technical communication, and the occasional misadventure. If you've missed out on the conversation, take a moment to peruse these recent posts:
- Crosswords for technical writers
Alan Pringle suggests a
way to pass the time during the holidays: technical writing crosswords. With clues such as "a family of transformation languages used to describe how to format XML files" and "to wield the red pen," the puzzle offers technical writers brain teasers that few others will get.
- On the unspoken rule
Sheila Loring
gives her two cents on the unspoken rule—technical writers who don't read documentation. Even when you do crack open the user manual, try to remember that poor documentation is not always the author's fault.
- Put the drawing tools down
Alan addresses a popular technical writing myth: callouts on graphics. Inserting the callouts over the images with the drawing tools might look pretty but can create extra work for localization and might not work at all for an XML-based publishing workflow. So what's a technical writer to do? Read and find out.
- Some help with ditaval files and renegade attribute values
Tracking down a few incorrect attributes in a large DITA document with hundreds of topics can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Alan Pringle has found a tool you might find useful. Needle in a haystack, meet magnet.
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Copyright ©
2008 Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Last modified
December 22, 2008.
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