Adobe DITA World: Templates, DITA, and FrameMaker 2015

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Bernard Aschwanden

www.publishingsmarter.com

bernard@publ i sh ingsmarter.com

Setting up a Corporate Template for DITA with

FrameMaker 20151

@publishsmarter or @aschwanden4stc

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Housekeeping and note taking


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Thanks Adobe! (and the massive number of attendees!)

Not all slides or topics are equally weightedUse some, discard othersSlides speed varies (reference) but this is a

QUICK sessionQuestions? Ask along the way!REMEMBER: Bandwidth matters, close

background apps!

I’d love to claim errors/typos is on purpose… they isn’t, ain’t, and weren’t never; however, I’ll fix ‘em as I can…

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About your speaker


3Publishing Smarter:

PresidentContent strategist,

publishing tech expert, author, and geek-enough

Certified Technical Trainer DITA Content management Topic-based writing

Society for Technical Communication Immediate Past President STC Associate Fellow

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Standard disclaimer


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In the interest of brevity I will make some blanket statements to keep it simple

Generally things are the same in 1.2 and 1.3 versions

It’s not all 100% “the truth”, but I’ll stay close

Purists may complain And they are wrong! (except when they are

right)

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Slides and demo (alternating)


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Let’s get to it

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In the next 45-ish (yikes!) minutes


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FrameMaker (2015 release) uses many DITA templates including ones for writing topics, concepts, references, tasks, or maps, and others when publishing

Learn where these templates are stored and how to configure them

See tips and tricks to updating the default templates to more closely match existing company templates, or even replace them with your own styles

Adjust the EDD as needed to further refine the appearance of output

This session explores the default templates and ideas can be recreated using your own templates

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What I plan to do/show


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How to quickly tweak the default template(good for learning DITA and to ID the template)

How to import the rules to your template(surprisingly little good comes of this… at first)

Rework your tags to match what is expected(mostly easy to do)

Change references from an EDD to use YOUR tags(a bit more involved, means “reading” the EDD and working with insets)

Change an EDD by adding your own rules(also involved, but very cool)

Other options to consider when updating the templates(not everyone WANTS to do it themselves)

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Power use required


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Before you begin: You need to have permissions Launch FM as an administrator

—OR—change security settings Create a backup of ALL files

EDD Templates Your content

Once you start Test in an iterative way Implement ONE change at a time See if you like it

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Template locations


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For the author to have a custom setup, you need to be able to work with the DITA folder. For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\AdobeFrameMaker2015\Structure\xml\DITA_1.3\app\technicalContent\template(similar for 1.2 as well, but the number changes)

Your path MAY differ a bit, but the important bits stand out…

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Basic setup changes


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1. Create a new task/concept/reference, etc and view the default appearances

2. Open a template and change the zoom3. Create a new t/c/r and view the defaults4. Open a template and change view settings

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The absolute minimum*


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1. You need to open the EDD and your template2. Then, in YOUR template, import the EDD

rules(File > Import > Element Definitions)

3. Copy in a bit of DITA The end, kinda You now have all the structure, all the format rules,

but... If your names and the EDD references don’t match,

it’s not what you need

* Not at all recommended. By anyone. Ever. If you want super-easy, use defaults.

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EDD Locations


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If you want to further define what is in your template, you need to be able to work with:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\AdobeFrameMaker2015\Structure\xml\DITA_1.3\app\technicalContent\edd(similar for 1.2 as well, but the number changes)

Your path MAY differ a bit, but the important bits stand out…

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Updating an EDD


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Take the time to explore the file, get to know the syntax

Search for specific paragraph or character tag names

Tweak to YOUR names (once you have the right one)

Import the EDD, test with your files NOTE: In this session I am ignoring the messages, but

normally read/resolve *IF* they matter Tweak EDD In your template, File > Import > Element Definitions Create sample DITA content, see if the formats “stick”

Continue to update/test

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Changes with minimal EDD work


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1. Create a representative sample of your content in DITA

2. Open your template and insert (copy/paste) DITA3. Import the EDD (previous slide)4. Edit the appearance (very carefully) using Designers

For example: Rename/match tags (Bulleted/ul.bulleted) Note that some content may have EDD based “first/last/only”

rules Could have other rules that may have unexpected impacts

5. Delete the content, save the template6. Open DITA content and see the format change7. Repeat as needed

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Changes with a bit more EDD work


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1. In the EDD, find the “right” place to change(for example, need to update the <title> for section, etc.)

2. Make a silly change, such as assigning a table title(test if you got it right)

3. Import, see the impact4. Correct the tag you assigned with the “right”

one5. Repeat as needed

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Changes with a bunch of EDD work


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1. In the EDD, find the “right” place to change(for example, need to ADD a rule for <shortdesc>)

2. Add a brand new rule with a silly change, such as assigning a table title (again, test if you got it right)

3. Import, see the impact4. Correct the tag you assigned with the “right”

one5. Repeat as needed

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When ready, and with extreme caution


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Ensure you have backupsDouble check that you have backupsGet OTHER people to validate that you have

backupsReplace the default Adobe templates with

your ownMatch the path, match the namesTestTestTest

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Publishing paths


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Author templates and publish templates are in different locations

Consider: Authors may want to have a template that shows draft-

comments, or uses conditions, or even has watermarks for PDF

Publishing may want to have templates that don’t

\Structure\xml\DITA\outputTemplates

Your path MAY differ a bit, but the important bits stand out...

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Further (geeky) reading


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http://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/dita/framemaker_customization.pdf

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker/2015/ini/framemaker_2015_ini_reference.pdf







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One other option


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Use these ideasBuild a custom structured applicationPoint to custom folder locationsStructure Tools > Structured Application

Designer

Still need to have custom templates

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Blatant self-promotional plug


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Follow up contact information


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905 833 8448 (Eastern Time)

[email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/bernardaschwanden


www.publishingsmarter.com

mailto:[email protected]

Adobe DITA World: Templates, DITA, and FrameMaker 2015

Education

Transcript of Adobe DITA World: Templates, DITA, and FrameMaker 2015