Learning FrameMaker 9.0 ?

[scomeau1]

Hi All,

I'm a new to FrameMaker 9.0 and I need to make a up a long document about 750 pages and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get some training for FrameMaker 9.0 before I start this project.

Can anyone recommend and good training material for FrameMaker Web sites books videos XML ect.

Many thanks for your help !

Scott

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

There's not too much out there, but I can recommend a good book site: http://www.scriptorium.com/books/index.html

The Unstructured FM 8 book covers all the goods - it just doesn't look the same as FM9 since they changed the GUI in 9.

[JimHTracy]

I  to am trying to learn Adobe Framemaker 9.  I purchased Adobe FramMaker 9 Classroom In a Book with the tutorial CD.  This book has many errors in it so it is very difficult to use.  Also I have not even been able to get started with Chapter 14. The second step does not work and I am not familiar enough with Adobe FrameMaker 9 to know what to do to work around the problem. I have pretty much figured out work arounds for the other errors in  the Class Room in a Book.  The Paragraph Designer pod locks up while working Chapters 2 and 11.  VTC training CDs are good but they are just videos with no hands work.  I have found no other Adobe FrameMaker9 training material.

If anyone haas found any other Adobe FrameMaker 9 training matefrials please let me know.

I also need help figuring out why Paragraph Designer locks up.  I have downloaded the latest downloads.  If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

[Shlomo Perets]

There may be other reasons for the Paragraph Designer locking up, but with the latest patch for FM9 (9.0p250), I consistently have this problem when adjusting tab stops or indents using the ruler, with the paragraph designer showing any set of properties other than Basic.  I usually prefer to set/adjust tabs visually, then Update All (using the paragraph designer or through a keyboard shortcut). Until this bug is fixed, switching the paragraph designer to the Basic set of properties first, before adjusting tabs/indents using the ruler, consistently serves as a workaround.

Shlomo Perets, MicroType http://www.microtype.com

FrameMaker/TCS training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants

[JimHTracy]

Thank you very much.

Adjusting tabs is when my system locks.

Are there any other training materials available besides Adobe FrameMaker Class Room in a Book and VTC cd's.

Regards

New FrameMaker 9 user.

Jim Tracy

[Mike Wickham]

Are there any other training materials available besides Adobe FrameMaker

Class Room in a Book and VTC cd's.

A book I highly recommend is _Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured

FrameMaker 8_. It's one FM version out of date now, but there is little

difference between FM8 and FM9, besides the new interface. Since the book is

a version out of date, the publisher is selling it at less than half price

and throwing in a searchable PDF file of it, too. A very good deal! You can

find it here:

http://store.scriptorium.com/items/books/publishing-fundamentals-unstructured-framemaker-8-all-detail.htm

[JimHTracy]

Thank you,

I did order FrameMaker 8.

I do have issues with Adobe FrameMaker 9 Classroom in a book.

There are many, many errors in it. Captions/illustrations do not match text. Makes it difficult for a newby, like myself to learn from this book. On Lesson 2, page 40 item 8 says select /b. The illustration shows a black dot to represent the bullet, not what the text indicates. There are duplicate paragraphs and instructions throughout, there are wrong page numbers (has no effect of training content). There are problems with instructions in Lesson 14. On page 251, Item 5. it says to "Right-click on Module9IX.fm and choose Set Up Standard Index from context menu". Working with these instruction I cannot find the Set Up Standard Index from the context menu. There is something missing here or I do not follow instructions well as I cannot bring up the Set Up Standard Index. So, I have not been able to work and study Lesson 14 at all. I would appreciate some help this problem in Lesson 14 of Adobe FrameMaker 9 Lesson in a book.

The accompanying tutorial CD seems to be working great.

I am surprised a company such as Adobe produces such inaccurate training material.

I will get off my soapbox.

I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks

Jim Tracy

McCall, Idaho

[Guest]

> I am surprised a company such as Adobe produces such inaccurate training material.

I'm not

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'd highly recommend the Scriptorium Publishing Fundamentals book on FM 8 - except for the look of the interface, it's a great resource and works much the same in FM9 - here's the link - http://store.scriptorium.com/items/Books/list.htm

[Arnis_Gubins]

Jim,

Once you get past the new interface, FM9 in unstructured mode is effectively the same as prior versions.

So for learning about using the FrameMaker tools, the best resource right now (as others have also recommended)  is Scriptorium's "Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 8". See: http://www.scriptorium.com/books/publishing-fundamentals-unstructured-framemaker-8

They also have an online wiki for self-paced tutorials (aimed at FM7, but the same principles apply to newer versions of FM - only the user interface may be different for some of the functions). See: http://wiki.scriptorium.com/tiki-index.php

For learning about the interface, the online video by RJ Jacquez (Adobe's senior evangelist from TechComm products) is probably your best bet.

See: https://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a295153/p17912987/

Also, there's a brief video on the FM Workspaces at:

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/framemaker/videos/Workspaces_demo/ba_workspaces_demo.swf

The FM9 Reviewer's guide also has a lot of information and tidbits that will help to understand the product.

See: https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=75864237-da11-4fbf-bbcc-90cda2bed045 and the exercises are available at: https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=9339409a-b884-49ae-a06d-157d69b17b8d

[Mike Wickham]

I also need help figuring out why Paragraph Designer locks up.

First, make sure you have applied all the FrameMaker updates:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=22&platform=Windows

Note that the updates are sequential, not cumulative. So you need to apply

9.0.1, then 9.0.2, then 9.0.3 to be fully patched. These patches killed that

bug in almost all instances, except one. Moving tab stops by dragging them

on the ruler is still known to lock up the paragraph designer. The

workaround is to enter tab stops in the paragraph designer.

There are also a couple of good videos about the new FM 9 interface and

workspaces here: http://www.adobe.com/support/framemaker/. These items

weren't well covered in the manual, last time I looked.