FrameMaker Features: popus, collapsing sections, hyperlinks/cross-references

[FrameMakerNoob]

Hello, and thanks in advance for the help.

I am required to write a ~1000 page manual in Adobe FrameMaker 11. The manual is to be accessed online, but also available in printable version. The online version should include:
- popups
- collapsing sections

- hyperlinks/cross-references.

Are these features available in FrameMaker by itself?

I know it is a beginner-level question, but the answers I have found online either use additional programs such as Robohelp, or are not straightforward enough for me to understand. I would like to know if FrameMaker 11 is enough by itself to produce a manual with the features I mentioned above.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

The native FM to HTML output is reputed to be fairly poor - that's why products like Mif2Go are so successful. You can also go the Technical Communication Suite route that allows you to link your FM content to a RH project and product a variety of online forms of help. I have no idea how to accomplish popups in FM that would get exported properly to online help, but DHTHL hotspots will do your collapsing sections, and hyperlinks/xrefs are all handled very well by FM.

[FrameMakerNoob]

Thanks a lot Jeff!
I think I will go with the Technical Communication Suite, and just implement the popups in Robohelp. As a fairly new user, I was confused by the possibilty of producing HTML directly from FrameMaker, because it led me to wonder what sort of features could be handled there. Now I understand, if I want Dynamic HTML stuff, I should export the project to Robohelp.

Again, thanks a lot.

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

For a 1000 page project, if you need good looking output for both print and online, then authoring in FM and producing online by linking to RH is the best way to go. You can implement your pop-ups and other things directly from the FM docs.

[FrameMakerNoob]

Hi Matt, Thanks for the reply.

I thought pop-ups could not be directly created in FM? Can you please elaborate on how it could be done?

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

If you have TCS installed, you should have a RoboHelp menu available in FM.

For other things, you will have to be a bit more specific...do you have an example of what you're looking for that you can point me to? Or a feature in RH that you're looking to implement?

-Matt

Matt R. Sullivan
co-author Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11
P: 714.798.7596 | C: 714.585.2335 | matt@mattrsullivan.com

@mattrsullivan LinkedIn facebook mattrsullivan.com

[Bob_Niland]

>> I thought pop-ups could not be directly created in FM?

> If you have TCS installed, you should have a RoboHelp menu available in FM.

The standard FM Special > Hypertext menu has options for:

Command: Popup Menu

Command: Alert

Command: Alert with Title

I've never used them. I'm guessing that they are generally unsatisfactory for "further information" type pop-ups.

[FrameMakerNoob]

Hello,

I was away for a few days and did not get the chance to reply.

You are right, the Popup Menu in FrameMaker does not fit the "Tooltip" use, it has more of a "Menu" feel and purpose.

Matt, as you can infer from my previous sentence, I'm looking for general Text-Only type of popups that could serve as glossary definitions. I don't think they can be implemented in FM,  so I'll have to live with implementing them in RH.

Thanks a lot for the help!

[Arnis_Gubins]

Before you rule out implementing that sort of featture in PDF, see what Shlomo Perets does in PDFs using his Timesavers Tools & Assistants (http://www.microtype.com/showcase.html)

Example pdf: http://www.microtype.com/showcase/FormAsst/SP_RolloverPop_demo.pdf