Styling numbered lists and image import when importing from FrameMaker doc -- how to keep .fm fidelity??

[stevenjs]

Greetings,

Having a number of problems getting 50-160 page .fm documents into RoboHelp.

Right now I've been importing the whole .fm file into a separate folder, then copying and pasting from there into individual topics. I've tried the style mapping and topic breaking feature -- it soo totally does not work -- and, I don't particularly care.

What I do care about is maintaining the formatting created in the .fm document, or at least getting a functional equivalent in the HTML. Nothing earth shaking here, just a numbered outline format with the text indented a bit rightward from the numeral, and an image aligned with the text.

First problem is getting RH to use the .css which is generated (or imported?) when the .fm file is imported -- for all new topics. Right now I'm just deleting every other .css file and assigning the remaining one to topic template.

The main problem: the import introduces all manner of non-breaking spaces in the HTML, especially around the beginning of each outline paragraph (which are NOT in the .fm doc), and worse, refuses to align the image with the (slightly indented) text on the left.

I notice in the .css there are two tags of the same name, one for the paragraph and another for the list item, i.e.,

p.FM_NumberedList {
margin-right: 0.000pt;
text-align: left;
margin-top: 6.000pt;
margin-bottom: 0.000pt;
word-spacing: 0.250em;
font-family: Arial;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 10.0pt;
color: #000000;
letter-spacing: 0.00em;
text-indent: -0.25in;
margin-left: 18pt;
text-decoration: none;
}
LI.p-FM_NumberedList {
text-align: left;
word-spacing: 0.250em;
font-family: Arial;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
font-size: 10.0pt;
color: #000000;
letter-spacing: 0.00em;
text-indent: -0.25in;
text-decoration: none;
}

But only the paragraph style appears in the interface. The image below the numbered text has the same paragraph style as the text. The image also has a border, so I see where it ends. Yet it refuses to align with the text, no matter what I do.

Any idea what is going on, how to get these styles in shape so images align?

Another major problem, many of the images simply do not appear in RH. A blank placeholder appears instead, though the file name is listed in the image properties in the same location as the images which do appear.

I need a procedure I can apply to a number of RH projects importing from FrameMaker.

regards,

stevenjs
________________________________
"I am but an egg."
--Stranger in a Strange Land Text

[Mayank_Agrawal]

Here are few suggestions/resolutions to your problems. As per the behavior mentioned by you, I am assuming that you are working with RH7 / TCS1.

1. Problem of centralized CSS: RH replicates the styles present in FM document by generating equivalent styles in the css for each FM document. If one needs a central control on the look and feel of the styles, in other words, if one wants to modify the styles during import, one can do so through Style Mapping. This functionality allows user to map each FM style to a user defined css style. Please refer RH help for details or let me know if you need further elaboration on it.

2. Problem of non breaking spaces: RH introduces such spaces in case of paragraph styles having autonumber. This is done to maintain the look and feel of numbered lists. You can try the option of converting autonumber to HTML list, in case that suits your requirement. Please let me know if this is not the case.

3. Image Alignment problem: RH works fine with the image alignment and there is no know issue as such in this area. If the image is inserted in an anchored frame with Anchoring Position set to "Run into paragraph" and some alignment(say 'Left'), the image comes in fine in RH topic. Please let me know if there is a specific case.

4. Problem of Blank Images: RH converts most of the image formats present in FM document. However, it might be showing some issue with specific image formats. You can try changing the "Default Graphic format" setting from FrameMaker Documents tab of Optiosn dialog(Tools->Options). Please let me know the image format of the images coming as blank.

In case any or all of the above problem are not resolved, please send sample FM document for each problem so that we can closely look into the issue. You can share the documents somewhere(e.g. share.acrobat.com) and post the download link.

Mayank Agrawal
RoboHelp Team

[stevenjs]

Many thanks, Mayank, for your thorough response.

here is the url to the FrameMaker file:

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=158039af-2257-4880-b093-a92241e8f70f

Yes, prior to reading your suggestion I started looking for a workaround, and the only one that worked was to convert the converted .css to plain jane HTML line items for the numbered lists. Not as nice to look at, but at least I can get the job done.

The big problem with the RH import from FM in this case was an excess of non-breaking spaces that made it impossible to use the alignment guides in the ruler interface for fine tuning as I had successfully done with another FM to RH import. Using plain HTML line items, the ruler interface only serves to set the left margin, nothing more. Now if I want consistency across RH projects, I need to go back to the successful project, change the RH style to HTML line items, and reapply this style to every singe topic (many dozens).

The bigger problem is RH failure to break the FM import into topics based on styles in FM. The FM doc (above link) is meticulously styled for consistency across "Sections" (Header 3 Italic) but RH fails to make topics as the interface promises. It makes a few, and includes only fragments of the content where it does.

The most annoying problem is the failure to import images. Yes, they are in anchored frames, and still do not appear in RH. The FM images are nearly 100% GIF, with a few JPG. Nothing esoteric there. The RH default is JPG, and that makes no difference to me, nor can I guess why this would cause import to fail. I'll make the change if you can give me half a reason to expect a different result, as opposed to computer voodoo.

The alignment of images in their anchored frames in FM is nearly 100% "at insertion point" which here is in line with the numbered list text. I have not used "run into paragraph" and I believe there is no such alignment for anchored frames as simple as "left." I wish there were. The care and feeding of anchored frames in FM is unwieldy and weird to put it mildly.

I have also tried the style mapping, which failed to produce the desired results, or the results specified in the interface for that matter.