At the first STC meeting of 2003, held January 21, Larry Adams of Adams Training and Consulting offered tips and tricks for FrameMaker version 7.0. Afterwards Rahel Anne Bailie of Intentional Design Inc., walked us through a case study of multi-channel publishing using FM.

Larry began by citing the benefits found in FrameMaker 7.0—cross-platform file sharing, word processing features, graphics (creating/importing), enhanced table features, flexible page layout and document design, hypertext-linked index and table of contents, cross-referencing features, and output to a variety of platforms and viewing devices such as print, pdf, and XML—using WebWorks Publisher or other methods.

As well, Larry noted that FrameMaker 7.0 now offers the ability to:

  work in “structured” or “unstructured” modes  

  compose, import, edit, validate, and export XML/DTDs

  use vector graphics

  publish to the Web using WebWorks Publisher

  create up to 12 headers and footers

  use new book templates

  import formats with the “select all”/”deselect all” button  

FrameMaker is renowned for its ability to work with large file sizes, and its stability—no crashing! Larry briefly reviewed FrameMaker’s Catalogue feature, which is similar to a style sheet. Each file has a catalogue, which you can import into other files. Larry reviewed the numbering feature using the Paragraph Designer where you can increment chapter numbers, and also have separate numbering for tables. Larry then showed us the advantages of using the running headers and footers, as well as the cross-referencing tool.

Rahel then stepped in and offered an explanation of exactly what “structuring” means when using FrameMaker. She showed us how to view the structure of your document, and how to export your file to other file extensions, such as HTML or XML. Many questions ensued from the attendees—some quite technical in nature