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Using PDF as image format

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
October 13, 2014
1 reply
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Hi, Frame users

What is your opinion on using Graphics with PDF-format when authoring DITA content, as I'm not sure that PDFs are supported as Graphics-format in DITA?

Reason for this is that I'm trying to switch from using grapics with WMF-format (exported from cad) to SVG-format, but I have experienced some problems when importing Graphics with SVG-format to FrameMaker.

Sómetimes it works, but not always, for example "the filter encountered a problem and could not complete the translation".

I have also tried checking if the files are valid with the W3C online validator.

Best regards

Ronny

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Correct answer Russ Ward

Hi Ronny,

I'm not a DITA expert, but since no one has replied yet, I'll try to add a little something.

I don't think that DITA would care about an image format, but your authoring tool and publishing platforms might. For example, FrameMaker can render a PDF as you are authoring, but I don't know if another XML editor would, such as Oxygen. Then for publishing, some formats could render a PDF format (like another PDF), but a web browser could not (for HTML). Maybe DITA does care and/or maybe the OT toolkit can automatically convert image formats, but I'm not aware that either of these are true. A DITA expert would have to weigh in.

Regarding SVG import, I have also had problems with the import filter. I don't know if there is any answer to this. I think that FrameMaker SVG support is just not very good. I tend to use WMF files because they are much more reliable, but then again they cannot be rendered in a browser for my HTML output. So, I actually maintain both WMF and PNG versions of all my vector art. I have automation to handle this (macros in Visio, file extension conversion during HTML publishing, etc.), so the overhead is reasonably small for me. This might not be the case with you, though. All in all, I think the real issue is the problematic SVG support, which I don't believe you can do anything about.

Russ

R

Russ WardCorrect answer

Legend

Hi Ronny,

I'm not a DITA expert, but since no one has replied yet, I'll try to add a little something.

I don't think that DITA would care about an image format, but your authoring tool and publishing platforms might. For example, FrameMaker can render a PDF as you are authoring, but I don't know if another XML editor would, such as Oxygen. Then for publishing, some formats could render a PDF format (like another PDF), but a web browser could not (for HTML). Maybe DITA does care and/or maybe the OT toolkit can automatically convert image formats, but I'm not aware that either of these are true. A DITA expert would have to weigh in.

Regarding SVG import, I have also had problems with the import filter. I don't know if there is any answer to this. I think that FrameMaker SVG support is just not very good. I tend to use WMF files because they are much more reliable, but then again they cannot be rendered in a browser for my HTML output. So, I actually maintain both WMF and PNG versions of all my vector art. I have automation to handle this (macros in Visio, file extension conversion during HTML publishing, etc.), so the overhead is reasonably small for me. This might not be the case with you, though. All in all, I think the real issue is the problematic SVG support, which I don't believe you can do anything about.

Russ

ScottPrentice

Inspiring

Hi Ronny...

DITA doesn't care about the format, it's just a referenced file. How well this works will depend on your publishing stream. The best thing to do it to try it and see what happens. If you only produce PDFs through FM, then it's likely to be fine. If you produce HTML-based output through RoboHelp (or through the FM Publish command), it'll probably work fine there as well. If you use the OT, it may not work .. the OT doesn't do any image conversions and will just pass the file through to the output format as it is.

SVG can work if you've got "clean" files. The SVG format is very flexible and can render the "same" image in many different ways. FM's SVG rendering seems to only be set up to understand a subset of what the format can really handle. If you get SVGs from different tools they will likely be created by different means. Open them up in a text editor and take a look. If you find a tool that produces SVG that FM likes, you can probably continue to use that tool and it'll work in FM. (maybe)

SVG can have similar problems as PDF though, it may or may not be properly supported by your publishing stream. Most modern browsers will support SVG, but older browsers may not. The best thing to do is to give it a try, and test it in all of the deliverable formats that you're likely to use.

Cheers,

…scott

E

Engineer_technical_writerAuthor

Known Participant

Hi Russ and Scott,

Thanks again for your replies and insights.

As you wrote Scott, only for publishing PDF through FM it will probably work, and I think so too, but I'm afraid that it could lead to trouble in the future...

Likewise as Rúss, I am also using WMF because it is more reliable.

Plot twist:

Today I tried creating some new svg-files and importing them to FrameMaker, and it worked straight away.

It worked without any problems, don't know if this has something to do with the new FM patch or the software that was used for creating the SVG (same sofware as before though) ......

Anyway it made me very happy, as now I don't have to think about what grapics to use instead of SVGs or if I should continue using WMF.

Best regards

Ronny

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