Best way to learn structured

[Seanb_us]

Hi,

Starting with a well organized FM12 unstructured setup, including table, para, and char styles along with anchored frames that do not have any overlying text, is there a tutorial you recommend for moving to structured FrameMaker?

That is, there are a subset of styles that are possible after a heading, a subset that are possible after body text, etc.

So, given a fairly well organized unstructured environment with no overrides, is there a tutorial on moving to a structured environment and building the EDD?

Cheers,

Sean

[Russ Ward · Accepted solution]

Sean, I see that no one has answered and I don't want to let it stay that way. However, I don't have a really great answer for you. I think that most people just get the Structure Developers Guide and maybe some sample files, then just mess around until they get it. That said, in your post you seem to be specifically referring to information about the conversion from unstructured. On my website, I have some (very old) files that demonstrate the conversion process with a conversion table, perhaps they could help some:

Resources/downloads - West Street Consulting

My assumption is that these files still work, but I haven't looked at them for a long time.

I think in summary, this process is often a journey of one. I know there are books and such, but nothing beats personal experimentation. Structure is much like a toolbox rather than a single tool, so it pays to learn the various pieces of it.

Russ

[Seanb_us]

Thanks!

[Gorly]

Hi Sean,

I've come to the conclusion, that learning what XML is and how it works, does also help a lot in learning Structured Frame. Essentially XML and Structured FM are the same beast with different fur.

Most of the principles map 1:1 between the two (and makes moving to XML from Structured FM fairly easy). And on the interwebs there's much more info on XML than on Structured FM.

Just don't bother with the specific XML stuff (yet) and try to understand the fundamental principles.

As a starter you can say:

DTD = EDD

XML-Tags = Structure

Conditional formatting in the EDD = XSL:FO

Conversion tables = XSLT

This is only a rough simplification, but it works pretty good when trying to understand how all that stuff works together.

It also might provide you with some insight, what is possible when you moved to Structured FM and expand to XML later on.

After reading that up, much of the Structured Developers Guide will make more sense.

-Alex