Generating HTML from Structured FrameMaker 9

Report · Jun 21, 2011

Hi,

My source files are in Structured FrameMaker 9. I need to generate the output in HTML format. Is there a method to do this? Can someone guide me through the process of generating an HTML output?

Regards,

Manish

Report · Jun 22, 2011

Hi Manish,

You have a number of options. I'll briefly summarize a few, but all of them involve some measure of complexity so I wouldn't be able to "guide you through" any of them.

- Use a third-party product specifically designed for this, such as Omni Systems' Mif2Go, Quadralay ePublisher, or Adobe Robohelp. If you buy the Adobe TechComm Suite, Robohelp is included. All of these products can convert any FrameMaker document to HTML, with varying levels of additional functionality related to the subsequent generation of common online help formats with that HTML.

- Save your structured files to XML and then use XSLT as a post-process on that XML. This is the more complex option, but if you have the skills, it may be more attractive since you may not have to buy anything and you'll be able to easily customize the process however you want it.

- Use the DITA structure definitions within FrameMaker, then use the DITA Open Toolkit as a post-process to generate HTML from the DITA XML. There is lots of complexity with this as well, but it has some attractiveness as the DITA structured applications and open toolkit are effectively off-the-shelf software. Additionally, everything is free, unless you want to enhance your DITA experience with a third-party addon like DITA FMx from Leximation (recommended).

- Use XHTML as your structure definition within FrameMaker, then save as XML. You'll automatically have HTML when you save your files. FrameMaker includes a structure application for XHTML but I've never used it, so I don't know how well it works. With this option, you would have a more WYSIWYG conveniences while authoring but less control over variations in the HTML output.

There may be more and there certainly are any myriad of combinations of these techiniques. Hopefully this will help get you started. If you did buy the TechComm Suite, consider RoboHelp as a starting point since you already paid for it. The third-party product route is the most expensive in terms of software purchasing, but it is usually the least complex.

One additional note - You will see "Save As HTML" or similar somewhere in the FM menus. It is a very rudimentary feature that is not likely to serve your needs. Might be worth a try since it is already there, but don't get your hopes up on that one.

Good luck,

Russ

Report · Jun 22, 2011

- Save your structured files to XML and then use XSLT as a post-process on that XML. This is the more complex option, but if you have the skills, it may be more attractive since you may not have to buy anything and you'll be able to easily customize the process however you want it.

I like this option, primarily because I have learned XSLT for another project that imports XML. A slight variation is to add a processing statement in the XML that specifies the XSLT file, something like this:

<?xml-stylesheet href="file_name.xsl" type="text/xsl"?>

Then there is no need for post-processing. When the browser opens the XML file, it pre-processes the XML with the XSLT into HTML before displaying it. One advantage is that one can change the XSLT (for example, you want to change the layout and formatting of the HTML) and all the XML files that use it update when they are read by the browser.

Van