Hyperlinks vs. Page reference

[Iangull249]

Hi all, I'm currently trying to decide if Framemaker is right for my needs. Don't need detailed instructions, just some feedback or general thoughts.

Here's my question: I want to be able to easily render 2 product manuals from the same book -- one with hyperlinks (pdf for screen) and one with old-school links for the printed version (e.g., "See this page for blah blah blah").

This must be possible right? But is it difficult?

Thanks a lot for helping out a beginner.

-Ian

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Ian,

So you want the online PDF to not have page numbers but optically emphasized hyperlinks?

FrameMaker (unless you deactivate it) always creates working hyperlinks in PDFs if the documents use FrameMakers cross-references or hyperlinks. If you want to change the visual appearance I would proceed like this:

• Edit the documents with the old-style template and cross-references formats designed to look like you want them (»chapter title« on page 312).
• Prepare a document OnlineStyles.fm where you change the appearance of the same cross-reference formats to look online-ish (chapter title).
• After you create the old-style PDF, you would use File > Import > Formats to import juts the cross-reference definitions from OnlineStyles.fm into your book – boom done. Later you would import the old-style cross-ref formats from the original template document.

It seem to me your requirement can be completely fulfilled with FrameMaker.

HTH,

- Michael

[AxialInfo · Accepted solution]

Ian, as Michael says, FM has several pre-defined cross-reference styles, plus you can alter these by using FM "building blocks" to create whatever style you would like.

As a working scenario, you could create a default "OurStyle" and then easily change the style definition of OurStyle to be either online vs. print as needed, simply by importing the effective style definition to all chapters in the book.

Another feature to look at for a multiple output scenario might be conditional text (e.g. in a section where you might have online access introduction and instructions vs. printed "standard" instructions).

Sheila

[Van Kurtz]

Building on Sheila's suggestions, you can even conditionalize the cross-references. Create a cross-reference and give it the print condition. And then create a second cross-reference right next to the first one, give it the online format, and give it the online condition. Now just show/hide the appropriate condition to create either the print version or the online version. This avoids having to import the appropriate formats each time you create the PDF.

[stman]

Another simple option: My documents are outline formatted with section numbers, i.e. 1; 1.1; 1.1.1 etc. (aka paragraph numbers, though I don't number all paragraphs like in legal documents). The normal xref style I use is "Section\ <$parnum>", and this works fine for both printed documents and PDFs. Here's an example:

...blah blah blah in Section 5.3.

In the PDF, the test "Section 5.3" is hyperlinked.

Yes, I don't refer to the heading name or the page number, but I find that in an outlined document the section number is practically as easy to find as the page number. Not only that, but the reader will more easily remember common/important section numbers in a document, whereas nobody remembers what page something of interest is on.

My $0.02

[Iangull249]

Hey everybody,

Many thanks for the help and feedback. It's great to know that the Framemaker community is so involved.

-Ian