How can I create a conditional cover page consisting only of a single Illustrator image?

[Cagataytech]

I have a separate cover page document in my book which has to change the cover image (which is an Illustrator image) based on a printout condition: "Brand A" or "Brand B". Some of the text (such as brand name strings) in the book will change based on conditions of "Brand A" and "Brand B" which is a very straightforward process but I couldn't find a way of binding the Illustrator image on the cover page to condition tags. The condition tag tool warns me about using text in text frames, anchored frames, table rows and columns. I don't want to use any of these elements on the cover page. The Illustrator images are already created based on my page size (A4 Letter) and all I want is to change the cover page image when creating the pdf output based on my selection of brands.

How can I achieve this?

[Winfried Reng]

Hi deniztech,

When I need this, I create a text frame which covers the whole page.

In this text frame, I create two anchored frames and apply the conditions BrandA and BrandB to them.

Then hide one of the brands and insert the image into the remaining anchored frame. Adjust the size of the text frame and the anchored frame, so that it really covers the whole page.

Then hide the other brand and insert the image into the other anchored frame and adjust the size of the anchored frame.

When both anchored frames are visible, the page looks rather confusing. Therefore apply the conditions before you insert the images.

I do not know, why you get warnings that you should not apply conditions to text in text frames, etc. What's your FrameMaker version?

Best regards

Winfried

[Cagataytech]

Thanks for your quick reply Winfried.

I think that I did the error of first sizing the anchored frame to the same size of the text box, then adding a second anchored frame (which I'm not sure if I was successful because I couldn't see or select the frames) and then trying to insert the images into 2 separate anchored frames which I couldn't select. So I've decided to completely delete every text box from the master page and just insert the 2 separate images into 2 master pages and then tried to create the conditional tags.

I did think of first inserting the text box and the anchored frames before resizing them but I forgot to try it out. I'm using the latest Framemaker 2020 edition. I will report the result in here after trying out your recommendation.

[frameexpert]

Winfried's solution is great, but there is an alternative way to approach this: you could have two separate books, each with it's own cover page component. Book's are simply pointers to FrameMaker documents, so both books would essentially point to the same documents, except for the cover documents. This might simplify things because you won't have to deal with conditional anchored frames, etc.

[Cagataytech]

Thanks Rick for your alternative solution (I'm assuming that your name is Rick based on some of the conversations in other topics).

I have to confess that I'm at a very basic level on Framemaker. I couldn't find a way to create 2 separate anchored frames in a single text box. I'll have to dig deeper into Framemaker. I guess that I was able to create a second anchored frame before outside of the current text box.

I have now another basic question about the translation process which I'm going to deal with in the future after learning of these 2 different ways of solving my problem. I'm creating my documents in English but later on, we are going to send these books to translation companies and of course, we'll also have to translate at least just the textual parts of the cover pages into different languages (which is only "Operating Manual" at the moment but we may want to change it in the future). In that case, we also are going to request the translation of the text strings in those Illustrator images from the translation companies. Would there be a difference in the complexity of the complete translation process between these 2 methods?

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Hi @Cagataytech:

I have to confess that I'm at a very basic level on Framemaker. I couldn't find a way to create 2 separate anchored frames in a single text box.

1. On the cover page, add a single hard return to create a new paragraph: ¶
2. Anchor both images to that same paragraph. Initially, both images will be visible at the same time.
3. Select each frame (the frame, not the image inside the frame) and assign the condition tag. 
4. Now when you show/hide conditions, the anchored frames and their content will show/hide.

As for moving to the multi-language version:

1. You could anchor additional cover page images to the paragraph (one for each language) with additional condition tags, or
2. Illustrator supports layers—you can have a single image with multiple layers that you can hide/show in Illustrator.
   1. Create a layered .ai file: the artword on one layer, and each language on its own layer, then import and anchor as described above.
   2. To change the language in FrameMaker, just double click the image in FrameMaker to open up illustrator, and use the eyeballs in the Layers panel to adjust the visibility of the languages.
   3. Save the .ai file,  return the FrameMaker and the file will update.

But really, since you will need to various language tags for the rest of the document, I would recommend just creating the individual cover artwork for each language. 

~Barb

[Cagataytech]

Hi Barb,

This was exceptional. I'm really grateful. I've created what I wanted in just a few minutes after following your directions. Thanks a lot.

[Cagataytech]

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread. I've learned a lot. Adobe should create ınstructional content based on topics and replies found in these community posts. They give much better guidance than the product manuals themselves.

[Barb Binder]

Hi @Cagataytech:

We are always happy to help.

FWIW, I have a lot of FrameMaker content on my blog to supplement the FrameMaker documentation—https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/category/framemaker/. The blog is designed to support my students—when they ask questions after class, or when the questions are beyond our workbooks—but the content is available to everyone.

~Barb