Kindergarten Program

[Nonya_514]

Good morning,

I have been a Tech Writer for about 3 years now.  I have always used MS Word, and converted to PDF.

I was hired by a new company.  They asked my about my proficiency with Adobe Frame Maker.  I said "What's that?"  They snickered and asked again, and I told them I had never heard of it, let alone used it.  They said it was a core requirement of the position.  We researched, and discovered this requirement had been accidently omitted from the job posting, and nobody caught it during the hiring process.  The manager was exceptionally cool about it, and told me to take a week or two, three if I need it (paid) and teach myself the program.  My thoughts were "How hard can it be, it's just a word processor, right?"  Turns out I am not entirely confident I can rise to "proficient" by self-teaching for three weeks.

Which brings me to my question. Can anyone refer me to some lower level Frame Maker training, perhaps on YouTube?  I have found several that say "intro" or "beginner", but they all seem to focus on "new features", which doesn't help if you didn't know the old feature.  Or they focus on a specific function, rather than the very beginner basics.  i.e. when I learn how to format a paragraph, it would be helpful if I first knew how to create that paragraph before formatting it.

So what I am saying is that I'm learning, but I feel that it is going WAY slower than it needs to.

Snicker away if you'd like <grin> but I need kindergarten stuff here.  I don't want to presume I know anything before starting.  Frame Maker is obviously in a whole different category than Word.

[abhi_AdobeTC]

Hi,

A very basic course is available on Lynda.com:

FrameMaker 2015 Essential Training

We have more basic training videos for starters:

• Word to FrameMaker Basics: https://my.adobeconnect.com/wordtoframemaker/
• Introduction to FrameMaker: https://my.adobeconnect.com/introtoframemaker/
• Introduction to Structured FrameMaker: https://my.adobeconnect.com/structuredframemaker/
• XML/DITA Authoring in FrameMaker: https://my.adobeconnect.com/framemakerdita/

[Nonya_514]

Thank you, I'm watching one now!

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Plus there are lots of free short videos on http://tv.adobe.com/videos/framemaker/ ​.

And longer free webinars here: https://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2015/12/new-list-of-recoded-adobe-techcomm-webinars.html

And If you find that your new company will send you to training, we have an Intro class coming up in two weeks: https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/product/introduction-to-adobe-framemaker-2015-unstructured/ . It's online, so you can attend anywhere as long as you have Framemaker 2015 and a stable internet connection. You will up and running in two days, and unlike pre-recorded training, this is a live class so you can ask all the questions you want.

[Nonya_514]

The company is not willing to send or pay for any training.  They are of the opinion that there is too much training available on-line to justify any expense on their part.

That said, between your answer and abhi_AdobeTC's, I feel like I have a really good start of something to work with.  Thank you both so much!

Scott

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'd put a plug in for Matt R. Sullivan's reference books on FM - they're like the FM bible for when you need to remind yourself of something. You don't mention what version you're running, so depending on that, his earlier one "Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FM11" may be more apt than his newest one that deals more with FM2015 (the newest version).

[Stefan-Gentz]

Nothing beats a personal trainer … Not only because it's much more efficient, but also because you usually also get a lot of extra tips & tricks and best practices. Have you checked the Adobe Techcomm Partner Portal?

There is also an excellent introduction course here:

Free Video Courses: FrameMaker & FrameMaker Publishing Server – TechComm Central by Adobe

[Stefan-Gentz]

Thanks for the links, Barb!

For the list of webinar recordings, it's meanwhile better to go to the Adobe TechComm Webinar Portal. Select "Recordings" from the "Type" Dropdown to get free access to hundreds of webinar recordings.

A nice starting point is also the free 6-part FrameMaker Crash-Course with Toni Ressaire and CJ Walker, that we did earlier this year.