Developing Print Documentation:
Formatting User-Guide Information

In this project, you use existing character and paragraph FrameMaker tags to format text to look like this PDF document. You'll import this unformatted text into FrameMaker and apply the character and paragraph tags contained in this template document.

Getting Started

1. Start by creating a normal portrait FrameMaker document, and name it using your first name, an underscore, your last name, 02a for the assignment number and draft, ending with .fm as the file extension. For example, if your name is Charlie Brown, name the first draft of this project charlie_brown02a.fm; the first revision, charlie_brown02b.fm, and so on.

2. Download the template document into the same directory (folder) as the FrameMaker document you just created.

3. Open both documents—the one you named after yourself and the template document—in FrameMaker. Click File > Import > Formats. In the Import from Document field, select the template document. Then deselect everything except Character Formats and Paragraph Formats, and click Import.

4. To make formatting easier, delete all the unnecessary tags: click on the paragraph catalog symbol in the upper right of the FrameMaker window. Click Delete... and delete all tags that do not begin with bc_. When finished, you should have only tags beginning with bc_ in the paragraph catalog. Do the same with the character catalog.

5. For a quick way to get rid of those unwanted paragraph symbols, see eliminating FrameMaker hard returns.

Formatting the Paragraphs

Now, start applying the paragraph tags to make your document look like the PDF document.

1. Click on the paragraph catalog symbol in the upper right corner of the FrameMaker window.

2. Type the title of the document at the top. From the list of paragraph tags, apply the bc_head0 tag to that title.

3. Apply the bc_parag1 to all normal paragraphs, and so on. When you create the tables, use bc_cell1 for regular table cells and bc_tablehead for table column headings.

   Note:

4. Avoid the "widowed" heading that usually occurs on page 1; use the "keep" function available in the Pagination tab of the Paragraph Designer.

5. Use a double-sided format for this document, with the rightside pages numbered odd. For the running footers, use Arial 9-point italic. (If the tutorials haven't goten you entirely ready for this, contact your nstructor hfor help.)

6. As you format, you should not leave any paragraph break symbols ( ¶ ) on the left margins, as shown in the following illustration. In other words, don't press the Enter key to create more vertical space. Use the Space Above Pgf: and Space: Below Pgf: fields in the FrameMaker paragraph designer to create vertical spacing.

   

   Lone paragraph marker, used to create extra vertical space. Avoid this!
   Set bottom and top margins in the Paragraph Designer.

Adding the Graphics

1. Download the following graphics into the same directory (folder) in which your document and the template document are located.
   • Graphic 1 for downloading
   • Graphic 2 for downloading
   • Graphic 3 for downloading

   To download a graphic, click on one of the links above, and then right-click on the graphic. In the pop-up menu, choose Save Image As... and save the image to the directory in which your other FrameMaker documents for this project are located.

2. When you are ready to insert a graphic, create (if necessary) and use a special paragraph tag that you reserve strictly for graphics. Position your cursor at the end of that paragraph tag.

3. Click File > Import > File. Locate your graphic and click once on it. Click the Copy Into Document and then click Import. (If you don't click the Copy into Document radio button at the bottom of the Import dialog, recipients won't be able to see the graphic unless you ship it separately with the text file.)

   Note: Writers who develop books with lots of graphics commonly keep the graphics out of the FrameMaker documents; in other words, they take the default, Import by reference, store the graphics in a separate directory, and ship the graphics as a separate, zipped attachment along with the documents9 (also zipped).

4. In the next dialog box, Frame suggests a dpi (dots per inch) for your graphic. Change this is you want, but note that higher dpi creates large file sizes, even though the graphic will appear smaller in your document. Pick a dpi, and use it consistently throughout the document for all graphics.

5. Click Set. You will now see your graphic, but note that it consists of two elements -- the graphic itself and and Anchored Frame. By default, the Anchored Frame is selected after importing a graphic.

6. To even up the space between the graphic and the text above and below it, click on the graphic, hold down the Alt key and use the arrow keys to move the graphic around in tiny increments.

Applying Character Tags

You'll notice that in the PDF version, small bits of text are bold, italics, and Courier New font. Rather than directly applying these effects to the text, create character styles named after the function. This way, if a new style is required, you just change the character tag rather than each instance of bold, italics, or Courier New.

When you set up this project, you imported character tags also. Specifically:

Tag name	Description
bc_chaphead	Cross-references to chapters or headings.
bc_command	Actual commands such as the AT command.
bc_emphasis	Plain old simple emphasis such as not.
bc_entry	Example text that users might enter.
bc_hwlabel	Names of button and labels on hardware eqipment (not on screen).
bc_keys	Names of keyboard keys.
bc_lights	Names of the faxmodem lights.
bc_screen	Text that displays on screen or in an LED.
bc_setting	Values that users select or enter.
bc_warning	Highlighting for the warning label in a warning notice.

You'll notice that some of these character tags produce no visible effect, for example, the bc_keys tag. In this particular design, no highlighting for keyboard keys is used. However, some day, highlighting might be required, and when that day comes, it will be easy to modify bc_keys accordingly.

With this introduction and the preceding table, you should be able to apply the character tags to make your text look like the PDF document.

1. Click on the character catalog symbol in the upper right conrner of the FrameMaker window to open the character catalog.

2. Select the phrase Using FAX and Data Communications Software and click bc_chaphead.

3. Select AT and click bc_command.

4. Keep applying the character tags until your document looks like the PDF version.

Sending This File to Your Instructor

Make sure that's you've named this file as requested at the top of this page. Send this FrameMaker file (not a PDF version) as an e-mail attachment to your instructor. Expect to receive e-mail confirmation that your instructor has received your files. If not, contact your instructor.