Completely Frusterated-New to Print Output

[awargo]

Okay....so I posted a different topic and got absolutely no help. I am a complete novice when it comes to printed output. I have created my web help output and am trying desparately to figure out how to get it into a PDF output. I have set up my targets, made topics with proxies for my toc and index, and am trying to figure out how in the heck to get all of my screen shots to be placed in the correct position on my printed output. I do not want the images to be a background or anything, just simple examples for a user manual. I have started to create a page layout but am stuck (and have been for the last week) on what or how to get my images incorporated. I have spent multiple hours everyday looking throught the printed output guide, forums, and online help. It appears that there is nothing about images except that you have to have two sets of images, one for print and one for web help. I can't find anywhere that explains how to get the images into your printed output though. Maybe I am confused about the basic functionality of the page layouts ???????
I have been teaching myself to use Flare from the beginning of this project, I am a RoboHelp convert, and have had no issues until now. I don't understand if I need to have a separate page layout for every topic since there is a different image on each topic. I thought that I would create one page layout and then apply that to the respective topics that need that specific formatting. I am so lost my head is spinning and I dread opening my project every morning because I have never been stumped like this before. Please HELP!

[KevinDAmery]

Maybe I'm not understanding the question, but is inserting the image into the topic the same way as you do for online help not working? That's the way I've always done it, although admittedly I haven't developed print output in 4.0 yet so I've been using master pages up until now.

You mentioned that you're having problems getting them positioned the way you want: could you explain what positioning you're trying to achieve?

[awargo]

Okay so maybe I'm way more lost than I thought. In Web layout view the images are either in line with the text, I use the icons to assist with the directions, or below the paragraph of text. When I view my topic in print layout mode the images are pushed to the far left outside of the frame. Am I maybe using the page layouts when I should be using master pages?

[KevinDAmery]

Sorry, I'm not following what you mean by "I use the icons to assist with the directions" - which icons and what directions are we talking about?

Page Layouts should work - they're just new, so I haven't gotten around to migrating my projects to them yet. So don't take the fact that I haven't used page layouts for print as meaning they're the wrong way to go.

If you want, send me a Private Message with a copy of your page layout file and one of the topics you're using and I'll take a look at it.

EDIT: also include your stylesheet.

[RamonS]

Sorry, I'm not following what you mean by "I use the icons to assist with the directions" - which icons and what directions are we talking about?

I am sure this means the steps given for using the software are enhanced with images of the icons and buttons. I did that many times when the buttons did not have labels, but only icons (such as in a tool bar). Showing the icon is just so much easier for the reader than telling them to click "on the 7th icon from the left" or to click "the button that shows a white line-feed printer with some paper coming out at the top" in order to get the print dialog.

[doc_guy]

Page layouts in Flare are not like page layouts in QuarkXPress or some other tools (or even FrameMaker). In Quark and other tools, you have to create a frame for an image to be inserted into. In Flare you don't do that. The page layouts in Flare include a body frame, and all the content from the topic flows into the body frame. So you only need one page layout (generally), because you don't modify topic-specific information in the page layout. All topic-specific content goes in the topic files themselves. The only images you want in the page layout are images that you want to occur in every printed page in the output.

Once you've created a page layout, you can use the Layout Mode toggle button to switch views (so you can see an approximation of what your PDF output will look like).



If your images are getting pushed off the page in the print layout mode only, then I'm guessing there is something wrong with the print section of your style sheet, specifically on the IMG element declaration. If you are just getting started, you can probably delete all the content in the @print { } section of your style sheet, though that is a bit drastic. First, I'd look in the @print section to see what the settings are for the IMG element. (Check for negative margins and/or negative padding.) If nothing there is obvious, check the IMG declaration in the main section of the style sheet. If that doesn't have anything obvious, try deleting the whole IMG element declaration from the @print section, then from the main section. Then see if that fixes it. If that doesn't, you can back up your style sheet, and then remove the whole @print { } section, and see what happens. If that still doesn't work, then you can back up the style sheet, and then clear it out. Start over from scratch. Flare will add the default styles back into it and you can see what happens.

The other thing to look at is to open your document in the text editor and see what local styles and formatting are applied.

I'm creating several hundred pages of PDF output using Flare 4, so I know that this feature is working. I bet we can get it working for you too, if you'll be patient with us! We'll try hard!!

[awargo]

Thank you so much!! I am going to give it a try and will get back to you how it goes.

[doc_guy]

Ok. Good luck. Let us know if you have any questions.

[awargo]

YAY!!! I found a float outside right command in the css sheet. As soon as I removed it...tada the page is perfect. Thanks a ton!!

[doc_guy]

I'm glad it works for you now!!

I actually love the print layout features in Flare 4/Blaze. Let us know if you run into any more trouble!

-Paul

[forfear]

Agreed!

I actually love the print layout features in Flare 4/Blaze. Let us know if you run into any more trouble!

PS. however, i do think there's great room for improvement in Page Layouts and linked text frame management.

[doc_guy]

Yes, but as somebody who's been using Flare since V2, I'll tell you, they are awesome compared to what we used to have. Here's hoping they improve with the rest of the product as it matures.