PDF Target Output - Resources?

[dizzo]

Does anyone know of any resources (free or paid) that instruct someone, from start to finish, how to setup a output target for PDF?

I have setup our entire doc set into flare, customized the style sheets, and now am able to create good looking online help for our product.

Now my goal is to set up new TOCs and Targets for making PDF versions of some of the content.

I am struggling making sense of how to set up all the layout pages, chapters, TOC proxies, and the like, to make a good looking PDF. Flare seems to have documented all the features, but it's disjointed and doesn't cover the process from start to finish.

I tried customizing and modifying the provided templates in my project for creating PDF output, but it turns out pretty badly.

If anyone has resources, idea, knows of tutorials, books, videos, anything, I would great appreciate that.

[Nita Beck]

Lorraine Kupka's Five Steps to MadCap Flare has a nice chapter on print output that takes the reader step-by-step through the whole process. She sells the book here: http://www.northcoastwriters.com/fiddleheadpubs

(Full disclosure: I know Lorraine personally but have no financial interest in her book. I recommend it 'cause it's a good resource, especially for new Flare users.)

You might also find useful the MadCap-recorded webinar presented by print-output goddess Laura Johnson. You can access it here: https://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/si ... 4880260288

Laura also has a blog where she posts about print output, among other Flare things. It's at http://www.flareforhelp.com

(I had the pleasure of meeting Laura at MadWorld, both 2013 and 2014. She knows her stuff, and she's funny as all get out! I lost track of how many spit-takes of coffee I let loose at breakfast the first morning of MadWorld 2014.)

Hope these help...

[dizzo]

Hi Nita,

I just purchased the book you mentioned, since it seems to have a tutorial chapter on building book/PDF output. And, I just found that webinar on the Madcap site. And, I will also check our her bog as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide these resources. Much appreciated! Now on to learning about PDF outputs, page layouts, targets, auto TOC proxies, and print mediums. Woo.

[Nita Beck]

You are welcome.

Do expect that you'll be doing a lot of experimentation to get your print output "just right". So take a lot of notes as you try different things. Once you get things "just right," then it truly will become a single-click operation to generate print output. And keep asking questions here. We were ALL new Flare users once.

[doc_guy]

I sell MadCap training, and I have a 3-hour course on creating printed output in MadCap Flare. The three hour course is $150.00. If you are interested, ping me.

[Nita Beck]

Sorry I forgot about you, Paul!

Paul is an EXCELLENT instructor. I heartily recommend him, too!

[MLTucker]

Thanks for the resources - I too have created some decent looking online outputs but am finding creating a PDF output way more difficult than it should be. Simple things like my left and right pages ignoring the choice I selected for page layout, Title page not including the graphic I selected, no discernible way to resize graphics for print, bullet styles going a bit skewiff, bullet images being smudgy looking (all fine in html output). I'll be taking advantage of the free resources.