G'day again,
I have this online flare doc that I must turn into a print manual by Friday and thanks to this forum and the people that have answered my questions so far, I am not doing too bad however...
**Questions**
1. I have a number of internal links within the document. How do I convert these to page references?
2. I have to output this to an A5 size and when I look at it in Print view, a lot of content is off screen...does this mean resizing everything or is there a shortcut?
3. I have created an h3 style that has a background colour and image. When I preview it shows up as it should. When I export to PDF, it is there as plain text. Why would that be?
4. Also when I output to PDF, some of the pages are displayed twice, one after another and some blank pages in between topics. Is this something to do with page layout?
Yours in stressfullness,
CanAussie
Beginner crying for more help
Re: Beginner crying for more help
I'll try and help with the first.
In order to include the page numbers (i.e. See Installing XXX on page 25) you will need to use cross references, not hyperlinks. When you insert a cross reference, the Insert Cross-reference screen comes up. Under Cross-reference Properties, Click New. This is where you control the format of the cross reference (whether or not to include page numbers and more). Add something like this {para} on page {page}. It can go much deeper than that, but give that a try. That should work just fine for cross references to topics.
In order to include the page numbers (i.e. See Installing XXX on page 25) you will need to use cross references, not hyperlinks. When you insert a cross reference, the Insert Cross-reference screen comes up. Under Cross-reference Properties, Click New. This is where you control the format of the cross reference (whether or not to include page numbers and more). Add something like this {para} on page {page}. It can go much deeper than that, but give that a try. That should work just fine for cross references to topics.
Flare 4.2
Certified Mad for Flare
Windows XP
Certified Mad for Flare
Windows XP
Re: Beginner crying for more help
To print in A5 or B5 the simplest would be to output the file to a printer that can print booklets.
The output can then be follded over and as the printer takes care of the page numbers you have a A5 document.
I have never done it but it is worth a try.
M
The output can then be follded over and as the printer takes care of the page numbers you have a A5 document.
I have never done it but it is worth a try.
M
Re: Beginner crying for more help
Hi, I'm a beginner too and have recently solved some of the same issues as you seem to be having:
1. I have a number of internal links within the document. How do I convert these to page references?
The previous poster is correct, use cross references. The nice thing is that you can set them to show up as links in any online docs that you create from the same source material by configuring the print and non-print media (I refuse to say mediums) differently.
2. I have to output this to an A5 size and when I look at it in Print view, a lot of content is off screen...does this mean resizing everything or is there a shortcut?
Have you created an A5 page layout? I'd be willing to bet that with such a layout applied to your target, everything will show up as you intend. You will be able to see it in the XML editor if you make the print target the Master and then generate the PDF (don't ask me why there isn't an easier way to do this).
3. I have created an h3 style that has a background colour and image. When I preview it shows up as it should. When I export to PDF, it is there as plain text. Why would that be?
Have you configured the formatting for your print medium as well as for your online medium? It sounds like a daft question, but when I was learning this is something I forgot to do several times. You need to configure your print style in the CSS for your print output (and vice versa for non-print).
4. Also when I output to PDF, some of the pages are displayed twice, one after another and some blank pages in between topics. Is this something to do with page layout?
You might want to check your TOC and the topics associated with it. Normally, when you generate a document, the errors tab in the generation dialog will tell you if you have associated a topic with more than one location in your TOC. You can use the information to fix the situation. For example, sometimes in online Help you might associate a topic with a "book" in the TOC and then again with a topic within the book. Flare does not like this and will output duplicates if the topic is referenced twice.
Blank pages can be caused by a number of things. I've found that turning on the paragraph markers and looking for extra blank paragraphs in the text can help - especially if the blank paragraphs are configured in the CSS to appear at the top of a given page. You may also want to check the "Auto end on left page" setting on the Printed Output tab of the Properties dialog for the topics in question in the TOC. This may be adding extra blank pages where you don't want them.
Sorry if some of this seems a bit over-simplistic, but this is the sort of stuff I wish someone had told me (or wish I had remembered 8^) as I was getting used to Flare.
I hope it helps - good luck with your project.
Sharon
1. I have a number of internal links within the document. How do I convert these to page references?
The previous poster is correct, use cross references. The nice thing is that you can set them to show up as links in any online docs that you create from the same source material by configuring the print and non-print media (I refuse to say mediums) differently.
2. I have to output this to an A5 size and when I look at it in Print view, a lot of content is off screen...does this mean resizing everything or is there a shortcut?
Have you created an A5 page layout? I'd be willing to bet that with such a layout applied to your target, everything will show up as you intend. You will be able to see it in the XML editor if you make the print target the Master and then generate the PDF (don't ask me why there isn't an easier way to do this).
3. I have created an h3 style that has a background colour and image. When I preview it shows up as it should. When I export to PDF, it is there as plain text. Why would that be?
Have you configured the formatting for your print medium as well as for your online medium? It sounds like a daft question, but when I was learning this is something I forgot to do several times. You need to configure your print style in the CSS for your print output (and vice versa for non-print).
4. Also when I output to PDF, some of the pages are displayed twice, one after another and some blank pages in between topics. Is this something to do with page layout?
You might want to check your TOC and the topics associated with it. Normally, when you generate a document, the errors tab in the generation dialog will tell you if you have associated a topic with more than one location in your TOC. You can use the information to fix the situation. For example, sometimes in online Help you might associate a topic with a "book" in the TOC and then again with a topic within the book. Flare does not like this and will output duplicates if the topic is referenced twice.
Blank pages can be caused by a number of things. I've found that turning on the paragraph markers and looking for extra blank paragraphs in the text can help - especially if the blank paragraphs are configured in the CSS to appear at the top of a given page. You may also want to check the "Auto end on left page" setting on the Printed Output tab of the Properties dialog for the topics in question in the TOC. This may be adding extra blank pages where you don't want them.
Sorry if some of this seems a bit over-simplistic, but this is the sort of stuff I wish someone had told me (or wish I had remembered 8^) as I was getting used to Flare.
I hope it helps - good luck with your project.
Sharon
Re: Beginner crying for more help
G'day,
Your answers are very helpful and I am chugging along.
Cheers!
CanAussie
Your answers are very helpful and I am chugging along.
Cheers!
CanAussie