Properly "Styled" Word and PDF Output with FLPGLs?

[Bibba1bro123]

I need to generate Word (RTF) and PDF deliverables for several projects. I want to do this without having to manually "clean them up" afterward. I have tried the FLPGL option a couple of times now but have not had any luck. Has anyone had any success with generate nice, clean, finished output with FLPGLs? If so, how are you doing it? I have the sample FLPGL files, but it would be helpful if I could see the beginning (that is, the FLPGL) and a sample of the end result it generates (Word or PDF). Can anyone point me to any examples like this?

Thank You,
Ray

[bobmoon]

I am generating PDF output from Flare using Page Layouts, with little or no clean up required. I also have set up a Word output target that I can generate for draft and reviewer output, but have found that Word output from Flare just has too many little issues, and you can't generate truly "clean" output.

We deliver PDFs as the final product, so all I really need are clean PDFs at the end of the day. The only clean up that is required in my PDF output is to tweak the PDF bookmarks and change some settings for how the PDF behaves when opened. (We're still using V4, I think some of that may be improved in v5.) There are some small formatting issues that I'm willing to accept, especially since online help is our primary delivery method.

What kind of issues are you having? Perhaps you can compile and post a list here? You will have a difficult time if you really need Word output that exactly matches your existing Word deliverables, or that exactly matches the PDF output. Word just does things in its own quirky way, and MadCap has not been able to make "flawless" Word output.

Bob

[Bibba1bro123]

Bobmoon,

Thanks for the info. This is great. I also use PDF as the final output. However, I cannot figure out the page layout editor in Flare. It generates the specified PDF, but it does so in plain vanilla (no formatting). Are you using a standard page template or one you built? If it's one you built, how did you do it?

Thank You,
Ray

[KevinDAmery]

What kind of formatting are you talking about here? Most types of formatting (fonts, colours, line spacing, margins and padding, etc.) are handled in the CSS, not in the page layout. The page layout is more for handling headers and footers, differences between left and right pages, text boxes for side bars, that sort of thing.

[Bibba1bro123]

I am talking about automatically applying a cover page, specifying heading levels, etc. My source files are in DITA, and I am transforming them to XHTML using the DITA-OT. I then use the XHTML as my input for Flare to generate WebHelp and, planned, PDF.

Ray

[KevinDAmery]

I think applying a cover page is outside of the scope of page layouts: you can define the first page of a chapter, since that is something that will come up automatically, but since you should only ever need one cover page per doc I think this is something that you would add to the TOC as a unique item rather than having it be automatically generated.

Heading behaviour (fonts, size, indents, numbering, whether or not they get picked up by the print TOC, etc.) are all controlled in the stylesheet, not in the page layout.

HTH