RE: FrameMaker Graphics

Subject: RE: FrameMaker Graphics
From: "Brierley, Sean" <Sean -dot- Brierley -at- ipc -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:17:03 -0400

There's an article on the techwr-l Website about screen captures, called
Screen Captures 102.pdf. The site has changed, however, and I can no
longer find it. Perhaps if you spend a while searching ....

-----Original Message-----
From:
techwr-l-bounces+sean -dot- brierley=ipc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sean -dot- brierley=ipc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Ami WRIGHT

<snip>

* Graphics should be linked, not embedded

I agree.

* Format should be GIF

I disagree. GIF is fine, but PNG works well, also, though it has the
tendency to add a bunch of defined colors to FrameMaker's Color
definition list. BMP and TIFF work well, but they will always be
converted by WWP for HTML-based output, which is not an issue if you use
callouts in FrameMaker.

* We don't need to save the Paint Shop Pro files after
the GIF is created

Don't know why it would hurt. Don't see why this matters.

* DPI should be 72

This is irrelevant. Make the dialog box as small as you can before you
take the screen capture. Import into FrameMaker. Adjust the resolution
in FrameMaker to fit your text column, using a dpi setting in FM and NOT
the % or any other method. Any graphic displayed in HTML will ignore the
resolution setting anyway and just display the full complement of
pixels. Thus, if you have to set a ppi of 150 to make the graphic fit in
FrameMaker, you should expect the same graphic to look much large in the
HTML because resolution is ignored. (Note, you can use WWP to size
graphics, but setting up the graphics macro, but applying different
settings to different graphics, rather than one setting to all, is not
easily doable in versions before WWP 8 and is accomplished using markers
thereafter.)

* Graphics should be in a standard subdirectory for
each document (meaning all the graphics for a document go in a
sub-directory of the FrameMaker files, and the subdirectory should
always have the same name for every
document)

I agree with that.

* The filenames for graphics do not need to reflect the
language (same filename regardless of the language, but they'll be in
different directories)

I don't understand.

* Try to use short names, to avoid having them munged
if we need to zip everything

I would use short names to keep your sanity. I always strive for 8
alphanumeric characters, with no spaces or special characters.

One thing that I don't really like is that the graphics
always need to be resized to make them small enough to fit the page. I
tried resizing in Paint Shop Pro, but then the screen shots were
unreadable. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to resolve that
problem? Do I need to just resign myself to resizing in FrameMaker every
time I place a screen shot?

Thanks,
-Ami


Make the dialog box as small as possible before you make the screen
capture. Import the screen capture into FrameMaker by reference. Adjust
the dpi in FrameMaker using a specific dpi rather than a % or dragging,
say 120 or 150dpi. Am not sure how you are resizing in PSP, but any way
except changing the resolution will destroy data and therefore the
quality of the image.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ami Wright
"Technical" tech writer
American with international experience
<snip>

-----------------------------------------------------------------

You dated an Englishman? <grin>

Cheers,

Sean
"Old and cranky" tech writer
British and American with international experience


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Follow-Ups:

References:
FrameMaker Graphics: From: Ami WRIGHT

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