TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> I'm creating PDF files with Acrobat 4.0 and FrameMaker.
> Is there any feature for creating popups? I'm thinking of
> trying the Notes/Alert feature. Am I on the right track?
The Alert hypertext command is translated to a closed Acrobat note,
with no control over properties.
(see http://www.microtype.com/resources/fm5ht.pdf for a list of
all FrameMaker hypertext and their conversion to Acrobat features).
If you are interested in "real" pop-ups
(see http://www.microtype.com/showcase/LookGlas.pdf for an example),
these can be accomplished through Acrobat form fields: one field
is set to be hidden, another field is set to display the hidden
when you enter it and hide it again when you exit the active area.
Such features can be inserted in FrameMaker files - through pdfmark
commands - so that they are automatically reproduced each time you
convert your FrameMaker files to Acrobat.
While pdfmark commands can be inserted in FrameMaker using a text
frame tagged as "PostScript Code", this mechanism is problematic
when you have many text frames on the same page, possibly placed
one on top of the other or overlapping. It is likewise problematic
in Acrobat Exchange.
It might be time-consuming to practically impossible to access a
specific frame to modify its contents or adjust it size/position.
If you open the above-mentioned example in Acrobat/Exchange and
activate the Form tool, you will see what I mean.
With my FrameMaker-to-Acrobat TimeSavers and the techniques taught
in the Advanced Techniques course your are able to insert the
pop-ups using regular hypertext markers. The naming, sizing and
location of the activating fields are automatically set.
