[oXygen-user] Going from FrameMaker to oXygen / FM Structure View vs. oXy Outline View / Feature request

Frank Dissinger frank.dissinger at cgs-oris.com
Mon Jan 9 03:37:08 CST 2023


Hi Alan,


Thank you for your reply. I fully agree with what you wrote about FM's 
Structure View. An excellent tool.


It would be great if oXygen could enhance its Outline View and make it 
work in a similar way. I am especially missing the following features:

  * Allow users to place the cursor between tags, or at the
    beginning/end of the element contents, and indicate the position
  * Display attributes: Toggle between all/all with a value/none (no
    need to waste room on the screen for a separate Attributes window)
  * Expand/collapse complete tree of elements or attributes in one go
    (Shift-click)
  * Element content should not be repeated for empty wrapping elements,
    this is confusing (show it only once)
    For exmaple, for <li><p>Text..., the "Text" is shown both for <li>
    and <p>. It should only be shown for <p>.

Can I add this as feature request?


I have now switched to the oXygen Users Mailing List and will post any 
further oXygen-related issues there.


Regards,


Frank


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Am 04.01.2023 um 22:05 schrieb Alan Houser:
> Chiming in a bit late here. Longtime structured FrameMaker and oXygen 
> user...
>
> *Frank mentions the FrameMaker structure view. IMO, this is the best 
> and most distinctive part of the FrameMaker structured authoring 
> interface. Easy access to any part of the document. Expand/collapse at 
> any level of the document hierarchy; locally or globally (e.g. 
> expand/collapse "this" section; expand/collapse all sections). Full 
> navigation capabilities. Visual feedback (and shortcut control) over 
> cursor location -- beginning, middle, or end of an element. 
> Configurable and interactive attribute display.*
> *
> *
> *While most XML editors provide some sort of outline view, I've never 
> seen one as full-featured and useful as the FrameMaker structure view.*
>
> I occasionally use the oXygen Outline View for quick navigation in 
> larger XML documents. And the "folding" feature in the edit window to 
> expand/collapse content. But these don't fully replace what one can do 
> with the FrameMaker structure view.
>
> I think you will find that oXygen provides more and different features 
> than Structured FrameMaker, many of which you will come to appreciate. 
> I suggest (as you are doing) learning how to be most productive with 
> the oXygen features and workflow. And be prepared to miss the 
> FrameMaker structure view. 🙁
>
> -Alan
> -- 
> Alan Houser
> Group Wellesley, Inc.
> Consultant and Trainer, Technical Publishing
> arh on Twitter
> 412-450-0532
>
>
>
>> On Dec 8, 2022, at 10:37 AM, Frank Dissinger 
>> <frank.dissinger at cgs-oris.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>>     Chris
>>     Radu
>>     Stefan
>>     Thomas
>>     Yves
>>
>> for your replies, this valuable information and for offering me your 
>> help.
>>
>> I have already made some initial progress. I have successfully 
>> created a custom framework with my own CSS file and are getting my 
>> topic editor window panel look more and more the way I like (using 
>> the 'print-ready' display style).
>>
>> I'll try to dig a bit deeper into this matter and will collect the 
>> questions and issues as I get on with this. I'll then come back to you.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Frank
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Am 06.12.2022 um 17:42 schrieb Frank Dissinger:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Are there any passionate long-term structured FrameMaker users who 
>>> have changed to oXygen as a DITA editor? Has anybody tried to set up 
>>> the oXygen authoring environment as close as possible to 
>>> FrameMaker's WYSIWYG view? Or at least in a way that makes the 
>>> switch as painless as possible for a FrameMaker user?
>>>
>>> I've been using FrameMaker V11+DITA-FMx as a DITA editor for many 
>>> years -- until recently also as a PDF transformation engine, which I 
>>> have now replaced with MiramoPDF. I have used oXygen for a few years 
>>> only and mostly as a transformation engine. With FM I am stuck with 
>>> an old DITA implementation and the DITA-FMx plug-in is not developed 
>>> any further. This is why I would like to use oXygen as a DITA editor 
>>> instead. But I find it very hard to make the switch: The way DITA 
>>> maps, topics, tags, structures... are presented is so different and 
>>> I haven't the time to learn oXygen properly and in full detail. It's 
>>> such a powerful tool with tons of features. So I thought there may 
>>> be someone who can help me getting started -- at least with setting 
>>> up the user interface and authoring environment.
>>>
>>> A few examples of things I am struggling with right away when I look 
>>> at how oXygen presents my DITA files:
>>>
>>>   * It seems that a DITA map loads all the referenced submaps and
>>>     displays all of these maps in a single window panel (as if this
>>>     was a single file). In FM I see only the references and open the
>>>     submaps as separate files by double-clicking on them.
>>>   * I feel lost in these maps. There are lots of big fonts, frames,
>>>     colored backgrounds, icons... Can I customize the appearance?
>>>     For example, by defining CSS-like styles for the DITA elements
>>>     displayed on the screen?
>>>   * The Outline view is a bit similar to FM's Structure View. But I
>>>     am used to setting the cursor into the Structure View to
>>>     precisely define the point where to insert an element. This does
>>>     not work in oXygen.
>>>   * I'd like to see text and images without any tags in one window
>>>     panel and the DITA structure with elements and attributes in a
>>>     separate panel. I know I can switch off tags and use the Outline
>>>     view, but I am not sure if this really gives me full control
>>>     over everything...
>>>   * How does oXygen visualize conditionalized content
>>>     (included/excluded via a ditaval file)?
>>>   * Can I define a fixed page size in oXygen? I'd like to set a page
>>>     width (height is not important) to make sure that images fit on
>>>     the page and that table columns are not too narrow (in PDF
>>>     deliverables). Setting an image resolution is also important.
>>>   * ...
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Frank
>> --
>> *Frank Dissinger*
>> Documentation Manager
>> ....................................................................
>> *CGS Publishing Technologies International GmbH*
>> *Email*frank.dissinger at cgs-oris.com|*Web*www.cgs-oris.com 
>> <http://www.cgs-oris.com/>
>> *Address*Kettelerstr. 24 | D-63512 Hainburg | Germany
>> *Phone*+49 6182 9626-27 |*Fax*+49 6182 9626-99
>> *Commercial register*Offenbach, HRB no. 21495
>> *Managing directors*Bernd Rückert, Christoph Thommessen
>>
>> https://www.cgs-oris.com/Signatur.png <https://www.cgs-oris.com/signatur>
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-- 

*Frank Dissinger*

Documentation Manager

....................................................................

*CGS Publishing Technologies International GmbH*

*Email *frank.dissinger at cgs-oris.com | *Web* www.cgs-oris.com 
<http://www.cgs-oris.com/>

*Address* Kettelerstr. 24 | D-63512 Hainburg | Germany

*Phone* +49 6182 9626-27 | *Fax* +49 6182 9626-99

*Commercial register* Offenbach, HRB no. 21495

*Managing directors* Bernd Rückert, Christoph Thommessen


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