Hi Kris,

Thank you for your reply.

I fully agree with the requirements you describe.

In FrameMaker I was used to work in WYSIWYG view with no tags displayed. The Structure View and the formatting styles in the Editor window gave me enough information about the DITA tags and structure. I used the Elements window to insert or wrap elements and edited Attributes using the Structure View or a DITA-FMx dialog.

When I now view my DITA topics in oXygen I would like to see them in a similar way just because otherwise I wouldn't be sure if it is really the same document. Sounds strange perhaps, but it is indeed extremely confusing to me to see something that seems to be different. Perhaps after some time, when I am conversant with oXygen, I may have more confidence in other views...

So in oXygen I prefer the "No tags" view. With this there are still lots of icons (for opening link targets, expand/collapse sections...) and additional text ("Short description", "Result", ...) which I would prefer to hide. Most of this can be done using the "Print-ready" style and lots of CSS code which I take from the CSS Inspector window and adapt.

However, this means that I would have to rely on the Outline view, the Attributes window and the breadcrumbs to see the structure. These tools do not give me the same information, convenience and capabilities that I am used in FrameMaker. I therefore thought it could be a workaround to quickly toggle my preferred view ("Print ready") and "Full tags" (or "Full tags with attributs") using a keyboard shortcut. However, there are no shortcuts for styles.

But I discovered that you can define keyboard shortcuts for "No tags", "Full tags", etc. And Radu gave me CSS code that creates a button in every topic that toggles between "No tags" and the last tags view chosen for the topic. I was able to get rid of some texts like "Short description" (which I indicate using a color) and the like using some more CSS code. The extra icons are still there, but they do not take up much room so I can live with them (and they are usful).

Best regards,

Frank

Hi, Frank.

 

I have not used FrameMaker for almost two decades, so I cannot be of much help in your quest to “set up the Author mode in a way which comes close to what I was used in FrameMaker”. Whether or not you can do that, I truly don’t know.

 

It might be the case that it would be helpful for you to state your needs as functional requirements – While Oxygen might not offer the same authoring nuances/interface as FrameMaker, if it can be done in XML, Oxygen offers a way to do it!

 

For example, here are the requirements that I inferred from your e-mail:

 

• As an author, I want to have a WYSIWYG interface that looks similar to how content is rendered for my company. (Easy to do with CSS and an Oxygen framework.)
• As an author, I want to easily navigate in a lengthy XML document. (This is what the Outline view is optimized for, to enable you to locate a specific element rapidly.)
• As an author, I want to have a WYSIWYG view where I can easily view the underlying structure, both elements and attributes. (For me, here is where I use the authoring view with full tags and attributes turned on.)

 

Some of this, of course, might depend on what you mean by WYSWYG … Does WYSIWYG encompass the Oxygen Author view with “full tags and attributes”? Or are you primarily interested in the “no tags” view? If the latter, you can view the structure by looking at the breadcrumbs that are displayed at the top of the window, under the topic title, and the attributes by keeping the “Attributes” view open.

 

I think all Oxygen users have slightly different preferences, and they certainly can also be affected by whether one has an external monitor or is simply working within the confines of a small laptop or tablet screen.

 

Change is hard. Inevitably, when you switch tools, I think you run into a need to shift at least a little of your habits and preferences.

 

Best,

Kris

 

Kristen James Eberlein
Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Owner, Eberlein Consulting LLC
kris@eberleinconsulting.com

Skype: kriseberlein; voice: +1 (919) 622-1501

 

From: oXygen-user <oxygen-user-bounces@oxygenxml.com> On Behalf Of Frank Dissinger
Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2023 12:36 PM
To: Oxygen User Mailing List <oxygen-user@oxygenxml.com>
Subject: [oXygen-user] Going from FrameMaker to oXygen -- Print-ready/Outline view issues

 

Hi all,

 

This is my first posting to this list.

 

I am in the process of switching from FrameMaker V11 + DITA-FMx to oXygen V25 as my DITA editing tool. I have been using oXyen for quite a while as a transformation engine, but not as an editor. So in this respect I am still at the bottom of the learning curve.

 

I'd like to set up the Author mode in a way which comes close to what I was used in FrameMaker. I mainly worked in WYSIWYG view and with the Structure View, Elements and Attributes windows.

 

I have spent some effort on making oXygen's "Print-ready" view for the Editor window (in Author mode) look as WYSIWYG-ish as possible, with custom CSS styles that give me visual clues to the underlying XML structure. I then thought that I could use oXygen's Outline view in a similar way as FM's Structure View, but I feel quite lost in this window.

• It does not allow me to position the cursor between the elements
• It shows only a single attribute, not all attributes that are set
• It shows only the attribute value, not the name
• ...

I therefore find it hard to see the XML structure in the Outline view and to place the cursor precisely when I want to insert new elements.

 

So I thought maybe I could perhaps quickly toggle the "Print-ready" style on and off to see the tags and better find the correct cursor position. Can I create a keyboard shortcut for doing this?

 

Thank you.

 

Regards,

 

Frank

 

Frank Dissinger

Documentation Manager

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

CGS Publishing Technologies International GmbH

Email frank.dissinger@cgs-oris.com | Web 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