Reduce multilingual DTP and translation costs with

FrameMaker 9 and DITA

October 12, 2010Highlights of a case study by

Globalization Partners Internationalwww.globalizationpartners.com

GPI Presentors

• Maxwell Hoffmann:Director Document Globalization– Former FrameMaker product manager– 22 years of FM experience, 10 years XML, 15 years

in translation industry– One of “25 Most Influential Content Strategists”

for 2010 from LAVACON and mindshare.com– E-mail: mhoffmanN@globalizationpartners.com

GPI Presentors

• Oana Diaconu: Senior Desktop Publishing Specialist– 7+ Years of experience in FrameMaker and Adobe

applications– Numerous complex, high-page count projects– Team Lead, published multiple language versions

of projects >1000 pages– E-mail: odiaconu@globalizationpartners.com

Agenda

• FrameMaker benefits specific to this case• Overview of project case study, challenges and

solution• FrameMaker 9/DITA solution DEMO highlights:

– single template for 27 languages– automated publishing through processing instructions– chapters saved in native XML format– element attributes for overrides – how to update EDD/Structured template

Key FrameMaker 9 Benefits

• Redesigned GUI (graphical user interface):– Collapsible pods display hidden metadata

• Cross References (xrefs), Markers (Index), Ref’d graphics

• Custom workspaces• Guided editing & dynamic

element catalog

Key FrameMaker 9 Benefits

• DITA support includes processing instructions (PI) that allow external files to automate formatting (e.g. headers/footers)

• Regular FM docs can be quickly transformed into a structured template for DITA

• Average users can update structured application and template

Case Study: The customer

• “MMDM” (Major Medical Device Manufacturer)• Several divisions with Tech Pubs/Manuals:

– Most use FrameMaker– Different styles, different versions

• Author and publish dozens of complex, high page count multilingual manuals annually (up to 30 languages)

Case Study: The projects

• Project A: unstructured FM 7.2 converted to structured FM9 with DITA/XML (*.fm files)– 214 page operations manual, >75 Tables, >200 Referenced Graphics,

100 external cross references (xrefs)

• Project B: Quark converted to structuredFM9 with DITA/XML (*.xml files)– Client converted the “new” FM files

to structured DITA themselves– GPI used “new” solution, chapters saved to XML, remote template

automated “everything”

Traditional vs. new FM workflowProject A: “traditional” model of

Docs saved as binary structured FM files with formatting w/in FM files

Project B: “new” model of

Structured FM book has docs saved as XML files with formatting drawn from external files

The Solution

• One template able to control 27 languages– Reduce step of choosing template for import

• One language attribute updates H/F, para prefixes, fonts and hanging indents

• Paragraph Designer format overrides are washed away on save because chapters saved to XML– Publishers must deliberately specify limited overrides via

element attributes

THE DEMO

• Brief overview of how Quark files were converted to structured DITA FM

• Some potential problems with “traditional” structured FM binary *.fm model

• “Native” DITA file solution in FrameMaker• New way to make format overrides• How template/EDD is updated/expanded

Traditional FM template solutions for multiple languages

One template with multiple, language-specific prefixed-paragraphs mapped to elements

orTranslated FrameMakerDocument

ES

FR

DE

IT

SV

PT

KO

CN

27 language specific templates

… both solutions lead to high maintenance with multiple, “look alike” formats

EDD Format Rules automate DTP w/o language-specific tags

One set of paragraph styles get modified on language basis to change prefixes, indents, fonts, etc.

Hungarian text for “Note:”

Indent is modified on language basis for text expansion

Paragraphs used by new EDD:Lang Attributes controls para prefixes

Eliminated use of 189 language-specific paragraph formats

Why are FrameMaker templates faster to develop…

• Traditional XSLT-FO style sheets require creation of formatting “from scratch” for every element– About 10x longer than FrameMaker model

• Every unstructured FM document has a “template”;styles that can be converted to a structured template

• Tech writers, DTP staff, etc. with average FM skill can learn to create the template and EDD

Sample of return on investment (ROI)Component hours No. of Languages Hours Saved

1 round of proofing 24 27 3 days

No external cross references to fix

0.75 27 20.25

Prep and convert XML to binary *.fm and test

1.25 27 33.75

No inconsistent formats between chapters to match or correct

3 27 81

• Project time was reduced 25% from 8 weeks to 6 weeks (holidays!)

• Existing unstructured Translation Memory (TM) produced high “exact matches” and obtained similar word counts (see our blogs)

• Apply your own company’s metrics for loaded costs for fulltime employees or contractors and determine how much money you would save

Quote from customer (case study)

GPI’s migration of the document assets into DITA reduced overall project costs by nearly 50%, according to the tech pubs manager. “The amazing thing is that we haven’t even installed our CMS system yet, which will lead to further savings.”

Why you should be excitedabout FrameMaker 9?

• GUI allows single window into all hidden metadata• Reduced learning curve for publishers;

especially low learning curve for FM users from older versions

• Complete DITA solution• Swift development time, especially if

you already have FM documents

Why you should be excitedFrameMaker 9?

• Self-sufficiency: not dependent on one DITA “guru”– Development time and consulting costs

(if any) considerably lower than competitive products(about 15 - 30% of FM competitors )

– Cross training across departments ensures broad “talent pool” to update the application

Why customer chose FrameMaker

• FM 9 has complete DITA solution, with the most accessible user interface

• We could reuse existing formatting with quick conversion into structured templates– Avoid weeks/months of XSLT style sheet development

• Structure view and element catalog will only display “approved” elements to choose

• Simple tools and user interface reduce consulting and development time

Why customer chose GPI

• Client wanted DITA solution optimized for translation and CMS

• Extensive FrameMaker expertise• Extensive experience with DITA/XML• GPI Engineering proved that client would not

lose benefit of existing Translation Memory (TM) moving to DITA file format

About Globalization Partners International (GPI)

GPI helps companies communicate and conduct business in any language and in any locale. We do this by providing an array of globalization services including:

Translation and Copy Writing Multilingual Desktop PublishingMultilingual Web Design/Development Software LocalizationWebsite Localization InterpretationGlobal Search Engine Optimization Globalization Consulting

GPI was founded by a management team with over 20 years experience in language and technology professions. Our track record for successfully completing globalization projects is unparalleled, as demonstrated by our growing list of repeat client references spanning 19 business sectors. At GPI all of our service offerings have documented Quality Assurance procedures which govern their completion and our performance.

Other resources• Case study: much more technical detail and complete

background on the project http://bit.ly/MMDM2

• GPI FrameMaker blogs: http://bit.ly/gpiblog– 10 FrameMaker mistakes in translated docs

http://bit.ly/gpifm1 and http://bit.ly/gpifm2– Why Upgrade to FrameMaker 9.0 for Multilingual DTP?

http://bit.ly/gpiFMup

Follow us on TWITTER

Other resources -- continuedWatch Videos on Adobe TV

• URL links to other Adobe FrameMaker videos– FrameMaker 9 User Interface

http://bit.ly/gpifmgui – Structured FrameMaker conversion tables (Word to FM)

http://bit.ly/gpifmCTs – Structured FrameMaker 101

http://bit.ly/gpiFMd101

FYI: Definitions

• XML: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification[4] produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards

• DITA: Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering information. Main applications have so far been in tech pubs, DITA is also used for other types of documents such as policies and procedures.

• XML DTD: The purpose of a DTD is to define the structure of an XML document. It defines the structure with a list of legal elements:<!DOCTYPE note[<!ELEMENT note (to,from,heading,body)><!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)><!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)><!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)><!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)>]>

FYI: Definitions

• EDD: Proprietary FrameMaker file that contains structure of DTD and element formatting rules. EDD is imported into the structured template– EDD is contained in the structured template:

topic.template.fm– Most publishers will never see the EDD; designated

“template owner” updates this file

FYI: Definitions

• Element: can be container or object. DITA specifies three basic topic types: Task, Concept and Reference. Each of the three basic topic types is a specialization of a generic Topic type, which contains a title element, a prolog element for metadata, and a body element. The body element contains paragraph, table, and list elements, similar to HTML.

• Attribute: Most of the attributes of an element are name-value pairs, separated by "=" and written within the start tag of an element after the element's name. Customer’s attributes are also used to specify language, and also for format overrides, like page breaks and pointsize changes

Summary, Q & A

Contact Information

• Globalization Partners Internationalwww.globalizationpartners.com

• Follow us on Twitter:http://twitter.com/GPITranslates

• FRAMEMAKER@globalizationpartners.comToll Free: +1 866-272-5874