What’s new

In addition to the default WYSIWYG view, FrameMaker has two new views:

You can use XPath syntax in the XML view to search through XML files for nodes or node sets. Using the XPath pod or XPath toolbar, you can execute XPath queries on:

• current files

• all open files

• all the files in a folder

• or all the files in a ditamap\book

In the XML view, you can use Regular Expression syntax to search through an XML file.

You can run XSL from XML View to create hypertext outputs from XML files. Further, you can create and save reusable transformation scenarios in an XML file. The output is created using Xalan or SAXON parsers that get installed on your machine with FrameMaker. You can choose the parser using which you create the output.

Using the Elements quick catalog, you can select and insert multiple levels of elements. When you select an element in the quick catalog, FrameMaker displays the elements available within the selected element. Select a hierarchy of elements that you want to insert.

Hierarchical element insert in DITA

Banner text in a FrameMaker file instructs you about what to enter in an element. You can control the instructional text you want to display for each of the elements. Banner text is available for container type elements and is controlled using the BannerText element. FrameMaker does not treat banner text as real content in the document. Banner text is included in FM and MIF output, but is not included in XML output.

You can configure the generation of the output from a ditamap. You can generate two configurable, unstructured outputs from a ditamap: Composite Document 11.0 and Book 11.0 with FM components.

For more information on how you can configure and create books from DITAMAPs, see Create ditamap-to-book output

For detailed information on the various options available for configuring the book output using this feature, see FrameMaker INI reference.

FrameMaker now supports round-tripping OLE objects, such as Visio objects and PowerPoint presentations in XML. An XML Processing Instruction is added to FrameMaker to handle the OLE object roundtripping.

You can now assign IDs to multiple instances of an element in one go:

• Instances of an element across a FrameMaker file

• Instances of an element across topicrefs in a ditamap

• Instances of an element in all open files

You can also choose to assign IDs to the instances of the specializations of the selected element.

FrameMaker allows you to paste HTML, MS® Word, MS® Excel, and MS® Outlook content as DITA content. You can also create and configure XSLs for other FrameMaker structured applications. Using XSL, FrameMaker identifies the content while it is in the clipboard and structures it with the most appropriate hierarchy or sequence of elements. Then you can use the smart paste command to paste it to FrameMaker as DITA content.

The error console replaces the Error log, which was there in earlier FrameMaker versions. While opening a document, the new FrameMaker Error console displays structural and other issues in a document, if any. The error console displays location (line\char) of the error and a description of the error. This information helps you locate and understand the error.

Line numbers help the author and reviewer identify particular lines for providing feedback. Line numbers are set at a document level (for .fm and .mif files) and appear before each inserted line in a FrameMaker document.

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Line numbers in an unstructured FrameMaker file

Quick catalogs appear next to the instruction pointer for elements, paragraph formats, character formats, variables, and conditional text when you use the appropriate keyboard shortcut.

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A paragraph formats quick catalog

FrameMaker 11 allows you to insert links to interactively control embedded U3D (Universal 3D), FLV file, and SWF file in the PDF output.

Object styles work similar to Paragraph and Character formats. You can save your frequently used object properties as a style. You can apply these object styles to various objects, such as images, anchored frames, and text frames for consistent size and appearance.

A hotspot is an active area in a document that you can link to different areas of the document, to another document, or to a URL. With hotspots, you can add multiple links in different parts of a graphic without having to divide the graphic into separate parts. For example, in a world map, you can create hotspots in each of the countries linking to more information about that country.

Various 3D-objects’ parts can be linked to textual objects within the same or in other documents. A use for adding 3D object part links can be to link them to a description of each of the parts.

FrameMaker 11 extends the support to any standard content management system (CMS) through providing a set of full-featured APIs\Extendscript. With CMS APIs\ExtendScript, you can implement additional authoring and content management capabilities beyond the ones provided by the CMS. In addition, you can create your own user interface or extend the existing user interface features.

You can add the custom attributes in FrameMaker that exist on your Documentum® or Sharepoint CMS.

FrameMaker Publishing Server can now publish three new formats: kindle, multiscreen, epubs, and native mobile app.