We teach you how to get your work done in FrameMaker. We have used FrameMaker since 1992 and structured FrameMaker since 1997; we have already learned how to use FrameMaker most effectively to get documents written and we pass that knowledge on to you.

We teach FrameMaker from a production standpoint, that is, how to use FrameMaker in a real-world document production environment. There is a tremendous difference between writing one or two-page letters and producing a 500-page user’s manual or technical journal; we teach you how to use the tools in FrameMaker from the standpoint of writing long, technical documents.

Five things every FrameMaker user should know

Turn on Borders
Turn on Text Symbols
Turn off Rulers
Turn off QuickAccess Bar
Turn off Formatting Bar

Three things every structured FrameMaker user should know

Open Structure View
Open Element Catalog (Click Options: turn on Valid Elements for Working Start to Finish)
Turn on Element Boundaries

What NOT to do with FrameMaker to save hours, days, even weeks of time now and later on

Beyond how to use tools, none of the training manuals we’ve seen for FrameMaker talk about what you shouldn’t do: create format overrides. For structured FrameMaker, you should avoid: applying Paratags to Elements.

How to use the undocumented levels of Undo

Undo is a wonderful tool, but it only undoes the last action. There are two more levels of undo that can save you many hours of frustration when you need to recover from a major mistake. (Backup files and Revert to Last Saved)

Unleash the true power of FrameMaker as a single-source, multiple-output authoring environment

FrameMaker can save to all the following formats: PDF, text, HTML, well-formed XML, PostScript, RTF/Word, WordPerfect. In addition, structured FrameMaker can save to SGML and valid and well-formed XML.

The undocumented power of Cross-References

Most users only use cross-references to point readers to another part of their document. But cross-references can be used for many more purposes and can save you hours of retyping the same text in multiple locations. (Using <$paratext> to reuse text)

Practice production tricks to save time

As with any training session, our trainers give lots of tricks about FrameMaker/structured FrameMaker. We go beyond this; our trainers have spent years using FrameMaker to produce long technical documents for many companies. Our trainers show you how to use these tricks to get your work done more quickly.

How to speed up document creation

After you have become familiar with FrameMaker, there are many ways to accomplish any given task. Our trainers give you the benefit of their experience gained from solving problems like those you face in your documents; depending on the problem, certain tools work better than others. We can show you which solutions to use in different situations.

What to avoid when preparing a document for conversion to HTML/XML/SGML

Most of the FrameMaker manual is geared to instructing how to use a given tool rather than how to accomplish a given task. When you are creating a single-source document in FrameMaker that will also be converted to multiple outputs, there are some things that the manual doesn’t talk about. (Avoid overrides as a rule, but don’t put Markers in the middle of words. Don’t put text frames in graphics. For structured FrameMaker, avoid multiple flows.)

How to index documents faster and easier

Creating an Index in FrameMaker is relatively painless, but we can show you tricks to make it go faster and make it easier to review and revise down the road. (Cutting and pasting markers. Padding separators.)

Which tools can cause you more trouble than they are worth

When FrameMaker attempted to create a more "user-friendly" interface, they inadvertently gave users two easy means to wreak havoc in their documents without even knowing it. (QuickAccess bar and Formatting bar)

Use Paragraph Formats to automatically insert graphics

If you have to repeatedly insert graphics for a Note, a Caution, or a Warning in a document, even the easiest to use tools are still manual. We can teach you an automatic method to insert graphics every time you create a particular type of paragraph format. (Frame Above/Below)

Learn how Paragraph formats can save you from having to type repetitive text

How many times have you typed the same text at the beginning of a paragraph in a document? We can show you a simple solution that can save you hours of time during the creation phase as well as during the editing phase.

Avoid the pitfalls of Character Formats

Character Formats are wonderful but it is too easy to corrupt the definition. We teach you how to ensure that your definitions are changed only when and how you want them to be changed. (Get the correct definition before modifying it)

Learn editing tricks (even Adobe doesn’t know!)

Delete extra spaces between words while editing.

Problem solving as part of the class

Part of our training curriculum has been to turn the last half of the last day of a class into a question and answer session where the trainer encourages students to bring real-world problems to the class so that the class, as a group, can solve the problems. If the class can’t solve them, then the trainer points out potential solutions; this also gives other students ideas of how to solve their problems in FrameMaker.

Questions you should ask a potential FrameMaker trainer

What experience do you have personally solving problems with documents?

If your prospective trainer doesn’t actually solve problems as part of his or her work, he or she won’t be able to explain reasons for doing certain things in FrameMaker beyond what he or she has been told by the company’s consultants.

Do you only conduct trainings or are you also a consultant?

We have found that users get the most out of a training when they can ask questions about their particular documentation problems. We have found that the best way to ensure our trainers can solve users’ FrameMaker problems is to solve them everyday as consultants! If your prospective training provider can’t or won’t give you solutions to your real-world problems, maybe you should consider another trainer.

Do you use FrameMaker regularly?

Some trainers don’t actually use the software on which they train others. They sit through a "train the trainer" session, make notes about the proper things to say at a given point in the class, but don’t go beyond this to actually work with the software. How can you expect to learn a complex software tool such as FrameMaker or structured FrameMaker when the person teaching you doesn’t know the product beyond what is in the training material? How can someone who has only a basic understanding of the product explain a complex concept to you other than the way it is explained in the manual?

Free "Support" after training

To every student who graduates from a training course that we conduct, we offer free help to students if they get stuck. This is intended as a goodwill effort to help students through problems until they become more familiar with FrameMaker.

The help given is mostly helping users figure out where they have gone wrong and how to get them back on track. This is not intended to be free consultation time. Overuse of this free support is not a problem because it is self-correcting; once students become familiar with FrameMaker, they don’t need this kind of help. Exceptions to this are common formatting problems that have a wide audience; for these questions we provide an extensive solution set and post it on our website.

Free support has these limitations:

Free support is limited to simple questions via e-mail or phone that take less than 5 minutes to explain.
If the time to answer a question goes beyond 5 minutes, then it becomes a billable Phone Consultation.
If more than 5 questions are asked in a calendar quarter, the time is aggregated and becomes billable Phone Consultation.

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