FrameMaker now makes it easier for the subject matter experts and casual authors to create valid XML documents without the need to know the underlying XML structure. DITA 1.3 and DITA 1.2 structured applications have been enhanced to support the new Simplified XML authoring environment. The new simplified authoring interface provides a form-like easy-to-fill authoring environment.
See the video, Simplified XML authoring.
While authoring, you can use the customized Quick Elements Toolbar to easily insert the most commonly used objects, such as numbered list, image, or a section in your document.
See the video, Enhanced Quick Element toolbar.
Out-of-the-box FrameMaker supports DITA 1.3 and DITA 1.2 topics, however, you can also design your own structured applications to use the Simplified XML authoring environment. You can also customize the appearance of the form fields by updating the associated template.
For more information, see Simplified XML.
See the video, Customized environments for simplified XML authoring.
FrameMaker now provides support for DITA 1.3. This means that now you can create troubleshooting DITA topics. You also get a customized QET for all DITA 1.3 topics in WYSIWYG view.
For more information, see Customization.
See the video, DITA 1.3 Support.
Working with the Structure View is now more intuitive. Enhancements to the way elements are accessed and displayed makes navigating through your document much easier.
In addition to the triangle insertion point displayed in the Structure View, the element bubble containing the insertion point in your document is now highlighted. If your insertion point is inside an element whose parent is collapsed in the Structure View, the parent element is highlighted to indicate the top level location of your insertion point.
The right-click context menu includes the option to locate your current location in the Structure View. You can also use the Ctrl+Shift+L keystroke to locate your element in the Structure View.
When dragging and dropping elements across the Structure View, the destination pointer changes color based on whether the destination is structurally valid or not. You can, however, still choose to place an element at a location that is structurally invalid. If the target location element is collapsed, hover the mouse over the element to expand the target element.
You can choose to expand and collapse all sibling elements or all child elements in the Structure View. The right-click menu for an element includes an item for expanding and collapsing elements.
When scrolling through your document using the mouse or the scroll bars, FrameMaker also scrolls through the contents in the Structure View. The document view and the Structure View are therefore always synchronized. This synchronization is also maintained when you scroll through the Structure View. This feature is turned off by default. You can choose to activate the synchronization from the FrameMaker Preferences dialog.
For more information, see Working with the Structure View.
See the video, Enhanced Structure View.
You can now insert MathML equations in DITA 1.3 document types (topic, task, concept, reference, and troubleshooting). Quick Element Toolbar in Simplified XML view for DITA 1.3 documents has been enhanced to include the MathML container button that allows you to insert MathML equations.
When saving files as PDF documents, MathML objects are now saved with the EPS facet instead of PNG. In addition to making the object text searchable, the EPS facet enhances the clarity of the MathML object.
You can now apply any of the object styles available in your template, to a MathML object. The compose DPI property is not supported for MathML objects. When you open previous versions of FrameMaker files the compose DPI property is not honored.
By default, when you insert a MathML equation in a document, the equation is placed on the next line after the current insertion point. You can use the inline property to place the MathML equation inline with the paragraph text.
The Ambient property allows you to specify that the following MathML styles will be inherited from the styles of the enclosing text:
•Font color, size, and family
•Background color
You can update the inline and ambient properties of a MathML equation that is included from within the object properties dialog. Alternatively, you edit or create an object style with these properties are already set and then apply this object style to a MathML equation.
For more information, see Format a MathML equation.
See the video, Improved support for inline MathML Equations.
The modular nature of the EDD structure makes updating it a time consuming process. The multi-step process involves identifying modular files, running book updates for modular EDDs as well as book updates for all EDDs among other tasks. This multi-step process could take well over 30 hours. FrameMaker now offers a single menu item for updating an EDD and it takes less than 10 minutes for the entire process to complete. Select DITA > Update EDD to update your EDD in a single step.
If the value for the align attribute is not defined in the document or not set through the Attribute editor, then FrameMaker checks for default value defined in the EDD. If a default value is not defined in the EDD, the image is center aligned in the document.
When generating output using the DITA Open Tool kit, you can specify conditional filtering of content using attribute-value pairs in a ditaval file. While the location of the ditaval file could be specified in ditafm.ini, you can now select your ditaval file from the Generate DITA-OT Output dialog
For more information, see Generate output using DITA OT.
Support for DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) has been upgraded from 1.8 to 2.1 library.
For more information, see DITA Open Toolkit.
If a DITA map includes references to child maps, the Show and Hide options in the DITA map will show or hide the topics referenced in the child maps.
For more information, see Display DITA map content.