#WriteRight 2) FrameMaker & Word: Page Headers/Footers

This is the second in our series of blogs that highlight key differences between Microsoft Word and FrameMaker 11. Simple page headers and footers show a dramatic contrast between product capabilities.

FrameMaker 11 page headers update in real time

A major difference between the two products is the lack of manual updates required to update page header content like “file name” or other types of “automatic” text. You can watch the video below to see this demonstrated in a simple and effective fashion. Knowing that your page headers are always displaying current and accurate data can reduce many proof reading headaches.

Moving beyond the limitations of top/bottom page margins for headers/footers

For years, Word has been limited to placing running headers and footers in a strip within the top or bottom margin of the page. The left and right margin (without resorting to highly complex workarounds) are a virtual “no man’s land” for dynamic content. As demonstrated in the video, FrameMaker 11 is extremely nimble in this area: zones of text which contain intelligent, dynamic content that we associate with page headers and footers may be placed anywhere on the page. In fact, page headers and footers may even be rotated. Although the video demonstrates how to create simple 90° rotated page headers, if you had a reason to do so, your page header and footers could rotate to 45° and still be editable.

Reusing template styles

Once you have achieved the page header style and placement of your dreams, you can easily import page layout and other document style attributes from a template into one or several files in one step. This enables you to have intelligent, dynamic content in page headers across your project created by multiple authors, achieving consistent results.

Seeing is believing: watch the video

Expecting a datasource

Have your own hands-on with FrameMaker 11 and decide how you can use it

Adobe Technical Communication Suite 4 includes FrameMaker 11, which is an excellent authoring solution and also a versatile structured editor for DITA/XML. The possibilities with these new tools are as limitless as the profiles of our existing and potential customers. To discover how you can use FrameMaker, download a trial copy of FrameMaker 11 today. After having your own hands-on, you may decide in favor of the best bargain of all, obtaining a cloud subscription to the entire Tech Comm Suite 4, which includes RoboHelp 10, Captivate 6 and other products in addition to FrameMaker 11.