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Contents

• Background
• The Significance of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• The Significance of Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
• The Benefits of Adding FrameMaker as a Production Tool
• The Advantages of Dreamweaver as an HTML Editor
• The Advantages of Acrobat for Converting Documents to Web
• Conclusions
• References

Annually, we produce over 600 brochures, guidebooks, and training manuals. We are in the process of adopting Office XP for its general word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet applications. The technical writers on staff have independently produced over 30 web pages, however the pages lack an overall theme or style.

Before we proceed, it is time to set some standards. This document describes additional software options that may result in greater operational efficiencies and a superior professional look for our publications, both print and electronic.

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Short for Cascading Style Sheets, CSS is a feature added to HTML that gives both Web site developers and users more control over how Web pages are displayed. With CSS, designers and users can create style sheets that define how different elements on the page, such as headers and links, appear. These style sheets can then be applied to any Web page. The term cascading means that multiple style sheets can be applied to the same Web page.

HTML was intended to mark up only a Web page's structure and not how it displayed on the screen. For the appearance of Web pages, CSS is a complementary markup system designed to make it easy to define a page's appearance without affecting its HTML structure.

Cascading Style Sheets work like templates: the style for a particular HTML element is defined once, and then it can be used repeatedly on any number of Web pages. To change how an element looks, only the style needs to be changed; the element automatically changes wherever it appears. Before CSS, each element had to be changed individually, each time it appeared. Like traditional text style sheets, CSS allows Web designers to create more consistent pages and Web sites quickly.

Styles can be defined within an HTML document or in an external file attached to the HTML document. As an external file, a single style sheet can affect multiple pages--even a whole site. Style sheets make page-wide or site-wide changes much easier to implement. (Rotter and Kahn)

Cascading Style Sheets also include positioning, which opens up a new level of control over Web page layout. Instead of building tables to arrange objects, each object can be placed exactly on the page using either absolute or relative positioning. Objects can be layered and entire objects can be made visible or invisible.

See a tutorial "Get Started With Cascading Style Sheets" at CNET Builder.com.

Benefits

• CSS is easy to learn and use.
• CSS contributes to consistent page and site appearance.
• CSS makes page and site changes easier to implement.

Drawbacks

• The CSS specification is still evolving and no current Web browsers completely support it. For browser compatibility, Browser Style Compatibility Charts are available from WebReview.com. (Meyer)
• It will take some time and research to develop standard style sheets for our documents and Web pages.

Cost

There is no direct expense. CSS is easy to learn for writers who already know HTML.

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Dynamic HTML (DHTML) refers to HTML extensions that enable user interaction with Web pages without sending requests to the Web server. DHTML can be used to produce scripts to animate text, annotate images, build tabbed panels, add a watermark to Web pages, produce moving images--anything from simple rollovers to complex tree menus.

Benefits

• DHTML takes advantage of CSS; DHTML is easier to implement if the structure and behavior of Web pages is separated from the content.
• DHMTL produces interactive Web sites that don't require a great deal of bandwidth to entertain and add functionality for the user.
• If a user does not have a DHTML-compatible browser (older versions), the page content can be presented statically, with no loss of information.

Drawbacks

Netscape and Microsoft implement DHTML differently. Due to the lack of standardization, DHTML can be troublesome and can create problems unless it is written to take advantage of the specifications both browsers share.

• Microsoft's Dynamic HTML Overview
• Netscape's Dynamic HTML Developer Central
• Site Experts.com's Cross-Browser DHTML

Cost

There is no direct expense. DHTML is easy to learn for writers who already know JavaScript and are familiar with CSS. Some training may be desirable.

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Adobe bills FrameMaker as, "The multichannel technical publishing solution for print and Web." FrameMaker software provides a "comprehensive solution for publishing long, content-rich documents" to the Web, CD-ROM, or print. (Adobe "Adobe FrameMaker") The program offers book-wide commands, automatic numbering, indexing, cross-referencing, and table of contents generation. This version also supports creation of structured PDF files.

Quadralay's WebWorks Publisher, which comes with FrameMaker, allows FrameMaker to produce sophisticated Web documents. WebWorks can generate HTML, Dynamic HTML, and XML files. Internal paragraph and character styles can be mapped to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) with a simple point-and-click operation. WebWorks also provides the ability to create individual HTML pages from a single, complex FrameMaker document. A Web template can be used as a "master page" to control the layout of Web pages. Using any full-featured editor, graphics and interactive elements can be added to create impressive Web documents.

Most of FrameMaker's current users are technical documentation specialists. According to ZDNet reviewer Luisa Simone, FrameMaker is "the authoring tool of choice for long, structured print documents." ("Adobe FrameMaker 6.0")

For additional information and reviews, visit the manufacturer's website Adobe FrameMaker.

Benefits

• FrameMaker is excellent for long document production. Microsoft Word is an excellent word-processing application, but pales in comparison to FrameMaker when faced with producing long documents. Each application is an independent tool and FrameMaker should not replace Word. (Ragen)
• FrameMaker provides excellent multilingual support.
• Contrary to reports that appeared in the Robert X. Cringley column in the February 2, 2001 issue of InfoWorld, Adobe is completely committed to developing and supporting the FrameMaker product. (Adobe "FrameMaker is Alive and Well at Adobe")

Drawbacks

• FrameMaker is complicated to learn.
• Some of FrameMaker's features and controls are difficult to find. (Weibel)

Cost

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Dreamweaver is an easy-to-use professional visual Web editor. It has an integrated text editor with customization options, such as live syntax coloring, code navigation, and auto-indenting features. Dreamweaver even helps with the code; a full electronic version of the reference sections from O'Reilly's Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference on HTML, Javascript and CSS is included with context-sensitive interaction.

Dreamweaver has always produced clean and compatible code, without adding the extra code that Microsoft FrontPage tends to insert. The Layout mode allows designers to click and drag table cells to position screen elements in the design view, similar to Adobe GoLive's grid. (Munro)

David English from ZDNet Reviews says, "Designers will find ... GoLive 5.0 easier to use than Dreamweaver..., but programmers will probably prefer Dreamweaver for its advanced features. " While Dreamweaver isn't the perfect development environment -- and in some areas, not as robust as Adobe's GoLive -- it is still the tool of choice for building clean, compatible Web sites. (Munro) "All in all, Dreamweaver continues to be one of the very best visual editing tools on the market." (Wimpsett)

For additional information and reviews, visit the manufacturer's website Macromedia Dreamweaver or read an independent review at CNET.com.

Benefits

• Dreamweaver does both WYSIWYG, What You See Is What Y ou Get, (visual layout) and code-based (text) editing equally well.
• Dreamweaver supports multimedia.
• Dreamweaver has code cleaners for Word and other HTML sources.
• Dreamweaver provides wizards for CSS editing.
• Drag-and-drop client-side behaviors add to Dreamweaver's functionality.
• Dreamweaver has a JavaScript Debugger to help execute and fix any script errors.
• Asset Management helps organize images, media, and color schemes by allowing the creation of groups and favorites that keep frequently used assets instantly available and the rest easy to find.
• Site reporting finds and identifies errors such as untitled pages, missing alt text, and bad or missing links. Clicking on an error instantly brings up the offending code for quicker fixes.

Drawbacks

• Site reporting doesn't match Microsoft FrontPage's, which can flag slow pages or recently added or modified pages.
• Many designers prefer Adobe GoLive as an HTML editor.
• We may prefer to purchase Adobe GoLive to keep all the tools from a single company; however, no additional functionality or ease of use is gained by using GoLive in place of Dreamweaver.

Cost

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Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF) lets users create exact reproductions of electronic documents that can be viewed on screen or printed locally. The Adobe Acrobat PDF format is successful because it combines all the convenience of an electronic document with the familiarity of a paper printout. Acrobat also has editing, annotation, and security functions that give users the ability to share documents and truly collaborate on documents. A nice feature is that annotation and markup tools are available in the browser window.

When users want to repurpose the data contained in a PDF file, the PDF file can be saved in rich-text format (RTF). Images from PDF files can be used in other applications and a PDF file (text and all) can be converted into a picture. Acrobat can also be used as an image viewer, because of its ability to open a wide range of graphics formats directly--including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF. In addition, the PDF file format supports layered, transparent images.

ZDNet Reviewer Luisa Simone says Acrobat is "... a must-have communication tool for anyone in business." ("Adobe Acrobat 5.0")

For additional information and reviews, visit the manufacturer's website Adobe Acrobat.

Benefits

• Acrobat is the standard for converting existing documents to Web, including paper forms.
• Documents retain their appearance, layout, and graphics in PDF format.
• Acrobat works with Microsoft Office. When both applications are installed, a "Convert to Adobe PDF" button appears on the Microsoft Office application toolbar in Windows.
• Acrobat files (.pdf) are much smaller than corresponding Word files (.doc) and therefore take up less space on intranet and Web servers.
• Acrobat can create PDFs that are accessible to readers with disabilities, for example, compatible with third-party, Windows-based screen readers.
• Acrobat Reader is available as a free download for users to access PDF documents.

Drawbacks

• The Acrobat 5.0 icons and menu items do not install properly for Office XP. (Simone "Adobe Acrobat 5.0") Adobe is working on a method to manually install the macros and will post instructions on its Web site as soon as they are available.

Cost

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I recommend these tools for the greater operational efficiencies and superior professional look they should bring to our publications, both print and electronic.

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< http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/main.html >

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"Cross-Browser DHTML." Site Experts.com 30 May 2001.
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< http://www.webreview.com/style/index.shtml >

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Ragen, Alex. "Word vs. FrameMaker." Sep. 1998. CERN 28 May 2001.
< http://docsys.web.cern.ch/docsys/distribution/docs/FM-vs-Word2.pdf >

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< http://www.builder.com/Authoring/CSS/?tag=st.cn.sr1.ssr.bu_css >

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< http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2717126,00.html >

Simone, Luisa. "Adobe FrameMaker 6.0." 20 June 2000. PC Magazine on ZDNet.com 31 May 2001.
< http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/pipreviews/0,8827,195006,00.html >

Weibel, Bob. "Take Charge of Long Documents: Adobe FrameMaker 5.5." PC Computing Jan. 1998. ZDNet.com 31 May 2001.
< http://www.zdnet.com/products/content/pccg/1101/260878.html >

"Will Microsoft's DHTML become an industry standard?" ZDTV 8 Dec. 1998. ZDNET.com 31 May 2001.
< http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,916578,00.html >

Wimpsett, Kim. "Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0 Beta Preview." 13 Nov. 2000. CNET Review 28 May 2001.
< http://www.builder.com/Reviews/Dreamweaver4/ss01.html >

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