Does anyone use"xml or frame maker"? Thread poster: jyuan_us
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jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 09:30
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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A vendor said that they have a client that can only provide "xml format or frame maker" and she told me that I must be able to use "xml format or frame maker" to work on these files.
MY question is, how do these softwares work? Are they inter-related?
I googled them but I found too much information. So I am soliciting your straightforward explanation and instruction. Any input is high appreciated!
Thank you in advance!
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| Trados TagEditor | Aug 22, 2006 |
Hi, I use Trados TagEditor for xml (Frame Maker files can be converted to this format). I imagine other software can handle this too...
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Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 14:30
Swedish to English
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Patricia Posadas is right, TagEditor is designed to handle XML files. XML is not software, it is a standard for exchanging information. It looks like HTML, with lots of tags to define information, followed by the actual information. The key thing is not to translate or touch the tags, and TagEditor handles that for you.
Ask the customer to supply the DTD file. This is a Document Type Definition file that specifiess the tags, and TagEditor will ask you to define such a file. The cust... See more Patricia Posadas is right, TagEditor is designed to handle XML files. XML is not software, it is a standard for exchanging information. It looks like HTML, with lots of tags to define information, followed by the actual information. The key thing is not to translate or touch the tags, and TagEditor handles that for you.
Ask the customer to supply the DTD file. This is a Document Type Definition file that specifiess the tags, and TagEditor will ask you to define such a file. The customer will have the file because it is a vital part of the process of designing the structure of the XML file.
You will almost certainly find that it takes longer to translate an XML file, partly because all the tags interfere with the flow of text. You will also find that the number and type of tags sometimes varies between the source and target segments, and you may need to delete surplus tags, or add them using the TagEditor "Get Placeables" command.
TagEditor makes the job fairly straightforward, but it is worth practising first, perhaps even doing a short test for your customer. There is a learning curve, and it is a bit steeper than for plain Word documents. Doing the test will prove to your customer and yourself that you can do it. ▲ Collapse
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Jorge Payan
Colombia
Local time: 08:30
Member (2002)
German to Spanish
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| XML involved in translating FrameMaker? | Aug 23, 2006 |
I want to comment Patricia statement regarding "Frame Maker files can be converted to this format (..XML)". Surely they could, but this is not the standard procedure for handling FrameMaker files in TRADOS or Tag Editor.
You must first use FrameMaker to convert .fm files to .mif (translatable text files) and then use TRADOS S-Tagger for obtaining .stf files, which can be translated in TagEditor (as ttx) or Word (as rtf) (at least for TRADOS 6.5). After translation you go back conve... See more I want to comment Patricia statement regarding "Frame Maker files can be converted to this format (..XML)". Surely they could, but this is not the standard procedure for handling FrameMaker files in TRADOS or Tag Editor.
You must first use FrameMaker to convert .fm files to .mif (translatable text files) and then use TRADOS S-Tagger for obtaining .stf files, which can be translated in TagEditor (as ttx) or Word (as rtf) (at least for TRADOS 6.5). After translation you go back converting .stf to .mif, and .mif to FM, and presto!
If the customer has TRADOS, usually they should supply you the ttx or rtf files, which cuts all the above preparation and makes the translation procedure a lot easier for you.
If it is not the case, let me tell you that I have translated several manuals starting from the very FM files and this is sort of complicated procedure. Be sure that the customer compensates you for the extra effort. Good luck! ▲ Collapse
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Sergi Callau (X)
Local time: 15:30
English to Spanish
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| xml is a file format | Aug 23, 2006 |
Hi,
XML is a file format: eXtended Markup Languague, while FrameMaker is a Desktop Publishing software (mainly printer oriented: manuals, books, large documents…) from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/). Frame Maker is XML capable and nowadays XML has been converted in the most popular file extension for sharing this kind of documents. The majority of DP tools are... See more Hi,
XML is a file format: eXtended Markup Languague, while FrameMaker is a Desktop Publishing software (mainly printer oriented: manuals, books, large documents…) from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/). Frame Maker is XML capable and nowadays XML has been converted in the most popular file extension for sharing this kind of documents. The majority of DP tools are Desktop/Workstation oriented, this means to create, layout and format documents by a unique user while FrameMaker is more oriented to teams of publishers, editors and people from the printing companies (prepress, printers…). Then there appears the need of sharing the docs and to go towards a standard file format.
If you want to know more about XML, please read the Wikipedia explanation, is a very good one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xml
I hope this helps
Sergi ▲ Collapse
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| FrameMaker content IS XML! | Aug 25, 2006 |
Patricia Posadas wrote:
Hi, I use Trados TagEditor for xml (Frame Maker files can be converted to this format). I imagine other software can handle this too...
The content in a FrameMaker document actually is a variant of XML, named SGML in this particular context.
Adobe started releasing a version of the software called FrameMaker + SGML, to demonstrate that what you see in the WYSIWYG mode could also be displayed as structured tagged code. In recent versions of FrameMaker, this has become standard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrameMaker
As a translator, you don't have to know all this, just make sure you use a CAT tool that supports FrameMaker files (like recent versions of Trados, Star Transit etc).
/Jan
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Simone Tosta
Mexico
Local time: 07:30
Portuguese to Spanish
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| Adobe FrameMaker | Aug 28, 2006 |
Hi!
I worked at a very big project with Adobe FrameMaker, a specific program for editing Manuals, books, etc. Please, look for mor info in www.adobe.com
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Jorge Payan
Colombia
Local time: 08:30
Member (2002)
German to Spanish
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| SGML is not a variant of XML , quite the contrary! | Aug 30, 2006 |
Jan Sundström wrote: Patricia Posadas wrote:
Hi, I use Trados TagEditor for xml (Frame Maker files can be converted to this format). I imagine other software can handle this too... The content in a FrameMaker document actually is a variant of XML, named SGML in this particular context. Adobe started releasing a version of the software called FrameMaker + SGML, to demonstrate that what you see in the WYSIWYG mode could also be displayed as structured tagged code. In recent versions of FrameMaker, this has become standard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrameMaker As a translator, you don't have to know all this, just make sure you use a CAT tool that supports FrameMaker files (like recent versions of Trados, Star Transit etc). /Jan
Jan: I respectfully don't agree with your statement. Both XML and HTML are subsets or(profiles) of SGML, as you can check in any XML entry-level book or in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML
In fact, what has became standard in the new FrameMaker versions is the XML support, mainly because there is al lot of excellent XML editors to compete with. The flag product is not longer denominated FrameMaker+ SGML, but FrameMaker alone.
Other fact is that the major CAT tools (Trados, SDLX, Déjà Vu, Transit) don't use the FM natively generated .fm format, but the Adobe propietary MIF. That format is what the translator have to ask for from the customer, in the worst case.
saludos
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| Thanks, Jorge | Oct 4, 2006 |
Thanks for the clarification, Jorge.
From a translator's point of view, it makes no difference to me if A is a variant of B, or B is a variant of A. I leave those discussions to the academics.
jyuan_us was asking for a straightforward instruction, and I think that our collective effort gave him what he asked for...
best,
Jan
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