Accommodating Active Learners in Software Documentation Decisions  

Recent research focusing on a minimalist approach to computer software documentation has explored ways to design computer software tutorials and workbooks for users with an active learning style. The principles of minimalism and active learning styles, however, are less frequently applied to traditional reference manuals. This paper reviews several elements of minimalism and suggests ways to apply strategies for active learners to traditional reference manuals.

Smart, Karl L. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Instructional Design>Software

Acrobat - Ein PDF-Dokument Wieder in Text (oder HTML) Konvertieren  

Wie kann ich eine Acrobat-Datei in ein editierbares Textdokument (ASCII, RTF oder HTML etc.) zurückverwandeln? (Anmerkung: Diese Frage wurde zu Zeiten von Acrobat 3 und 4 gestellt. In Acrobat 5 soll Exchange eine direkte RTF-Exportfunktion besitzen.)

Transcom. (German) Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat 7 zum komfortablen Erzeugen von Druck und Schnittmarken einsetzen

Wer kennt das Problem nicht? Aus einem riesigen Dokument wurde ein PDF erzeugt. Nun muss es auch noch für den Druck aufbereitet werden. Dafür fehlen aber die Druck- und Schnittmarken. Acrobat 7 hilft hier aus der Patsche.

TECOM (2003). (German) Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat Features Turbocharge the Online Review Process

One of the more tedious and error-prone processes in technical writing is that of collaborative document review. Even when documents are shared electronically, keeping track of comments, suggestions, and changes contributed by multiple team members can be exasperating. Too often errors due to collaborative review lead to delays, missed deadlines, misunderstandings and an inaccurate final document.

Gravel, Charlie. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat Tips - Extracting Content

Suppose you have a multipage document and you want to remove a part of it for another purpose, such as combining it with other information for another document. In this tip, I'll explain how to separate, or extract, a portion of a document.

Baker, Donna L. PlanetPDF (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat Tips - Reduce PDF File Size

Distributing documents as Adobe PDF files can reduce the problems that may occur when you exchange large presentation or page-layout files. In many cases, you can make your Adobe PDF file even more compact without compromising the document's integrity. The PDF Optimizer in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional gives you easy access to several options that can help you reduce the file's size, including compression options that are comparable to the ones available when you create an original Adobe PDF file using Adobe Acrobat Distiller.

PlanetPDF (1996). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat und Seitenfolge

Ich habe gerade zwei PDF-Dateien aneinandergefügt (über 'Seite einfügen'), ABER: jedesmal, wenn ich die neu gespeicherte Datei öffne, wird die 1. Seite des 2. Dokuments dargestellt. Ich würde hingegen gern die 1. Seite des 1. Dokuments sehen....

Transcom. (German) Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat und WinWord - Lesezeichen mit Abschnittsnummern

Gibt es beim PDFMaker (Adobe-Zusatz [Add-In] zur Generierung von PDF-Dateien aus WinWord) eine Möglichkeit, in den Lesezeichen (Bookmarks) die Abschnittsnummern einzubinden?

Transcom (2000). (German) Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Adding Page Labels

A nice feature in Acrobat is the ability to 'name' or label pages with meaningful descriptions rather than just page numbers. This can be very useful if your PDF document contains in introduction section and is then split into sections or has specific chapter numbers. By adding Page Labels to a page or even a range of pages you instantly get to that section by typing it's name in the Page Number box at the bottom of the screen (on the status bar).

Wraight, Dave. PlanetPDF (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Adobe FrameMaker 7.1: Fast Software for Long Documents

Producers of technical documentation have long sung the praises of Adobe FrameMaker, but other print designers may wonder what's the big deal. That may change with FrameMaker 7.1, which includes powerful QuarkXPress and PageMaker filters and whizzy conditional-text features.

Glinert, Susan. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

Adobe FrameMaker Autonumbering Examples

Autonumbering had changed as new versions of FrameMaker have arrived. What worked in FrameMaker 5 might have broken in 5.5. This is due to changes Adobe made in the restart building blocks (request presentation). While our examples below use the maximum building blocks (meaning a little extra work), the result is numbering schemes that are more flexible for multiple versions of FrameMaker.

Bright Path Solutions (2004). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe FrameMaker

Adobe InDesign Tutorials

Get up to speed on some of the exciting new features in Adobe® InDesign® 2.0 with the following tutorials. Each consists of a Flash movie as well as step-by-step instructions and sample files for download, so you can follow along within InDesign. For demonstrations of key features, take a video tour in the InDesign 2.0 overview.

Adobe (2002). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

Adobe PageMaker 7.0  

Wallia reviews the latest version of Adobe's desktop publishing software.

Wallia, C.J.S. Intercom (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker

Alphabetizing Menu Commands  

Ever forget the exact location of a menu command in InDesign? You can use this tip to make your menu commands easier to locate.

Cole, Tim. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

Baking up a Batch of PDF Files  

Customize how Acrobat works for you by building and using batch sequences. The beauty of a batch sequence is that you can modify or run it as you like.

Baker, Donna L. Adobe (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Bridging the Gap Between Design and Editorial

With both Adobe InDesign® CS and Adobe InCopy® CS in your publishing workflow, writers and editors can compose stories in InCopy at the same time designers are laying out the pages using InDesign—without overwriting each other’s work.

Adobe (2003). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

Cleaning up PDF Documents in Acrobat

If you are posting your PDF document to a web site, you'll generally want to upload a clean copy that will streamline the viewing experience for your site visitors. This tip outlines a quick way to remove unnecessary annotations, widgets, JavaScript, links, bookmarks and attachments, along with optimizing your documents for fast web viewing.

Shea, Dan. PlanetPDF (2007). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Color Management in PageMaker

Establishing color control on the desktop can prove to be a frustrating task. And when you're dealing with color-critical customers or just plain want decent color, that's not the best situation. This PDF by Scott Olswold and Rick Dumont explains the fundamentals behind color management and then applies this discussion in terms of PageMaker.

Olswold, Scott. Makingpages.org (2002). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker

Color Management Made Easy

See the same colors in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat, thanks to the Adobe Color Engine.

Adobe (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Color

Combining Multiple PDF Files

In Acrobat 4, you open one PDF file. Then in the 'document' menu, choose 'insert file.' You’ll have to do this four times to bring your five documents together.

Harris, Steve. PDFzone (2004). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Compound Paths for Text Holes  

You can use InDesign's compound paths and transparency features to create a recessed text compartment in an image.

Cole, Tim. Adobe Evangelists (2006). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

Configuring the Pages Pane

The default layout of the Pages pane displays a single column of small thumbnail pictures of the pages. The default is fine for most kinds of work when you have a document consisting of several pages. However, when working with a very large document, you might want to make the thumbnails smaller and increase the number of thumbnail columns to see more at once. If you have to be able to see the content of the thumbnails, you'll want to increase their size.

Baker, Donna L. PlanetPDF (2001). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Controlling Line Breaks with the Hyphenation Penalty Slider

Adobe InDesign 2.0 introduced a new feature that you can use to fine tune the way lines break in any given paragraph. You'll find the hyphenation penalty slider in InDesign's hyphenation dialog box. This document is meant to serve as an introduction to this feature so that you'll understand exactly how it works and how you can use it to control the way your lines break within paragraphs.

Cole, Tim. Creative Pro (2003). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign