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Spring 2005 |
Volume 45, Number 4 |
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Solutions, Inc.Some recent tips, how-to's, and advice from the Rocky Mountain Chapter Listserve: Thread #1: Converting an inherited hunk o' junk:I have an OLH project created either in RoboHelp or RoboDemo - I don't know which - which needs to be backed out into a book. And, if it is RoboHelp, I am not sure what flavor it is -webhelp, flashhelp, etc. Right now, I have a zip file for this project and when I view the contents of the zip file, I see the following types of files: .gifs, htm, and .swf (shockwave flash object. Does anybody know of way/can provide any information about how to "back out" this help system into a book? I am under the understanding (perhaps patently false) that this is possible, even if I don't see .doc files in this project. It's sounding a bit like RoboDemo, given the file extensions. Is there a .rd file, by any chance? If yes, someone with RoboDemo (hmmm, like me) could open it. From RD, you can export to Word, then bring content into FrameMaker. Ugly, but doable. If you have just a series of HTML files, WebWorks Import Utility can bring the content into FrameMaker. No matter what, it will need lots of cleanup, but either of these methods, depending on exactly what you have, would be better than manually copying and pasting text from each individual file. Check with your client/ co-workers that there isn't an .rd file. (RoboDemo creates project files with an .rd extension which you then generate into an .exe or .swf for the actual deliverable.) Otherwise, you may have a pure Flash project. Check with your client/ co-workers that there isn't a .fla file (Flash's project file that you generate into a .swf). The files you have sound like "output" files not the "source" files. The htm just launches the .swf and the .gif files are the related images that probably display on the htm page. Do you have access to Macromedia's Flash program? There may be something within it that could help. Otherwise, Google "decompile a .swf file" - you'll see a lot of links to tools that decompile the .swf to a .fla. Once you have the .fla, you could at least get to images and text. Thread #2: International symbols as graphic files:Does anyone know of a source for getting internationals symbols as graphic files? I've searched and found fonts, but that's not what I want. I want graphics files, like .tif or .eps, for various international symbols including the CE mark, hot surface, caution, fuse, signal input, signal output, earth (ground), etc. Just plain black and white would be fine. I keep needing more different symbols for a hardware client. Try this: Check out the files in the clipart directory of your Frame install directory. Adobe hasn't upgraded this clipart for many years, but sometimes you can find what you want in one of the files. Try the ISO site Also, Bill Horton's Icon Book... About a bazillion years ago I purchased a set of 17 CDs plus a manual entitled "Holy Cow! 250,000 Graphics" for $30 or so. I have gotten more use out of that purchase than I ever imagined. It has all of the international symbols. I searched and can't find it sold anywhere now (someone on Amazon is selling it uses for $250!) But you might find a copy with a little more searching. Published in 1997 by Macmillan Digital Publishing, ISBN 0-672-31209-3P. I believe that the above product can be purchased from
Nova; it's now called Art Explosion: Thread #3: Grammar question:One of my pet peeves, which I have begun to see more and more of late, is the the expression that something is X "times less" or "times fewer" than something else. For example, a certain brand of margarine has "two times less" cholesterol than another brand, or the duration of a certain surgical procedure is "three times shorter" than another technique. Is this grammatically correct? And if so, what in the heck does it mean??? Logically this stuff is risky even if it is grammatical. But if you're working on a marketing piece, you might be stuck with it. "Three times" something means "3 x" something, so you multiply by three. Unfortunately, marketers write "three times more" when then mean "300% of" or "triple" the original value. "Three times more" technically means 3x the original *added* to the original, or 400% of the original. The word "more" always means you start with the original and add — uh — more to it. You can't have "more" without having an original quantity at the start. On the other hand, you can have "3 times the original value" and hit 300% quite nicely. Marketers use a larger number to mean "better" because their audience is accustomed to the belief that bigger or more is better. So they say "three times less cholesterol" rather than "one-third the cholesterol of our Heartclencher competitor." The only way to square content and form in this case is to interpret the factor as (1/whatever), where whatever is the number that precedes "times." The same principle that leads marketers to write "three times less" gets more dangerous in the hands of many journalists. When living in another state (of the U.S.) a few years ago, I read an article in the local paper that identified a "115% reduction in the caseload" at a state agency. Well, that implies that the caseload hit zero and then went the other way. It's like saying you reduced your car speed by 115%. First you put on the brake until you came to a halt, eliminating 100% of your speed. Then you shifted to reverse and accelerated backward to 15% of your original forward speed. For most people in reverse, that's really moving. Keep me outta that parking lot. I don't have a problem with a "115 percent reduction." Maybe I've been around too many managers who want a "110 percent effort." As far as marketing and advertising language, I don't think you can ever hope for other than mangled syntax, grammar, punctuation, and terminology. These are the folks who use "creative" as a noun. I just read a promo for a program that asks decision-makers to "register into the program..." I always thought you registered "for" something, not "into" something.  |
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