Having been declared 'Hors de combat' by the Medical Profession for the last few weeks it is time for me to catch up on what has been happening on the S1000D front.
Having had a look around in the last couple of days there seems to be several things happening worthy of note:
This list is obviously not exhaustive and as this is a catch up post I will limit the content and perhaps look at each in more detail shortly in other posts.
Adobe Road Show with FrameMaker 8
I know that there are a number of people involved in producing documentation to S1000D who use Adobe FrameMaker, and have done so very happily for years using products which are extremely stable. For those of you who are in the UK you may be interested to know that Adobe have arranged a series ofRoad Shows (follow this link) to introduce Adobe FrameMaker 8.
In addition to seeing the changes made to this product demonstrations are also going to be given covering two further products: Adobe Acrobat 8 3D, Adobe Captivate.
One of the major features of the new FrameMaker is its ability to handle 3D images and I have to say I was very impressed with the demonstration that I saw back in June (immediately prior to my discovering that my indigestion was actually something more serious). One feature of Adobe Acrobat 8 3D that impressed me was its ability to take CATIA files, manipulate them to the view that you want and then output them as CGM - awesome! I am sure that those of you coming recently to the S1000D authoring world would find investigating this ability to be financially rewarding particularly in contracts where the prime is issuing CATIA files as part of the source information.
There are three venues for this Road Show
London - September 5th
Coventry - September 6th
Manchester - September 7th
Each session is half a day and Registration is free (follow this link for the registration form where you can indicate your preference for day and time). I now that there are spaces so why not go for it.
For those interested, there is also a Frame 8 upgrade training course avaialble. This course will be available for a limited time during the period of switching between 7.2 and 8.
ASD S1000D Issue 3 is Published
Hot on the heels of Issue 2.3 v 10 we have seen the publication of S1000D Issue 3. As usual the specification together with DTDs, examples etc are available from the S1000D web site which some will note has had a face lift.
Obviously some of the changes which may be noticed here sit on top of the Issue 2.3 Specification. Of interest to some, perhaps, are the changes to visual formatting. Earlier issues of 2.n have had several of the structures example chapters included as TBA. Well in 2.3 they have been and it begs the question of why some of the changes were made. No doubt it might become clear eventually but certainly one I was looking at (Procedural) has an alternative layout where the various steps are not indented. On the face of it this is a retrograde step since it is now not so easy to see the hierarchy of the data.
More about Issue 3 etc. in another Blog posting.
S1000D Oslo event
I notice that the programme for the European Technical Data Event which takes place in Oslo from 1st to 4th October this year and at which there is a fair amount of S1000D content is firming up nicely. For those of you who either have not heard of this event or would like to catch up you can get access to the information via the CTS Events organisation. You will need to register and sign on but this is free.
Following the links to the CTS Events enables you to get access to the programme and you can also register on-line.
The programme includes Training sessions on S1000D as well as SCORM and PLCS. The presentation programme appears to cover most of the areas of using the Specification. In addition there are presentations on the integration with other Specifications/Standards which some of you may well have to get to grips with.
Of course, in addition to the presentations, one of the main features of the CTS events is the socialising/interaction/catching up between delegates. There is going to be a good representation of trade stands.
I will not be there this year but I am going to try and get one or two people to feed me with their impressions during the event. f you are interested in a guest blogger spot, please let me know.
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