Suggestion for more flexibility in design of MNL layouts

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itexnz
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Suggestion for more flexibility in design of MNL layouts

Unread post by itexnz »

it would be useful to be able to sometimes be able to produce PDFs in a layout similar to the Information Mapping method, e.g. headings in a left hand 'column' and topic text in a right hand column alongside, at the moment that does not appear to be possible due to the layout being controlled by bands... although I have managed to closely approximate this with some slight of hand (which unfortunately does not quite work with longer headings)... something to think of for the future?

Attached are examples of the MNL and resulting PDF which shows the gaps caused by some headings being longer than a couple of lines when 'bunched up' on the left...
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David Scott
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SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

This is not currrently possible but it's an interesting idea for the future, thanks for suggesting it. :)
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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itexnz
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Re: Suggestion for more flexibility in design of MNL layouts

Unread post by itexnz »

Just revisiting old posts... any plans on MNL layouts being able to support this kind of stuff yet? I've implemented H&M in a few places now, and often they have existing documentation in the infomap design... sometimes I get pushback because the PDFs I deliver cant do this

https://www.informationmapping.com/en/
David Scott
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Re: Suggestion for more flexibility in design of MNL layouts

Unread post by Tim Green »

itexnz wrote:Just revisiting old posts... any plans on MNL layouts being able to support this kind of stuff yet? I've implemented H&M in a few places now, and often they have existing documentation in the infomap design... sometimes I get pushback because the PDFs I deliver cant do this
Sidebars in PDF are something that we are still considering but implementing it is much more complex than you might imagine. Just supporting it in the PDF template would not be enough. It would also need special styles in Help+Manual and support in the Help+Manual editor, and that opens a very large can of worms. We are definitely thinking about it, but it is not a short-term project. :?
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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itexnz
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Re: Suggestion for more flexibility in design of MNL layouts

Unread post by itexnz »

No problem... the more I read up on the Information Mapping "method" the more I get concerned about it anyway... I've seen this method used in quite a few places but a) people tend to not do it right, and b) the correct "method" seems to be under some ridiculous IP copyright claims that means if you write in the correct structured way as developed by a Stanford Researcher back in the late '60s, and haven't got a licence agreement (paid for) there are all kinds of potential legal liabilities... they seem like patent trolls at this point :roll: .

Still, it'd be nice to be able to do new and unexpected layouts :)
David Scott
Documentation Infrastructure Consultant
https://www.sourceone.co.nz
SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
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