WebMaker FAQ

General

On which platforms does WebMaker run?

Unix workstations; SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, SGI IRIX.

Can WebMaker translate all kinds of FrameMaker documents?

No. Documents that consist of FrameMaker objects stuck on the page with a fixed position cannot be translated. This is because such documents do not define a sequential order for the contents. The only way to translate such documents reasonably to the WWW context is to translate the pages as graphical images!

WebMaker translates the contents of Text Flows. Paragraphs must therefore be in Text Flows and pictures must be in Frames anchored to a position in a paragraph.

Why does WebMaker need to be configured?

Because FrameMaker documents have a flat structure and HTML does not, i.e. a network of files, each with a hierarchical and possibly recursive structure. FrameMaker documents are a sequence of independent paragraphs formats with no interdependency. There are no lists or environments. The WebMaker Configuration Language provides the means to supply the extra information to control the generated Web.

How does WebMaker compare with fm2html?

The essential difference is that WebMaker is fully configurable: you can dictate the appearance, the granularity and the navigation options of the generated web. This makes WebMaker something more than just a MIF to HTML filter as it allows you to easily create and maintain complex Web documents.

fm2html produces one html file for every .MIF.

WebMaker configuration

What can be configured in WebMaker?

The granularity of the generated HTML nodes, the aspect of each generated node meaning what appears at the top of the page and what appears at the bottom of the page including the navigation panels, how to translate paragraphs and character formats of a given tag and the translation of graphics.

What is the difference between the generated navigation buttons and those provided by WWW browsers?

The navigation buttons of current WWW browsers allow the user to navigate along an already travelled path. WebMaker can be configured to generate buttons that structurally link the document as desired. A reader of the WWW document may therefore be able to access any node of the document easily, irrespective of what the entry point into the document is.

Why should the main title paragraph of a FrameMaker document NOT trigger a new node?

A first node must be created in all cases and by default WebMaker creates the first node according to the node rules assigned the name of `FirstPage'. If the main title paragraph is assigned to be node triggering, then another node is created when this is encountered. If you want the title of the document to be in the first page, then the title paragraph must not be node triggering.

Why do I need to specify the -t switch on the command line?

The HTML TITLE in often not the first paragraph of the FrameMaker document. Furthermore, a FrameMaker document does not need to have a title. WWW documents without HTML TITLES are limited, e.g. you cannot include them in a hotlist. WebMaker simplifies the issue by making it mandatory to specify an HTML TITLE.

Runtime errors, messages, logging, ...

What may be the cause of the following error message
^ yacc stack overflow

Gawk has probably been compiled with cc. It has been noted that this is problematic. Rebuilding gawk with gcc is known to fix the problem.