[Closed] FrameMaker 7.x/8 Feature Requests

Sean:<br /><br />>What do you do that requires multiple undo?<br /><br />Make mistakes, perhaps?<br /><br />Nothing about my standard processes is predicated on even one level of undo: Presumably one only uses undo to reverse things one didn't intend to do. But when working in applications that *have* multiple undo (like <shudder> Word), I often find I use it, generally because by the time I identify something as a mistake, I've already performed at least one additional action. In such cases, single-level undo is useless.<br /><br />>And, I'd hate to use up tonnes of memory<br /><br />I heartily agree, though I'm not convinced the metric ton is the proper unit for memory. Personlly, I prefer the Imperial buttload. <g><br /><br />But seriously, I think the answer might be "modestly multiple" undos: the ability to undo perhaps three to five actions, but no more, or maybe a strict limit on the buffer space devoted to undos. IMHO, the ability to undo a (literal) hadnful of actions would be useful; anything deeper than that would not be worth a performance hit.<br /><br />-Bill

We create technical specification documents that have lots of tables, figures, and subnotes. Formatting these details takes some amount of experimentation which is where the undoing would be key. A configurable history sounds like a good idea to me too.

What do you do that requires multiple undo? There's a slew of things I'd want before that. And, I'd hate to use up tonnes of memory (a configurable action history might be good).

Cheers,

Sean

I'd just like to reinforce the request for multiple undo capability (whether through undo or some type of history buffer). There are
b many FrameMaker document developers at Intel
who would benefit from this feature.

For my wish list, I would like:

1. The ability to spell check and search inside text that was imported by reference.

2. The ability to add a graphic to the right or left of a paragraph format instead of just to the top and bottom of format (I know that there are lots of ways to accomplish this but I would like to see it as an option within FrameMaker itself).

3. An "Allow in Book" option for spell checker (so that I didn't have to click "Allow in Document" for each chapter).

4. The ability to search for a specific variable.

5. The ability to search for, and remove, paragraph overrides.

6. A highlight tool similar to that in Word (If you type the text in Word, highlight it, and then paste it in your FrameMaker document as a text inset, you have access to Word's highlight tools but you can't search or spell check the text in the inset).

7. The ability to find and delete obsolete markers.

8. The ability to replace the text in a marker using the Find/Replace tool.

9. MULTIPLE UNDO!

10. More robust revision tracking.

11. Better index generating tools.

Prior request: OSX version of FM

New request: hmmm...who cares...dead product.

This may be a request that is more suitable for a v 10.x but the ONLY thing I like about MSWord (which I'm forced to use under duress from clients) is the change tracking feature with edits in the little windows coded by color for different editors, etc. When working on large documents over long time periods, this feature is wonderful (you can take the rest of MSW and chuck it). I know this is 'big' but fits in nicely with the Framemaker concept I've held since V 3 many years ago.

Unlimited UNDO levels.

I would like to set my arrow and line setting defaults to be what *I* want them to be, not what FrameMaker wants to give me. (I currently have to change the size of the arrow head every time I open the program, and this is something that I use in every document I create.)

I would like to save my workspace the way I use it. I use the drawing tools with every document, therefore I'd like the ability to have them turned on and stay on each time I open the program.

I'd like to be able to dock the drawing pallet.

I want to be able to layer graphics, so I don't keep accidentally moving them around when I go to click on something next to it. (With only one undo level this has been a really REALLY bit pain).

Customizable tool bars.

And an only small but neat "side feature" would be, if Adobe adds a meta data reader for the Windows Explorer. If you mark up a file in Explorer, it shows a couple of information in the status bar at the bottom of the Explorer. Acrobat 7 has this now, too and when you mark up a PDF the status bar also shows the Meta Data like title, author etc. This would be nice for FM and Book files, too. Also if you hit ALT-Return for a marked up file, you get the Windows FIle Properties dialog. For e.g. PDFs (Acro7) it has it's own "PDF" tab showing all the Meta Data incl. Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Producer, file (creation and modification) date, and PDF-Version and autoring App. I'd like to see this for FM and Book files, too.

I work in 33 languages using Frame and though a bit kooky sometimes, it does work for all but Arabic and Hebrew which I have to do custom versions in Word. I'd love proper support for these 2 lanuages that would complete the global nature of the product.