[Closed] FrameMaker 7.x/8 Feature Requests

>If I am doing a magazine article or a postcard, I want the text boxes in the layout BEFORE I place the text. Anything over would go to a new blank page and obviously be overflow that needs to be edited. This way I know how much needs to be cut BEFORE I start messing with the layout.

Well, design your text boxes and layouts in the master pages beforehand. Insert the content and pages you need will be inserted as needed. Tweak your master page layouts after the text has flown (flowed??).

Does that help?

Cheers,

Sean

Sean writes<br />> I find it more user friendly than Word. <g> <br /><br />That's like saying Saddam is a nicer guy than Hitler was. <+g><br /><br />> Bold and Italics buttons--NEVER use those. Never. <br /><br />I don't want to USE the buttons. What I really need is to be able to see, at-a-glance, the attributes of either a graphic or a selected section of text without jumping through hoops. The buttons that look "pressed" when they are activated are helpful in this area. <br /><br />> 4) Color picker tool?<br /><br />Again, I don't need a color-picker tool. I just want to be able to instantly see the attributes of a graphic by selecting it.<br /><br />>1) Interface freshen up (you want more like MS Office?????)? <br /><br />Blech, no--more like PageMaker, which I don't think is asking too much since Adobe makes PageMaker. That's why I was so surprised at the clunky interface. I was expecting Super PageMaker and found a Musclebound Word.<br /><br />I'm sure I can get used to it, I hated Quark when I started using it--and now I'm fine with it.<br /><br />Cheerfully determined,<br /><br />patty

>>I challenge you to give me a scenario that warrants the addition of connected pages that isn't already easily addressed by FM.

I work in both long and short documents. It's with the short docs that I need this control.

If I am doing a magazine article or a postcard, I want the text boxes in the layout BEFORE I place the text. Anything over would go to a new blank page and obviously be overflow that needs to be edited. This way I know how much needs to be cut BEFORE I start messing with the layout.

I can do that in Quark, but I would rather have just ONE $800 page layout program to be uprgraded every year or two instead of two.

Is this easily addressed in FM? Or is this a legitimate upgrade request?

Thanks,

patty

Actually, I find it more user friendly than Word. <g> I guess it's what you are used to.<br /><br />And, the interface probably dates to 92 or 93, not 95. That's the beauty, nothing to relearn <g>.<br /><br />If you are using Windows be aware that your colors will be converted to RGB when you print--including printing to PostScript--you can use ColourChameleon or something to fix that. If you're using a Mac, never mind, you should be all set.<br /><br />Change your colors in the graphics software that you used to create the image. Change colored FrameMaker elements by defining and applying custom colors--those won't change unless you modify them.<br /><br />If autoconnect is turned on for your text flows, pages will be added automatically.<br /><br />To zoom, select an object and change the zoom. Voila.<br /><br />One or two undos seems reasonable. I'd be surprised if we didn't get that next time around--quote me. <g><br /><br />Bold and Italics buttons--NEVER use those. Never. Apply character tags instead. Seriously, don't use those buttons.<br /><br />You are going back in time with the interface. No animated paperclips here, or red underlined squigglies. It works in unix, too.<br /><br />So, what are your requests:<br /><br />1) Interface freshen up (you want more like MS Office?????)?<br /><br />2) 2 levels of undo?<br /><br />3) Better zoom tools?<br /><br />4) Color picker tool?<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Sean

FrameMaker is not user unfriendly, it's just not as mass-market as Word.

Yes FM's UI was developed long ago, but the functionality within it makes perfect sense and where it's located in the UI is sensible once you understand how to properly use styles.

For example, you should never have to add a connected page because that's done automatically. In fact, I challenge you to give me a scenario that warrants the addition of connected pages that isn't already easily addressed by FM.

I switched from Word, PageMaker, and Quark to FrameMaker in 1998, and after understanding why I would use such a tool as FM to get a job done, I have never questioned the UI's usefulness or usability.

Patty, all I can say is welcome to the club. FrameMaker is very user-unfriendly, to say the least. But once you get used to it, it's manageable. Like most FrameMaker users, hopefully you will grow to accept the usability flaws in order to get the superior features of FrameMaker.

Good luck,

Gary

Because we need XML capabilities in our books, I've just started using FrameMaker after many years of both PageMaker and Quark.

"Oh, Adobe!" I thought. "This is going to be really great!"

I am shocked. Is it me, or is the interface really, really clunky?

There is no magnifying glass, hand tool, or even a keystroke to get to one certain point in a page. I have to manipulate the scroll bars to get anywhere specific. The zooming feature leaves a lot to be desired. *sigh*

There is no palette that shows you what attributes an object or word already has in it. If I have two objects, one 10% cyan and one 15% cyan, I would like to have the color palette change to reflect whatever attributes the selected object has, NOT the attributes of the last object I changed. I need to know at a glance if I need to change something or not. Right now I have to select something and then do a Vulcan nerve pinch on the keys to find the attributes of something.

Why is there a command to add DISconnected pages, but not to add connected pages?

Even the "bold," "italic," etc. buttons don't indicate whether they have been activated or not. If I am working with a weird typeface, I have to click on the button a half-dozen times to figure out whether I've bolded it or not.

Plus I must concur with the multiple undo request. I don't need a LOT of undos, just an extra one or two would help immensely.

Plus, the palettes themselves look like they came from 1995. FrameMaker 7.0 IS the most recent version, isn't it? Is the PC version better than the Mac version?

Am I missing something? I expected a futuristic version of PageMaker. It's a more POWERFUL program, for sure, (especially for long documents) but I feel like I'm going back in time with the interface.

Patty Wall

What if FrameMaker added a separate text inset management tool that would operate -- Find / Replace, styles managment, variable management, and so on -- on text insets at the book level? Akin to an incremental improvement in FrameMaker-based content management, I'd say...

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Erm ... no, not quite. I most often run into this when I change between the set of A5 landscape styles (presentations, on-screen and so on) and the set of A4 portrait. The "small" styles have page-break before on almost every heading; the "large" styles don't. The content reshuffles itself amiably enough into the larger lay-out, the page-count is even (as requested) ... and I have a slew of empty pages.

Hardly a major problem, of course, so more a question for a wishlist than a requirement for feature requests.

NIELS: You have that now, really, unless there is garbage on a page, a custom master applied, a bunch of extra carriage returns at the end of the file, and so on. Frame would not know when you did it intentionally or just screwed up.