[Closed] FrameMaker 7.x/8 Feature Requests

An improved Variables dialog box that stays open. I use variables a lot for things like product names, trademark names, etc. This enables me to change all occurrences of a variable to another font, color, etc. in one place. I know there's a key sequence to open the box, although I have trouble remembering what it is. In any case, this is no simpler than using the menus.

So, every time I want to insert a variable, I have to call up the variables box. Then, I have to find the right variable. And, annoyingly, when I finally find and insert the desired variable, the box goes away.

I should have the option to leave the box open, like a paragraph catalog or a conditional text box.

And, while I'm at it, the variables box could be made easier to use. For example, a variable-name input box that positions you to the list of variables as you type would save time finding the right one. The dialog box could be resizable, too, so if you have a lot of variables, you could increase the display window size.

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I second that!

My particular Holy Grail would be a tabbed document selector in Adobe products. I even use PaintShop Pro 9, rather than Photoshop CS2, because PSP has that feature. It would be absolutely invaluable in Framemaker (and I'll jump ship as soon as another product that has it comes along).

Rows of tabs at the top of the window are far more usable than miniaturised title bars (that show only about the first ten characters of the path, and that get covered up by other windows) at the bottom.

Post about your crashes in the regular forum area if you want a hand or sympathy. Cheers, Sean.

Horace, sorry to hear that you're getting such frequent crashes. What's your environment: operating system version, Frame version, available memory, and free disk space? I ask because the Windows version of Frame I'm using seems very stable (7.2b144) so I'm curious what's happening to give you such a different experience.

The idea of indicating what autosave did and didn't get is a tough one. If a crash prevents you from saving info, how could you highlight what was not saved? Maybe a sliding marker of some type that indicates "last touched" material in a file? hmmm

Can Adobe do anything about the frequent crashes. I seem to have almost as many auto saved files as regular. At least some hint in the auto save what did and didn't get saved. FM 7.

Horace Smith

I would like the ability to highlight text without having to use the graphic tools!

A few things spring to mind:

- Paragraph-based line-breaking algorithm (Knuth-Plass-like)
- High-end hyphenation algorithms (such as DiHYPH from Dieckmann's)
- Hanging punctuation
- Full Unicode support
- For crying out loud: Fixing the bl**dy footnote bug!
- Accepting TeX code for formulas
- Support for multiple series of footnotes & endnotes
- Support for nested series of footnotes & endnotes
- Priority-based page-breaking where one can define how problematic orphan/widows, short lines, and other page problems should be handled.

Best regards,
Mats Broberg

Without an OS X version, at least I have one thing to look forward to: Since my next Mac will be an Intel chip, I can at least run the Windows version in a mode almost as seamless as Classic is to OS X. But I would still prefer a native OS X version.

That was the best joke I've heard in awhile :) Reading it on my new 24inch iMac makes it even funnier.

"The equation editor hasn't really changed since I started using Frame on a Mac in version 3.2. I think we will see improvements in this area shortly after Adobe revives the Mac version of FrameMaker. Wait is that Godot I see down the walk..."