From FrameMaker Product Management

My wish:

Support for right-to-left languages (Arabic, Hebrew)

Regards

1.
b Regular Expressions-esque search
- While the existing Find/Replace is the best and easiest I've seen in a WYSIWIG app, we need something that can match REGEX's sub-string replaces.

2.
b Real nested tables

3.
b More Custom User Variable Options
- How about one that pulls an element's specific attribute?

4.
b More Options for Generated Documents
- Ability to generate directly to a table... maybe even the ability to generate to a specific place in an existing file without overwiting the contents.

5.
b Text Borders
- Many of our clients want to see borders around certain headings, paragraphs, groups of paragraphs, etc. We currently accomplish this by using tables, which isn't really a solution.

6.
b Mix Page Sizes
- Allow us to mix different page sizes in a document, not just page orientation. And while you're at it, allow us to mix regular and side-head flows.

7.
b Inherited Styles
- Works great if you're using an EDD, otherwise you're stuck.

8.
b Graphic Transparency
- Transparency for PNGs, AIs and other graphic formats.

I've only been using FM since version 4. You'd think that I'd have bumped into the this before. TX.

Peter wrote:
"Try these keyboard shortcuts (tap each key, then tap the next - case matters)

"...

"Alternate keystrokes:

"...

"Move through the dialog boxes ..."

Thanks. They work fairly reliably, including <<Esc F i d>> to get back to the document.

They are a bit complicated (I'd prefer, e.g., CTL+(numpad)6 for getting back into the doc, etc.), but they are a huge improvement over grabbing the mouse every few seconds.

Thanks again,
Le

1. stability
2. better typography and open type support (options to use osf)
3. easier xml roundtrip for documents having tables
4. cascading styles
5. stability
6. stability

I use InDesign CS3 and for a great many reasons, it does not work as well for long documents. Do not give the "just use ID" answer. Too many things have to be scripted or purchased as plugins. Lack of sideheads, runin paragraphs, crossrefs, and seamless page addition/autolayout are still a problem in ID.

The ONLY thing I'd like in a future FrameMaker is a PDF system that works successfully with the latest CS3/... Acrobat so that Save As PDF works.

All the other stuff is nice but the very latest FM 8 patch (273) and all the workarounds to Print to PDF and then to use the generic Postscript printer device kludge is confusing.

That's all I want [for Christmas].

Ken
Seattle, WA

]Some keyboard-driven means of getting into and out of the dialogs\toolbars. When using, e.g., the Paragraph Designer, it would be much easier to Shift+Tab back to the main doc window. Ctrl+M is great for getting _into_ it, but it's a mouse-driven world to get out. Being able to move among various toolbar/dialogs without going to the mouse would be very useful.

Try these keyboard shortcuts (tap each key, then tap the next - case matters)

Escape e s //(e)dit (s)pell //enters the spell check dialog box
Escape o p d //f(o)rmat (p)aragraph (d)esigner
Escape o c d //f(o)rmat (c)haracter (d)esigner

Alternate keystrokes:

Escape F i s //(F)ocus (i)n (s)pell check
Escape F i p //(F)ocus (i)n (p)aragraph designer
Escape F i c //(F)ocus (i)n (c)haracter designer

Move through the dialog boxes and designers with Tab/Shift+Tab

The command Escape F i d //(F)ocus (i)n (d)ocument is supposed to return the insertion point to the document, from these dialog boxes or designers, but it's been failing for several releases.

HTH

Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

b Fix the ever-lovin' memory leak!
It's getting beyond tiresome to have to restart the program four or five times a day because "FrameMaker has experienced a serious problem and must quit"!!!!! There must be two hundred .recover. files hiding on my hard drives.

Move the spellcheck dialog out of the way (or, better, shift the text window) so we can see the suspected misspelling in context. Hiding the highlighted string with the dialog (even another one unconnected to the spellchecking task) is torture.

Some keyboard-driven means of getting into and out of the dialogs\toolbars. When using, e.g., the Paragraph Designer, it would be much easier to Shift+Tab back to the main doc window. Ctrl+M is great for getting _into_ it, but it's a mouse-driven world to get out. Being able to move among various toolbar/dialogs without going to the mouse would be very useful.

Drop Caps at the beginning of a 'graf. The current anchored frame method is tedious, and it just doesn't work very well for the material I deal with.

I have copied a few of Tim Murray's list here because I really like them, in addition to my own footnote and anchored frame requests (q.v. supra). I've flagged his suggestions: "¶", my comments have no flag.

¶ Allow forced-justify of the last line of a paragraph.

I've torn out so much hair trying to work around this (never successfully, btw)!

¶ Don't consider the space at the end of a line as a character when determining positioning.

This has always been a puzzle. I leave non-mandatory space at the end of each 'graf in case I want to add more text later or join two 'grafs. This "feature" often drives a new blank, line between 'grafs. Odd.

¶ If you type Alt+0039, you should get a straight single quote and 0034 should give you the straight double quote.

b Feet'n'inches, minutes'n'seconds are all straight quotes.
So it's "turn off smart quotes, enter character(s), turn smart quote back on" or the esc sequences. Dumb smart quotes would be very nice. It would even be nice if Ctl+z reversed the smartness, as it does in MS Word. I could handle two keystrokes for the job, but as it is, we waste a lot of time keeping things straight (so to speak).

¶ Wider fields and dialogs. The good news: A fellow named Klaus Daube has created a modified fmdlg.dll for Windows that has nice wide fields for the Resize Selected Column dialog box. You can download it at http://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker20.html.

Thanks, Tim, this is great!!

Adobe should include this directly in the application. Does it also work (I'm not able to try it right now) for the next issue you raise:

¶ Show us the path. Some dialogs that show paths to files chop the path down to next to nothing. Show us the whole path, start to finish, and let it wrap when needed.

Oh, yeah!!! That's really old technology.

b The same thing goes for cross references.
It's often difficult to tell which of similar strings I am trying to catch when all I can see is forty characters.

¶ More keyboard support in dialog box lists; Shift+ and Ctrl+click. In the "Set Up Table of Contents" for example, pressing a letter should jump you to an item in the list. Some dialogs do, some to not. Further, you can't Shift+click or Ctrl+click either, and the up/down arrow keys don't work.

I, too, am a rodentophobe. Being left-handed may be a part of it, but having to use the mouse to do anything more complex than bringing up a designer just wastes too much time and effort. Keyboard short cuts (preferably that do not involve seven key strokes) are the best way to go.

¶ Do dialog tabs differently. Guess what you can't do? You can't change tabs by pressing Ctrl+Tab!

Once more, the mouse is vermin, and should be avoided any time possible.

¶ Quick outline view.

Again, this would make life so much easier.