Seeking inputs on desired features in FrameMaker

Real footnotes.

Real endnotes.

... I know, I know, that's so 1994. My priority rating: H for hopeless...

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks for asking!!

1. Please test with a trackball! I have a weird issue where my Frame window unexpectedly and randomly shrinks to about 1.5 x 3 inches. I can't be sure, but it seems to be related to when I use my Kensington Expert Mouse to move the pointer near the edges of the monitor.
2. As mentioned, the interoperability between FrameMaker and RoboHelp needs a lot of work, mainly because Frame's Save as HTML feature for unstructured Frame leaves a lot to be desired. RH to FM seems to work much more seamlessly than FM to RH.

Regards,

Dimi Everette.

Thanks for asking, Kapil!

Some of the oldest unfixed stuff gets even more frustrating with each new release that ignores it, especially things that seem simple. If seeming simple belies incredible complexity under the hood, then one important feature enhancement on my list would be starting over with a new code model. Each year that it's deferred, the old code gets more unsuitable for continuing to develop additions, and trying to keep the old model alive wastes resources.

My short list:

* H Already mentioned is a problem with focus in the Find dialog box. I would like to use the FM keystrokes Esc F i F to move the focus to Find, and Esc F i S to move to spelling. Related - enable keyboard navigation throughout panels and dialog boxes. It's not always possible to more than one or two operations.

* H The ability to create new formats from within other dialog-box creation operations. For example, when defining a paragraph format whose Next Paragraph format hasn't been created, it would be great to slip into a nested New Paragraph Format dialog box, define the next format, then slip back into the paragraph that designates the next format. Similarly, being able to define character formats from within the new cross-reference format dialog box, would be useful. There are others.

* H Cross-references and TOC entries that capture their content by their character formats, in addition to the longtime full paragraph model.

* H Named text-frame and graphic-object formats, and the ability to find them.

* H Improved GREP processing.

* H Ability to divide table cells vertically and horizontally. NOTE: this is not asking for table rows that split over frame boundaries.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

Hi Kapil,

I will echo the request for direct output to ePub and would encourage Framemaker to put as much forethought as possible into the various mobile outputs so that Framemaker can stay ahead of the pack. Right now, I'm converting all my FM content to InDesign because of its very good ePub output capabilities. This defeats the purpose of single-sourcing. I use TCS2, and the RoboHelp output to ePub is not nearly as useful as that in InDesign.

In addition, my biggest problem with FM is the loss of cursor control/focus, which was critical to the keyboard macros that I used prior to FM8. Simple things such as searching for a character format and changing it to the DefaultParaFont now require me to click on two pods to complete the task. I cannot find keyboard shortcuts to do this simple task let alone more complex tasks. I would request that you expand the keyboard shortcut capabilities or give users more control over cursor behavior. Better yet, integrate a simple keyboard macro creator that takes advantage of every single command available in FM.

I also would like to see improved RoboHelp/Framemaker integration, specifically for suppressing the Table Continuation variable in table headers and some of the other things that require using conditional text to output content that looks like the Frame content. I try to avoid having to use conditional text whenever possible.

I live and breath Framemaker (and have since v5, I think). I rarely find much to complain about.

Fix the keyboard and UI focus bugs introduced with the new UI in FM9. It seems like QA testing must have been performed only with the mouse and only with the tabbed UI.

1. Document window size and position are not saved.

2. Docked panels often appear behind the document window, and I have to resize, minimize, or close the document window to use them. Since window size and position are not saved, I have to resize them dozens of times a day.

3. Sometimes I have the opposite problem: the side of a window is completely blocked by the character or paragraph tag catalog, so I have to minimize, close, or move the panel before I can resize the window.

4. When I open a panel, sometimes it appears behind another panel that's already open, and I have to move one or the other before I can use it.

5. The first time I press Ctrl-f, I can just type the search string, but after that the focus within the Find/Change seems to be random, so I can't.

6. After a book has been open for a while, it no longer responds to menu commands. I can double-click files to open them or use the right-click menu, but if I try to select a menu command such as Edit > Update Book or File > Save As PDF the book window minimizes and is no longer active. The only workaround I've found is to close and reopen the book window, which I end up doing dozens of times a day.

7. A separate FrameMaker button appears on the taskbar for each file that's open.

8. The FrameMaker console window appears behind the application window. Bringing it to the front is sometimes difficult.

9. When I first start FrameMaker, Ctrl-F6 switches between open windows. After a while, it stops working. (I can use alt-key menu navigation.)

10. Alt-key menu letters are not displayed for all menu commands (e.g. Documents on the Window menu).

11. If I Alt-Tab to FrameMaker from another application, pressing Alt-Tab again takes me to another FrameMaker document window (if more than one document is open) instead of back to the other application.

Hi, Kapil - thanks for asking!

Integrate my favorite pugins:

1. Mif2Go for excellent outputs beyond PDF
2. IXgen for quality indexing
3. Leximation PubsTools, esp. BookVars
4. Silicon Prairie Paragraph Tools
5. Electropubs Clean Import
6. Bruce Foster's Archive

Plus, I'd love to see:

1. Proper, comprehensive, printable documentation.
2. Direct ePub output
3. Ability to abandon all open files without saving
4. Edit > Update References is completely bizarre - some usability work there, please!

Thanks again for asking!

Hi Kapil,

Given the increased amount and acceptance of touchscreen devices (and given Adobe's support in other products), I would like to see HTML 5 support implemented. This also applies to RoboHelp being as the two products are now closely intertwined in the Technical Communication Suite. Perhaps together with jQuery Mobile and Phonegap integration?

I would give this a high priority.

My email address is mark at southee dot co dot uk