Unclickable Xrefs

I don't know what your workflow looks like, and this might add another step, but.... You could maintain the master document with the xrefs, so your text references will update, but before you publish to HTML5, convert the xrefs to text. In the Cross-Reference pod, click "Convert to Text..." and then select the unique xref format in the dialog:

Work in a copy of your master doc (or quit without saving after you publish) to preserve the live xrefs for future updates.

As for the PDF output, if you set the Initial View properties of the PDF file to "Single Page" and "Fit Page," even a live xref to something on the same page will have no visible effect.

Hope this is helpful....

-Bill

Hi Doug:

I'm sure that's true, but it doesn't answer my question.

To answer your question, you cannot disable the hyperlink on an x-ref in FrameMaker—it's built in.

I would still recommend using an x-ref to reference the table titles because you want the numbers to be able to update both in the tables and in the x-refs that refer to them. X-refs are the only way FrameMaker can handle that requirement.

You can log in a feature request here: Tracker. And in the meantime, you might explore CSS Styling Links​ and/or ask for help from the web designer at your organization.

~Barb

Are you certain that figure will always be on the same page?

I think that if you set up a special xref format with a specific character tag for just that xref, you can then set up the CSS to map it to an HTML tag that isn't blue underlined and maybe isn't even an active link. I'd hesitate on that, though, unless that graphic is literally the next thing seen on the page/screen and they don't have to scroll to see it.

Also, I am barely a novice in knowledge of HTML of any sort, so I don't know for certain this is do-able, just that I think it ought to be.

Ok, both answers make sense. And so does Jeff’s. You can disable the blue underlines vis CSS In your HTML output.

~Barb

Hi Doug:

I don't want to enter the figure number in the body text because the actual number might change in the future.

I'm not sure where variables come in to this. I would a.) use auto-numbers for the table titles because yes, the numbers may change in the future if you add or delete a table and then they will update automatically, and b.) an x-ref to refer to them because the x-ref will update after the tables/flow updates.

I hear what you are saying about x-refs being hyperlinks and not wanting one if it is on the same page, but you don't have to highlight it with a character format so the reader may never know it is there. And how are you publishing the file? PDF?

~Barb