[Closed] FrameMaker 7.x/8 Feature Requests

Report · Aug 19, 2002

Time to start entering these. If you are unsure about whether FM has the feature yet, please do some research and figure it out before posting.

Please don't post requests for assistance in here, either.

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Horace: Frame already does that (right recto, left verso) unless told otherwise.

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Bill and Tim,

See the next post.

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Bill and Tim,

I've got a problem. You are right, if I open a new blank document, but my templates (originally designed by a so-called expert) have page 1 on the left, Page 2 on the right, etc. Hence my complaint/suggestion.

I also notice that the templates that come with FM 7.0 have the same "backward" pagination.

I guess I need to modify my templates to do page 1 on the right, 2 on the left, etc., if I can figure out how.

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Bill and Tim,

Please pardon my multiple post here. If I open a new blank double-sided document, it has the "backward" pagination; i.e. 1 on the left, 2 on the right, etc.

That's just exactly what I don't want.

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Set your document pagination.

Format > Page Layout > Pagination (in the FM file itself or in the book file... book file settings take precedence unless set to read from file.)

Report · Dec 12, 2002

Bill,

I already do that. Since I use consecutive page numbering, I set my front-matter file pagination in the book for double-sided to start on right and delete empty pages.

Then I set the remaining files for double-sided, next available, and delete empty pages. I insure that each section in the book begins on an odd-numbered page and ends on an even-numbered page, adding a special pagination sheet with a downward right-pointing arrow on it, if necessary.

And my first master page is still left 1 of 2. And the second is right 2 of 2.

I think that's backwards.

Report · Dec 12, 2002

The combination of "next available" and "delete empty" will cause your situation, if the first file ends on an odd page. Frame cannot have pages that simply don't exist, so it's taking the first page of the second file and placing on the back side of the first file.

Report · Dec 13, 2002

Right. Yo uneed to start the first file as Right and Make Page Count Even, and continue that theme throughout your book in order to get the correct book-like pagination you want.

Report · Dec 17, 2002

Hey, how about alowing more than one system variable for page numbering. I know I know, I can split the files and restart or number from whatever, but what I want to do is have page 1,2,3 then 3a, 3b, and then 4. I do hate MS Word, but something similar to section breaks and more than one page number format would probably work. If I can customize the numbering for paragraphs, why can't I make the damn page number behave the way I want it. Well, the people that I work for want.

Report · Dec 27, 2002

Something I think all word processing spell checkers should have an option for:
A network link to www.oed.com or www.m-w.com for both spelling and thesaurus. If the checker doesn't have a local copy in its database, go online before asking me because if I go there and find it, I'm not too happy about having done that.

Don't grey box my graphics. Make features that work on one platform work on the others. If I can import EPS under Solaris and see the result, I should be able to do the same in Windows. If I can import pdf in Windows and see the result, but not in Solaris, that's not acceptable. If I import either in either, but can't rotate the figure without getting a grey box, that's not acceptable.

A universal equation import/export mechanism. Might need industry collaberation. It's a bit of a hassle to get nice looking equations in Frame that have to be retyped into Mathematica the way they like it, retyped into matlab the way they like it, retyped to fit C code, retyped in MS equation editor for Powerpoint slides... etc. Exporting them as images is one thing, but I need them to be functional.

The last thing I'd suggest may already be possible, but I don't know how to do it. After importing graphics into an anchored frame, and overlaying graphics, and/or equation elements, I'd like to send the entire contents of that anchored frame out to PS file.... Essentially, I want to be able to solidify the contents of any given frame to it's own file for external manipulation if necessary.

Report · Dec 30, 2002

Re: linking to oed or m-w -- those are localized resources.

RE: gray boxes -- if FM can't read the intended file, what do you propose it display in the anchored frame instead of a gray box?

Re: equations -- I feel your pain. But getting all these vendors and programs to play nicely together is nearly impossible, else they would already play nice. Best solution is to create the equations in a choice stand-alone editor and save them as EPS for use in other apps (then edit the EPS if needed).

Report · Jan 01, 2003

Re: equations -- They could add support for MathML, the Mathematical Markup Language, a seemingly logical extension to the other markup languages Frame supports. This would allow the import of MathType equations, because they support it.

Report · Jan 07, 2003

A presumably simple FrameMaker-for-Windows feature that would be helpful to me today: The ability to Search-and-replace multiple lines of content.

It seems the search buffer and replace buffer are: (1) Not capable of searching past a line break; (2) Not capable of replacing multiple lines of text. I'd like very much to be able to replace up to 10 lines of existing content with up to 10 lines of new content in a single Search/Replace operation.

As it stands, I export my .fm chapter files to .mif, use some third-party tool to perform the replacment, then open the .mifs back into FrameMaker and re-save as .fm. Oof!

Report · Jan 07, 2003

Can you use a text inset?

Otherwise, I use Funduc's Search and Replace (for other things, I'm never S&Ring a whole para).

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jan 07, 2003

Individual removal of change bars would be a nice touch.

Report · Jan 08, 2003

> Individual removal of change bars would be a nice touch.

(Shortcuts below is for Windows)
1. Either select the text containing change bars, or use Find
(Ctrl+F) Character Format with dialog set to As Is (Shift+F8)
and only Change Bars turned on.
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+H. This toggles the change bar status.
Press twice if it doesn't work the first time, and hit
Ctrl+L if you're in a table.

Once you get the hang of it, it's a snap.
Remember that change bars is a character formatting property.

--
/Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
http://go.to/framers/

Report · Jan 07, 2003

Horace - it's not exactly elegant, but you can select the text and manually turn off the change bar in the Character Designer, or, if you don't have any overrides, selecting Default Para Font.

Report · Jan 08, 2003

Thanks, Tim and Thomas.

Report · Jan 09, 2003

After hearing the news this morning about the state of relations between India and Pakistan, I hope the Adobe Development group has good bomb shelters.

Report · Jan 09, 2003

Dunno--maybe Adobe's (and other tech companies) investment will help stabilize things? I do know we weren't supposed to export previous versions of FrameMaker. Now what? LOL!

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jan 09, 2003

Tim and Tom,

I couldn't get either method to delete individual change bars -- W2000, FM7.

Report · Jan 09, 2003

Thanks to an off-forum reply from Thomas, I fixed it. Have to check each individual character.

Report · Jan 10, 2003

We need to update a user variable for all files of a book, user variables could be set to a book

Report · Jan 10, 2003

Bisiaux:

Update the variable in one chapter.

Open your book.

With the book file open and having focus, press Ctrl+A to select all files in the book.

Click File > Import > Formats.

Select the open chapter (the one in which you set the variable) as the file FROM which you are importing.

Import Variables into your selected book files.

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jan 13, 2003

Sean, your solution works if they don't have any chapter-specific variables (which could be overwritten if they followed your instructions). For example, if they use a variable for Chapter Name, and the file from which they import has a Chapter Name defined, ALL chapters would now have the same name. Oops!

We need book-level AND chapter-level variables -- or users need to plan their variables very carefully -- OR they can create special files that do not contain definitions for chapter-specific variables.

While we're discussing features. It's kind of annoying to have "Body" pop up as a default paragraph style, for example in text frames you draw for callouts, when you have long ago deleted "Body" and are using your own naming conventions for styles, e.g. "b body"... Could we define a "default style" for a file/book?

s