[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 · Apr 25, 2003

Convert the FM drawing tools into an embedded version of SVG Draw. Allow the structured version of FM to see the SVG markup in structure view whenever the drawing is selected. Allow objects within embedded SVG graphics to be hyperlinked/xref'd to elements in the body of the document (would be great for flowcharts that refer to specific sections in a document)

Report · Apr 25, 2003

Assuming Adobe is coming out with a MacOS X native version, I would like to see it have full support for multi-threading. I would like to be able to generate/update a book while simultaneously editing another FM file. Or generate/update multiple books simultaneously, while browsing the web, downloading a movie trailer, riding a stationary bicycle, and chewing gum at the same time.

Report · Apr 29, 2003

Add a feature to move text to the next page, but stay on the page you moved the text from.

Report · Apr 29, 2003

Horace,

?? Can you explain this one a bit and add why (or under what
conditions) you need it?

Report · Apr 29, 2003

You mean like inserting a page break? Can you 'splain?

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Apr 29, 2003

Simple. I want to move some text from one page to the next. In development work, I do this all the time. I do Alt SBAS, and the text moves. But I have to go back to the previous page. Why can't I just stay there.

Report · Apr 29, 2003

Still not sure . . . in FrameMaker, the content flows . . . layout is important, to grab text on page 5 and put it on page 6 . . . leaves a vacuum on page 5 that is handled how? In development work, layout is unimportant, right?

For example, you are on page 5 and you have 10 steps. The steps are good but you want them on page 6. Why? Is there some content that needs to go before the ten steps? Then, add the content and the steps will end up on page 6 anyway and you won't need to move anywhere.

I guess I still miss the point . ...

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Apr 29, 2003

When you move text to the following page, you are moving your point of insertion to the following page. It only makes sense that the focus is now on the page you moved the content to.

Or are you asking for something different?

Report · Apr 29, 2003

Horace -- Just press the left arrrow key and you're back.

Report · Apr 29, 2003

The ability to associate a conditional text tag with a paragraph tag. Perhaps a font tag also.
Em

Report · Apr 30, 2003

Thanks, Tim.

Report · May 05, 2003

To Sean (and everyone else):

One of the features you're asking for, in an upcoming version of FM, is the ability to easily swap one paragraph style for another. There is a way to accomplish this in the present version, that I find rather easy:

Open the Paragraph Designer.
Set the drop-down menu Paragraph Tag to the style you want.
Press the drop-down menu Commands and select Global Update Options.
In the subwindow, select the radio button All Tagged.
From the drop-down menu, select the style you want to exchange.

Best regards,

Mikael

Report · May 06, 2003

Good tip. In all my years of this thing, I have never screwed around with that wee dialog to see what I could really do with it.

Report · May 09, 2003

round-tripping conditional content in xml

William Talcott "Round-tripping conditional content in XML" 5/9/03 5:09am

Report · May 09, 2003

Associate character styles or my choice to the "B" bold, "I" Italic, and "U" Underline buttons.

Report · May 12, 2003

1. In Character Designer, replace (preferred) or supplement "As Is" with "From Pgf Tag." This is more in keeping with FM's "avoid ad hoc formatting" paradigm. And, it would help users adhere to that rule by eliminating the overrides caused by applying multiple char tags to the same text.

2. Enable a char tag's font size to be defined relative to the pgf tag. For instance, size = pgf tag + 3pt.

3. For cryin' out loud, remember (via simple drop-down lists) my last 5 or 6 Find and Change text entries.

4. Speaking of Find/Change, for named objects -- such as pgf and char tags, xref formats, and variables -- I'd like to be able to choose from a list instead of having to type the name.

5. I'd also like to specify multiple Find/Change criteria (like, gulp, Word). For instance, find the string "foobar" with char tag "abc" in a pgf tagged "body" and change it to "FooBarPro" with char tag "xyz."

Report · May 12, 2003

I second item 1 from Richard's post:

"1. In Character Designer, replace (preferred) or supplement "As Is" with "From Pgf Tag."

I interpret Richard's suggestion to mean that the font size would be derived from the paragraph where the named character attribute was applied rather than from where the character style was created. This would be much superior to the current "As Is" setting which applies the specific font size of the paragraph where the insertion point was at the time the Character Style is created.

Report · May 12, 2003

Here's my wish list:

- some type of LAYER MENU. I have a heck of a time trying to find or select objects that get accidentally hidden behind others. Worse, I occasionally accidentally create objects that I dont' even know are there-- such as accidentally duplicating a frame when I'm only trying to move it.

- OVERLAPPING CHARACTER FORMATS. Applying a character format removes underlying character formats. For example, I have a character tag "ScientificName" which italicizes the Latin name of a fish. Sometimes that text falls on a line whose spacing I need to typefit. So I apply a "95%Stretch" character tag to the line to make it fit better. But this overwrites and deletes the "ScientificName" character tag, so I can no longer make universal format changes to all scientific names in the document, merely by updating the ScientificName character tag.

- fix the runaround scrolling bug

- MIDDLE OF PAGE ANCHORED GRAPHIC. I'd like a way to place an anchored graphic that partially overlaps both columns in a two-column layout (for example, a 3" square graphic smack dab in the middle of the page, with runaround in both columns. Yes, it can be done as an unanchored graphic placed on the page outside the text frame, but it won't flow to the page with appropriate text, if text is updated.

- FORMAT LIST, ala that provided by Systec Toolbox. I can't believe Frame doesn't have a way to list all formats with settings for an easy overview of a document's settings.

- DROP SHADOW creation, with drop shadow having runaround properties separate from graphic (for example, so text can runaround graphic but overprint drop shadow

Report · May 13, 2003

- A way to set Distiller as the default printer for FrameMaker ONLY! I currently use a batch file to set Distiller as the default when Frame loads, but then when I try to print from other applications, I have to remember to choose my LaserJet or I end up with a Postscript file, instead!

Report · May 13, 2003

From Richard's post:

For cryin' out loud, remember (via simple drop-down lists) my last 5 or 6 Find and Change text entries.

Yes, please! And not only the text - I'd like it to remember all the settings I was searching for (text, para tag, character tag etc etc)

Report · May 14, 2003

Although FrameMaker was designed for, and is the cat's meow for, long documents, I would like to see a feature, applicable to some of the short documents I've done lately, to combine some of the front matter on a single page. For example, the manual I'm doing at the moment could easily combine TOC, LOF, and LOT on one sheet. Now I could revert to bygone days, get out my scissors and rubber cement (if I could find any), and make a single-page front matter; but, it wouldn't pass my documentation department standards and certainly wouldn't pdf.

Or maybe it can be done now, and I just don't know how.

Report · May 14, 2003

> the manual I'm doing at the moment could easily combine TOC, LOF, and LOT
on one sheet.
> Or maybe it can be done now, and I just don't know how.

Generate the TOC, LOF and LOT files as usual.
Then import them by reference into your single-page front matter document.
You can have several text insets on a page, but each generated file must
be its own document.

--
/Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
Technical Communicator, Uppsala, Sweden
http://go.to/framers/

Report · May 14, 2003

Horace,

Use text insets to pull the three generated files into a new one.

Report · May 14, 2003

Thanks, Arnis and Thomas. I'll try that. I've never used text insets. Now's the time to learn.

Another wish. Put a column break in the menu along with page breaks. I know how to do it, but an entry here would be nice.

Report · May 18, 2003

It's early in the morning, so I feel sufficiently energetic to contribute to this annual exercise in Frame Futility. Here goes:

1. Functioning footnotes
2. Endnotes
3. Ability to use foot -and endnotes concurrently
4. Unicode /Opentype
5. Fix the bug ('feature'?) that breaks (see FM 7 manual p 303): Format->PageLayout->LineLayout->Feather{On} on pages that contain graphics set to RunAroundContour or to RunAroundBoundingBox, or anchored frames set to RunIntoParagraph. Having given up foot -and endnote hope, this is my present pet peeve. Manual balancing of text on facing body pages that contain any of the above objects, is a serious headache and not a very feasable production proposition. Strangely enough, InDesign seems to suffer from the same affliction, and, as pretty as it prints, it can't do sideheads. (Don't know about PageMaker, Ventura and similarly moribund feature creatures.)