[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 · May 25, 2003

Error dialog missing: Apparently, you can't save as PDF in FrameMaker if you are viewing a master page, but Frame does not tell you this. Instead, it runs through all the dialogs asking if you want to change the FM extension to PDF, if you want to overwrite an existing file, and which job options to use. Then, it simply does nothing! It would make a whole lot more sense to pop up an error message saying that you cannot save to PDF from a master page, saving wasted effort.

Report · May 26, 2003

There are quite a few dialogs that one is not told "until the end" that some operation is not possible. It would be nice (and standard) if the item were dimmed, or, at least you got your warning early in the processes.

Report · May 28, 2003

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.

There is a "Top of Column" paragraph pagination control... or are you referring to something different?

Report · May 28, 2003

Bill, I want a column break entry along side page break. Yes, I know how to do it.

Horace.

Report · May 29, 2003

In the "Custom Ruling and Shading" dialog box, add a button equivalent to "Select All" / "Deselect All".

A Select / Deselect All function was a valuable addition to the "Import Formats" dialog box in FrameMaker 7. A similar addition to the Custom Ruling and Shading dialog box would allow users to avoid sequentially clearing 6 check boxes prior to selectively applying table borders.

Report · May 29, 2003

A third-party alternative is Rick Quattro's TableCleaner plug-in
available at http://www.frameexpert.com

This allows you to remove all overrides (on either the selected or all
tables) with a single menu selection.

Report · May 29, 2003

Arnis:

Thanks, but not exactly what I want. My desire is based on the need to sometimes edit the appearance of a table. For example, to add or modify borders of certain "special" cells in a table.

To perform that task with existing versions of FrameMaker requires one to manually clear up to 7 (as in 8 total minus the 1 you want) checkboxes in order to select the specific border to modify; if one wishes to change existing settings one needs to mouse and click all over again.

A single Clear / Select All button, ala the one added to the Import Styles dialog box in F'Maker 7, would speed the selection process, just as it does when importing styles.

Cheers & thanks again,
Riley

Report · May 30, 2003

I'd like to see Adobe finally fix the line breaking/wordspace bug. Where the wordspace is considered a character forcing a word to break to the next line when the word alone would fit on the line above. This bug is VERY subtle but is essentially creating shorter lines than the measure allows for.

The ability to add baseline rules that run within paragraph text with control over baseline stance, length of the rule (including "spring-loaded") and its weight.

Kerning pair and four level (?) tracking table editors. Tracking would replace the spread % feature. A little finer typographic control couldn't hurt!

Ditto on the InDesign engine.

The paragraph styles windoid should show "next paragraph" styles indented under the base paragraph style as well as currently displayed. Good at-a-glance reference view.

Heading

 Subheading

 Bodytext

Nested Run-in paragraphs! Building a "five stage" paragraph can be accomplished without needing character styles with the added benefit of being able to add/cancel indents, tabs, change fonts etc., simply by pressing the return key. This would be displayed in the paragraph windoid as:

Product Name (1)

 Product Description (2)

 Product Number (3)

 Product Sizes (4)

 Product Prices (5)

This with the nested paragraph styles also displayed in the paragraph windoid as main paragraphs so you could drag a paragraph style under another paragraph style when needed for reuse, test sampling, etc., auto-updating the "next paragraph" option of the paragraph style it is placed under. This type of paragraph styling is much more feature rich "in the long run" than only applying character styles.

That's not asking too much is it?? ;-)

Andy

Report · Jun 12, 2003

I belive that someone has already asked for this but I'm reiterating it and perhaps adding my own variation on the theme:

IF opened from within a chapter-file window, THEN I'd like the scope of Find/Replace and Spell Check to default to Document rather than Book as they currently do.

Better yet would be the ability to specify the default behaviors of these (and other) tools in a startup initialization file or something...

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Report · Jun 16, 2003

Documentation: With all the index options available in FrameMaker, why is the FM book index so difficult to use? Is this book written in FrameMaker?

Running group titles in the headers would be a good start. Repeating the level1IX items (for example, "Equations" in the 2nd and 3rd columns on page 618 in the FM 7.0 index) would also help.

Also, the general content of the index might benefit by a visit from "Indexers, American, Society of, The." :-)

Report · Jun 18, 2003

When saving unstructured documents as XML any graphic that has been tagged with "Alt" text should retain this attribute in the saved XML file. Why implement "Alt" text just to loose it in the output file?

Phil Redman

Report · Jun 18, 2003

Adobe talks up FM and XML. I would like them to match the talk with deeds.

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jun 18, 2003

IF text is selected in a FrameMaker chapter-file window AND Find/Replace is selected THEN the selected text is automatically copied into the Find text-entry area.

At present it is necessary to Copy selected text, then Paste it into the Find text-entry area. Implementation of the requested feature would minimize keystrokes.

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Report · Jun 19, 2003

Upgrade the quality of the FrameMaker spell checker to late 20th Century standards. (Yes, I do know it's now the early 21st Century. I don't want to ask for too much...)

My request is not to make FrameMaker's spell checker more like Word's, as earlier posts to this thread have already done. (Indeed, I suggest not using Word as a model for anything...) Instead I'm suggesting that the overall quality of FrameMaker's spell checking logic and dictionary needs to be updated to more contemporary levels. For example:

The suggestions offered by FrameMaker 7 for putatively misspelled words is below -- far below -- the quality of the suggestions provided by the spell checker in my 5-years-old (and $40) Eudora e-mail client.
Word stemming and other now-routine spell checking features are evidently yet to be implemented in FrameMaker 7's spell checker

And so on...

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Report · Jun 19, 2003

Whenever the Find / Replace feature is chosen:

Automatically place the cursor inside the Find / Replace dialog box's Find text-entry area
Automatically highlight the existing contents of the Find text-entry area so that any typed characters immediately replace the existing contents

This behavior should occur regardless of whether the Find / Replace dialog box is already open. This allows one-click, "ESC, E, F", or best yet CTRL-F, positioning of the cursor to the Find text-entry area and allows immediate overwriting of the existing contents.

It also provides a quick way to get to the Find text-entry area with a simple keystroke combination rather than repeated Tab keystrokes, as is currently required.

As requested in earlier posts:

If the Find / Replace feature is chosen from within a document window, the scope of Find / Replace should default to "Document" rather than "Book." (This behavior would also be nice for the spell checker).
If text is selected when the Find Replace feature is chosen, that text should be automatically copied to the Find text-entry area.

Finally, it is nothing short of ludicrous to need to press the Tab key 6 times to transition from the Find text-entry area to the Replace text-entry area. IF the cursor is positioned in the Find text entry area, AND the Tab key is pressed, THEN the cursor should proceed immediately to the Replace text-entry area.

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Report · Jun 20, 2003

The following request is based on the fact that if one presses CTRL-G ("GoTo") while viewing a FrameMaker document file, the Go To Page dialog box (a) displays which line number contains the insertion point, and (b) allows line number input. (And no, I'm not going to request line numbering).

I suggest that FrameMaker's Find / Replace capability include a "Hypersearch" function that displays all of the occurences of a searched-for item.

The output of such a function would be a scrollable menu that lists each occurence of found item on a single line, along with that item's line number. Clicking on a list entry opens (if necessary) and displays that item.

This would allow faster location of a given search item than the curent serial process whereby one moves item-by-item through a chapter or book.

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Stable Search/Replace with more options, such that I could do things like search a subset of paragraph tags for any character followed by an adjacent paragraph return.

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Anchored frame tags/styles, in the same way tables, cross-references, paragraphs, characters, et al., have tags and styles.

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Sean,

Out of curiosity, what attributes of an anchored frame do you want to
store in a catalog and why?

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Well, I use three types of anchored frames, primarily.

1) For Equations.
2) Run-ins aligned right.
3) Below current line.

It would be nice to be able to assign the properties of these to a tag, such that I could globally update them, search for them, etc.

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Yes, it would be nice in FM, but it can also be done using
Framescript. Just use the UserString property to assign a name to the
"type" of anchored frame that you use when you insert it (using a
script). Then you can manage their attributes independently via
scripting.

Report · Jun 25, 2003

Right. I have FrameScript.

Honestly, my preference is to remain as close to out-of-the-box as poss. If you ever see me present/speak, that's my approach,

Cheers,

Sean

Report · Jun 26, 2003

A pagination option "double-sided, even number of pages, no more than one blank page".

Report · Jun 26, 2003

NIELS: You have that now, really, unless there is garbage on a page, a custom master applied, a bunch of extra carriage returns at the end of the file, and so on. Frame would not know when you did it intentionally or just screwed up.

Report · Jun 26, 2003

Erm ... no, not quite. I most often run into this when I change between the set of A5 landscape styles (presentations, on-screen and so on) and the set of A4 portrait. The "small" styles have page-break before on almost every heading; the "large" styles don't. The content reshuffles itself amiably enough into the larger lay-out, the page-count is even (as requested) ... and I have a slew of empty pages.

Hardly a major problem, of course, so more a question for a wishlist than a requirement for feature requests.