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defaultcbj1p6qywajq
Inspiring
May 25, 2022
Question

Dropdown Accordion in FrameMaker?

  • May 25, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 544 views

I must be full of questions this week.

 

Does FrameMaker have the ability to create dropdown accordions?  If so, where can I get the info on it? I have questions that are redundant in my document for different job titles and I wanted to save some real estate using an accordion called Common Questions.

 

I suppose the other question is whether the accordion also translates into the PDF or Word doc when created. My experience tells me these are typical for HTML, XML, etc. but not sure about printed docs.

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Braniac
    August 8, 2022

    Hi Ken,

    That's a great question, so I put together a video for you and added it to both my structured and unstructured FrameMaker authoring courses. (see video below)

    Do you want the expand/collapse functionality for the author, or the audience?
    If for the author, you can only do this in a structured document. Here's a video showing how to enable the View > Element Boundaries (as Tags) option to collapse sections while authoring, but without affecting output.

    If for the audience, you can use the Insert > Dynamic HTML Effects options to create expand/collapse areas in HTML-based output.

    I don't know of a way to create the same in PDF, but since PDF is a page-based output, I would be concerned about the effect it would have on pagination and white space required for the expanded areas.

    -Matt SullivanFrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
      D
      defaultcbj1p6qywajqAuthor
      Inspiring
      August 8, 2022

      Thanks Matt! I will keep this in my notes for later. For now, we are using page-based PDFs, so wouldn't be using it for now.

       

      Thanks!

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Braniac
      May 25, 2022

      Didn't that used to be in the Special > Publish Options > Dynamic HTML Effects > Drop Down Caption/Body and Expanding Text Caption/Body? 

      D
      defaultcbj1p6qywajqAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 25, 2022

      Yes, it is a bit different now. There is a Dynamic HTML Effects, and Drop Down, but I am not posting HTML.

       

      Thanks!

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Braniac
      May 25, 2022

      Sorry, missed the "print to PDF" bit there.

      LinSims
      LinSims
      Braniac
      May 25, 2022

      Others may know better, but to the best of my knowledge, you can't accordian text in a FrameMaker file.

       

      I believe text can be accordianed in a PDF but you have to use postscript coding to do it. Check Shlomo Peretz's Microtypes website, I think he has a plugin that does that. If he doesn't have something to do that, no one else is likely to.

       

      No idea about what happens if you transfer Frame to Word. I tend to be going the other way.

        D
        defaultcbj1p6qywajqAuthor
        Inspiring
        May 25, 2022

        Thanks!

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