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OK,
If anyone has used the Equations pod and can provide insight in how to solve this problem, I would be forever grateful. Here's the story:
I have a very equation dense manual that I am producing in Framemaker 2019 for all the text, imported graphics, etc. I have a sub-contractor who is working in an equation editor to define and develop all the necessary equations. These equations are organized in a Word document. I take a screen capture of the full equation and import it into an anchored frame in my document. I am doing it this way because each equation must be used in two separate manuals (the manual that I am currently writing and a manual that consists of only the equations - nothing more). As a result, after I take a screen capture and store the capture in a central location, I can import the equation into each document. If the equation must be edited/updated, then the equation is updated in the Word document, I retake the screen capture w/ the same name and save it to the original location to simultaneously update the two docs. This part has worked flawlessly.
What I MUST do in the manual that I am currently writing is tabulate each equation variable in a two column table. The left column is the variable, and the right column is the variable definition. For the left column of the table, I have a paragraph tag defined as TableEquationVariable, and this tag is set to Times New Roman, 12 point, Italic. I also have two character tags with everything set to As-is - Superscript and Subscript - and as the name implies the ONLY property that I have set for these tags is Superscript or Subscript. For variables that require a single superscript or subscript, this works just fine, for example, Clumen,t. However, the one thing that I have noticed is that after applying either of these tags, the subscript or superscript visually appear smaller in font size but I have confirmed that they are indeed 12pt in size. I guess it's just the way that FM applies this scripting property falsely makes the font appear smaller than it is.
The rub is that the vast majority of these variables contain both subscripts and superscripts. For example, Cj,lumen,t would be a C with a "j" subscript and perfectly aligned underneath the "j" would be the "lumen, t" subscript.
For such a variable, I insert a new Medium Equation, and w/ the ? mark selected, I enter a capital C. Under symbols, I then Start String, enter a "j" and then End String. I then position the selected string of "j" as needed for a superscript. I then place the cursor after the "j", and then Start String, enter "lumen, t" and then End String. I then position the selected string appropriately as a subscript. The problem is that the font size of these subscripts and superscripts visually appears MUCH larger than the font of the superscript or subscripts for which I manually applied the character tag. So, I created an additional Character Tag called EquationVariables_SuperSubScript and set everything to as-is OTHER than the font size and set that to a font size of 8 pt - something in an attempt to get these strings to look like the free-handed subscript/superscripts in other variables. In the Equation Fonts dialog box, I mapped Strings to this new tag, but. . . . this doesn't seem to make one darned bit of difference.
The strings appear to remain noticeably larger in font size than I want.
I have tried the other route w/ Small Equation size but then the C is MUCH smaller than the required font. . etc. I am just going in circles but from the other direction.
So I tried a third approach where the C was just freely entered text, and then I entered each string as independent equation and that solved the font size issue for whatever reason, but positioning one string as a subscript and one as a superscript is simply not feasible.
If anyone can point me in the right direction to resolving this dilemma, I would be most appreciative. It is definitely a visual issue that my SMEs have flagged and they want it resolved (understandably) before the final publication of this manual and I am just bonkers at this point.
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The legacy Equations pods hasn't been updated in this century, as far as I know. It may be still in FM only to support existing documents with FM equations in them already. Typography in FM EQs was never its strong point.
Some time ago, FM got MathML support, and although I haven't used it, I'd use it for any new equations.
Separately, you have authoring workflow & stewardship requirements.
If the equations are being authored separately, I'd be thinking about importing them as MathML objects, or at least XML, and not raster screenshots.