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Text background color on tabs

Explorer ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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Hello, I'm trying to create text in the paragraph designer with a background color. I'm utilizing the numbering properties and it would be
S:\t<n=1>\t

It almost works, but the tabs don't have the colored background and spacing doesn't work since it isn't consistent with the size of the spacing. Looking for any other work arounds or suggestions. The goal is to have a colored box background with equal spacing for each number in the center of the background square.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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There are two places, where you can work with background color in Paragraph Designer: Font and Advanced:

 

FrameMakerdk_2-1736875996962.png

 

 


Bjørn Smalbro - FrameMaker.dk

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Explorer ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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Thanks Bjørn, unfortunatley I don't want the entire paragraph the background color. The font background color, doesn't work within a tab. All other copy will be colored with the background, but the tab spacing doesn't pick up the color. 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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DebralynnMedDev: …unfortunatley I don't want the entire paragraph the background color.

Actually, you might, depending on progress with the An approach.
Create a Character Format, perhaps named "Plain",
attributes set to As-Is for everything except
Background: None
and apply it to the range of the para that you don't want to have the tab simulation.

Update: Alas, the tabbed region is still not BG-color

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Explorer ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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Isn't it so frustrating? 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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Plan T might be a borderless Table approach, but that would require separate rows for the AN heading and the item content.

The entire cell content will be consistent, but it will also extend to the full width of the item content, unless further gamed by using two columns, and a Straddle for the item content.

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Explorer ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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I have it in a hanging column. I am trying to easily have a box with a number in it as a step, but I may just have to make artwork and use an anchored frame. I'll try a table too.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

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Can you mock up a picture of what you are trying to achieve and post it? Thanks!

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Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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DebralynnMedDev_1-1736948178952.png

Hopefully this helps.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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If you have only a few of these, inserting a graphic is certainly an easy option.

 

If you have many of these, it may be tough to use the Character Style to get it all done via the numbering properties, but you actually have the option of using the full Paragraph Designer for your number as a separate paragraph in two different ways.

  1. Since you have a Side Head layout, you can create a separate paragraph style that sets the Pagination settings of the Paragraph Designer to Sidehead
  2. You can also set the numbering paragraph pagination to Run-In Head.

 

Using either 1 or 2, setting the Background to Blue in the Font properties then gets you the color.

Using a Center tab (and/or other characters) gets you the horizontal position of characters and the width of the box.

You may need to fiddle with Line Space for the height.

You may need to fiddle with a MIF file for the baseline shift, which I have documented in the MIF section of FrameMaker - Working with Content

 

Let us know how it goes!

 

 

-Matt Sullivan
FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

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Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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Hi Matt, that is a good solution. I edited my master pages to have a smaller hanging column and smaller gutter. I feel that the numbers could be baseline shifted down one, but I haven't had time to explore MIF yet and this has to be ready by tomorrow morning so it will have to be good enough. Thank you for the sugesstion. I'll have to pivot a bit on a portion of the design, but I'm ok with that.

DebralynnMedDev_0-1736959974807.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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Awesome!

The MIF is pretty easy, but because the baseline shift isn't in the Paragraph Designer, it's a fragile solution that breaks if/when you update the other properties of the tag.

 

-Matt Sullivan
FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

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Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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Oh, thats good to know. Based on how many times they make me change things, I'd want to do that at the last moment.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

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As long as you store the MIF in a "findable" spot, reapplying the baseline shift is easy...just another Import Formats.

Ditto with changing the baseline to a different value; just edit the value in a text file and reimport.

 

-Matt Sullivan
FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant

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