Frame6 wish list - results (long)
Michael Heine
the 'Frame6 Wish List' thread seems to have run its course -- the results
are appended. The list will be forwarded to Frame via the Frequently
Requested Enhancements list, courtesy of Lindsey Martin at Simon Fraser U.
The Mother of all Frame Six Wish Lists -- compiled by Mike Heine
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
almo...@aol.com (Alan Morgenegg)
I was at a demo of Frame 5 given for one of my clients today. At
the demo, numerous complaints were made that user reguested
changes had not been incorporated into the new release. Of course
we got the typical marketing speak answers to the complaints, the
ones you hear everywhere these days, but the interesting thing
they told us was that they are deciding at this moment what
changes will be made to Frame 6, so this is the best time to send
in your wish lists. They claim they do consider these lists, so I
thought I would get the word out. I know that I want to see a few
things changed like:
* A pulldown for Index marker codes like <startrange> in the
marker window
* Named Frames, like tables, so I can set Frames the way I want
and then call them up instead of having to reformat them over
and over again, or use a frame in a table because I can't name
a frame.
* Rework the Set Up dialog box for documents in the book. I have
the hardest time explaining to other people that the Prefix and
Suffix fields don't affect the page numbering, only the page
reprentation in the index.
* A system variable that allows for double-folio page numbering.
* The ability to import user variables seperate from system
variables so I can change say a book name variable in every
file, regardless of whether running header/footer #1 was used
differently in the chapter and the table of contents.
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bo...@wi.leidenuniv.nl (E.J.W. Boers)
- The Equation Editor can be improved: more symbols (try writing a
Z specification in FrameMaker....), better scaling of brackets.
FrameMaker should have a look at what TeX output looks like.
- What about a hierarchical structure of the paragraph formats?
Changing a setting should be 'propagated' to all dependent
formats. It should be possible to say: left margin 0.5 cm more
to the right of my parent format.
- Again: look at TeX: many research groups have large files of
references in the bib-format (bibtex), isn't it possible to
have a nice interface to those files from within FrameMaker?
Or else: can a similar kind of technique be implemented in
FrameMaker itself?
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j...@hials.no (Jan Gunnar Moe)
A completely reworked math editor. Important points are:
1) Inline equations should not increase line spacing when this
is not necessary. ( (La)TeX behavior is good and may be used
as model.)
2) Flexibility of editor should be as good as that of MathType
from Design Science or better. What is better? Well, take a
look at Scientific Workplace from TCI.
3) Printed output should be as good as that from MathType.
Of course, Frame may do as MS and buy a subset from MathType.
However, they should not rely on OLE until this is grown up.
MS Word is not stable when too many equations are put in.
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slewis@bgacom (Scott Lewis)
A simple one. I think the necessity to create a one-celled tabel
and place a graphic in it to be able to have a figure title is
silly. With Ventura just add a frame, import the graphic, then
tell Venura where you want the caption (above, below, left or
right). Why can't Frame do this?
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1. endnotes
2. tables should have the float properties of anchored frames
3. 'frame [box] around an anchored frame' as property of the
anchored frame
4. text frame as anchored frame -- 'box around anchored text
frame' as property of the frame
5. search and replace across books
6. spell check across books.
7. a _decent_ thesaurus
8. macro recorder (Windows version)
9. changes in the interface of book setup/add files. The scroll
list/pick list is set to first entry every time you pick
something from the list. It's enought to drive me batty (Win
version).
10. hierarchical formatting tags (already mentioned)
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ju...@nyc.pipeline.com(bob jude ferrante)
--Ability to search and replace on all docs in a book (!!!!)
--Ability to update cross-refs automatically if files are located
in separate, parallel directories that are moved or renamed on a
network
--Same as above for all files imported by reference
--REAL WINDOWS HELP SUPPORT, (not the bogus pseudo-support we have
now) including:
* BOOK file becomes WinHelp PRJ file with multiple references to
files (most help files of any size are developed as multi-file
projects,no??)
* Cross-refs and become hypertext jumps
* Index entries become search keywords
* Ability to declare which paragraph styles become what styles
in a help file (the way HTML export "works" now, but permanent
so we don't have to re-declare each time)
--Preview graphics and other files before importing
--Intelligent SGML implementation with ability to define and
implement a DTD (because FrameBuilder--I beta'd this--is the
lamest product on the planet)
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jfd...@execpc.com (Jerry F. Davis)
1. Table Sort (sort on up to say 4 columns (asc. or desc.) - user
pickable)
2. Select all in Table.
3. Select 1 column in Table. This sounds ludicrous until you try
to select a column that spans 60 pages!
4. Improved Graphics Handling:
It is a REAL PAIN in windows to pick 1 graphic out of many.
Especially if they are on top of each other. Maybe something
like, being able to 1. rubber band select a few graphics;
2. use something like ctl-right_arrow to jump between each
graphic that in that selection to select the one that you
really want.
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nmou...@mercator.math.uwaterloo.ca (Naji Mouawad)
1. Allowance for including files in files! The flat model is
archaic and should be replaced
2. Multiple undos and redos! The one redo/undo is silly!
3. When cutting and pasting paragraphs containing cross-
references, I'd like to decide what Frame does with the
references? Are they kept the same or updated or deleted or
what!
4. a minor math mode for variables a la Latex: you enter $v_i$ and
it turns into v subscript i.
5. Suppose I declare a variable QMath to be <MyMathFont>Q<Default
Font> and suppose MyMathFont is Lucida Bright 12 points. Now,
when I use QMath in a paragraph where the font size is 13, all
is well. But If I ever use QMath in say a paragraph set to 22
(such as a title) then QMath looks ridiculously small.
Likewise, if I use QMath in a foot-note, it looks ridiculously
big! There should be an option that allows us to specify the
size of a character tag relative to that of the default size
of the paragraph in which the character exists!
6. Allow us to open more than one window of the same file!
This is commo place in many eitors and Frame lacks this
feature.
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j...@mystery-train.msilink.com (J.B. Nicholson-Owens)
Ability to search and replace on all docs in a book (!!!!) --
I can't believe they haven't done this by now. This has got to be
one of the most requested features for Frame ever.
Ability to update cross-refs automatically if files are located
in separate, parallel directories that are moved or renamed on
a network --- Same as above for all files imported by reference
This should be automatic--it should be irrelevant where the files
are coming from. The end-user should not have to be bothered with
technical details like this.
If they ever decide to pick up NEXTSTEP support, I'd like to see
real NS Help. But I doubt that will ever come to pass.
It's a shame that TeX isn't a GUI app; one might be able to get a
lot better referencing abilities with it.
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d...@kurango.cit.gu.edu.au (David Billington)
] A completely reworked math editor.
] Important pioints are:
]
] 1) Inline equations should not increase line spacing when
this is not necessary. ( (La)TeX behavior is good and may
be used as model.)
]
] 2) Flexibility of editor should be as good as that of
MathType from Design Science or better. What is better?
Well, take a look at Scientific Workplace from TCI.
] 3) Printed output should be as good as that from MathType.
] Jan Gunnar
I completely agree with Jan Gunnar; however I would make the
following plea.
I use FrameMaker for the Mac to write lecture notes and academic
papers. A lot of journals now prefer their submissions in LaTeX
using their own style files. It would be good to be able to write
a paper in FrameMaker (using the improved FrameMath features as
outlined in 1, 2, and 3 above) and then be able to export it as
LaTeX so that the journal's style file can easily be used. This
should not be too difficult as MathType can export as TeX, and
Expressionist (simmilar to MathType) can export as LaTeX and TeX.
Moreover Scientific Workplace is basically a decent frontend for
LaTeX, which works on Windows at present but is going to have a
Mac version sometime (in 96 I think). So Frame needs to make these
enhancements soon, that is in version 6, if they are to remain
leaders in the field of scientific document preparation.
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a decent equation editor,
table or text sorting capability
the ability to apply (unapply) global overrides to font sizes and
line spacings for producing draught versions of documents more
efficiently (or hierarchical tags).
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mdm...@aol.com (MDMSEPS)
- An easy way to do reverse (white on black) text boxes.
- Automated "Continued" heads (i.e., "Texas continued" at the top
of columns)
- Automated side tabs (or "thumb tabs" such as for the alphabet)
- A programmatic way of intercepting the pagination process so
decisions about composition can be made based on the content of
the current page.
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Bob Thomas <r...@dr.att.com>
1) The ability to have a paragraph tag invoke a custom master
page.
2) The ability to use constructions such as the following for
compound page numbers in the TOC definitions on Reference
pages:
Heading1TOC: <$paranumonly[Chapter]>-#
With this type of construction, we could get rid of that
annoying prefix definition in the "file setup" dialog box.
This construction would also be handy for user-defined
varialbles and for collected page numbers in indexes.
3) Drag-and-drop cut-and-paste.
4) The ability to apply selected objects on a document's master
page to the master page definitions in one or more other
documents in a book.
5) Make avaialable an optional caption text column for frames.
This feature would be a no-brainer to implement since the code
to do this would probably be very similar to code used for
tables. Although a similar effect can be achieved with a one-
celled table, I'd just as soon not have to fool around with
the extra anchor (novices also find this concept somewhat
confusing).
6) Make it possible to start Frame without the #$@& snap feature
being turned on. (This is so basic and so frequently
requested that I just have to wonder what whether Frame
understands the concept of customer satisfaction.)
7) Let MS Windows users pick some color other than white for the
background. Once again, here is a frequently requested feature
that would be simple to do but is continuously disregarded by
Frame.
Also, add my vote for a book-level search and replace tool. I
mean who really wants to save everything as MIF and use a grep/ex
shell script to do this basic function?
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From: ste...@iglou.com (Steven Weller)
Inside and outside alignment as well as left and right (for *all*
objects).
Popup paragraph tag list for fast contextual navigation. It should
work something like this: <modifier>-click on any heading makes a
hierarchy of paragraph tags appear. Just move and release when you
get to the place you want and you are put there.
Editing markers. "Take me back to where I just came from".
Split windows.
Hierarchical paragraph tags. In fact 'families' might be better.
Shorthands for applying character formats.
"Save all files in book as"
Use of color and grey when available on the platform. Much more
pleasant to use than dotted and dashed lines. (Quark is nice in
this respect). Plus the ability to turn off all graying of
backgrounds for viewing.
Guides.
Standard windows/pallette layout for various size monitors plus
roll-your own.
An outliner.
Save as Word 5.1, read Word 5.1. Lack of this feature is probably
costing more sales than any other.
Output in plain ASCII text, formatted for a monospaced font. Use *
for bullets, multiple spaces to perform alignment etc.
Make intelligent quotes and intelligent spaces a paragraph
attribute, not a document attribute. I have lotsa problems mixing
monospaced code listings and fragments in with otherwise regular
text.
Allow the conversion of tables to tab-delimited text. Put a tab
between each cell text and a carriage return at the end of each
row. Don't separate each cell with a carriage return as it is now
done. This makes it impossibe to import into anything else.
Add an information area to the book window. When I select a
document from my book, tell me all about it.
How about a "need space" setting for each paragraph style?
This works as follows. Say the space needed is 2". Then the
paragraph is shifted to the next column if less than 2" remains in
the current column. This is not the same as putting 2" as the
space above: that will space all the paragraphs 2" apart that are
not at the top of the column.
The reason for needing the 2" is usually that I have related
information that will only make sense if it is tied closely to the
heading, but I have no wish to tie all the paragraphs that follow
together with "keep with previous", often because this would
involve creating whole new paragraph styles just for this special
case.
I'd also like to see left page and right page variants for
paragraph settings and the like: use this paragraph style on the
left side, use these settings. On the right, use those. Now spread
that idea to frames, tables, etc. and you have a system that
allows for some seriousflexibility.
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jvan...@lfs.loal.com (J.VanHorne)
1.Tables should be rotateable (including the table title) on a
page without having to apply a rotated master page.
2.Fix freeze pagination bugs with paragraphs and tables. For the
latter, Frame could write an API that does what I do by hand to
work around this problem:
1.Split a multi-page table into several one-page tables with the
same table format.
2.Do not increment the table title number on the table pages
following the first table page. Just duplicate the table
title text.
3.Put the Table Sheet variable in as text on all table pages.
Granted this SOUNDS simple, but try it with an 50-page parts
list table!! Of course, you would need a reverse of this
procedure to unfreeze pagination.
3.Having missed the thread about hierarchical formatting tags, I
would like to suggest (in numbered-list paragraphs) an
additional property to add "relative indenting". For
example, you are in a numbered list, and want to start another
list within that list, but indented another 1/4". This is
easy to do in LaTeX, but in Frame I must set up another
paragraph format or change the indenting by hand,.time-
consuming. A property where you could choose the paragraph
format and select "relative indenting" to indent the new
paragraph another 1/4" would be VERY nice.
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ae...@oz.b17c.ingr.com (Adam E. Ek)
1.. Spell check entire book.
2. Search and replace in entire book.
3. Make variable building blocks such as Running H/F 2
<$paratext[ChapterTitle]> able to look in earlier files in a
book if there is no ChapterTitle paragraph in the current file.
4. "Continued" entries at the top of Index columns. If I have
second or third level index entries at the top of a column, I
want the first (or first and second) level entries shown too.
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sie...@ora.com (Mike Sierra)
> 1. Spell check entire book.
> 2. Search and replace in entire book.
I asked a Frame representative at a trade show why these features
weren't present in the 5.0 release, and he said something to the
effect that it was on their list of things to do but that they
didn't get around to it. That drove me quite up the wall.
> 3. Make variable building blocks such as Running H/F 2
> <$paratext[ChapterTitle]> able to look in earlier files in
> a book if there is no ChapterTitle paragraph in the
> current file.
Absolutely. I'm currently kludging this very problem by inserting
a cross-reference (at the top of each file in a hidden paragraph)
that points to the title of a section divider page several
chapters back.
4. In addition to "Left," "Right," "Center," and "Justified," you
should be able to justify a paragraph to the "Inside" and
"Outside" of the margin.
5. I would like to be able to float a table to the bottom of a
page. Why can you do this for anchored frames but not tables?
6. I would like to be able to automatically bind a page layout to
a paragraph, so that if the paragraph moves, the page layout
moves with it. I'd also like to be able to automatically remove
the default left/right page layout from any page in a document
that is blank. (These don't always appear at the end of a
file.)
7. I sure wouldn't mind being able to search for format overrides
in text, or to report on them on a document-wide basis. I'd
also like to be able to search for selected paragraph formats
(not tags) the same way that I can search for character
formats. I'd also like to be able to generate a report on
character tag usage.
8. Hierarchical tagging, or at least an external utility that
enabled this.
9. Sorting of paragraphs and table columns.
> 3.Having missed the thread about hierarchical formatting tags,
> I would like to suggest (in numbered-list paragraphs) an
> additional property to add "relative indenting". For
> example, you are in a numbered list, and want to start another
> list within that list, but indented another 1/4". This
> is easy to do in LaTeX, but in Frame I must set up another
> paragraph format or change the indenting by hand.time
> consuming. A property where you could choose the paragraph
> format and select "relative indenting" to indent the new
> paragraph another 1/4" would be VERY nice.
I enthusiastically agree with this one. It would make a lot of
sense from the SGML point of view as well. All you'd have to do
is take the left indent of the previous paragraph to be the
"margin."
I currently include a bunch of extra tags in my templates that are
indented variants of bullet lists, numbered lists, and itemized
lists. They're all strictly unnecessary in terms of the kind of
information they represent. I then have to distinguish between
top-level numbered lists (numbered 1, 2, 3...) that are indented
on the page because they appear within a bullet or itemized list,
and second-level numbered lists (a, b, ...) that are indented
because they are nested within another numbered list!
------------------------------------------------------------------
"joe.t.hall" <pax>
Output line numbering
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a621...@c1.cc.univie.ac.at (Michael Alexander)
An outline processor as part of the main product with dynamic
updates would be *very nice.
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sc...@tcville.es.hac.com (Scott Channell, 23652, 74-25-44 )
I'm not too keen on the hierarchical formatting tags -- a useful
feature but strikes me as a quick-fix kluge. *But* the relative
indenting is something that I've wanted for a long time -- you
could now create a series of nested paragraph types which can be
used for all indentations, rather than having to create a new
series of paragraph types for each initial indentation.
Paragraph styles attached to table cells. MIF allows for this but
Maker ignores all table-defined styles except for the last-most
defined paragraph. Frame, unfortunately, disavows any knowledge
that you can attach paragraph styles to a table-definition. Oh
well.
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n.la...@unsw.edu.au (Neil lavitt)
> I would love to see the inclusion of support for a cross
> platform solution to bibliographic management similar to
> what BibTEX does for TEX.
I believe that frame is also in graet need of a facelift.
If Frame or Adobe? addressed these issues then they would go a
long way towards making frame a viable solution to technical
writers.
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Here are my top picks. Some are repeats only because I want Frame
to know that there is demand for them. I haven't found good work-
arounds for any of these, but there shouldn't BE work-arounds. It
makes me so angry that most of the stuff posted to this group
falls under the category of "Joe Schmoe's work-around for problem
X." Hint hint.
* More book-wide manipulation
- search and replace
- spell checking
- hiding/showing conditional text indicators
- changing paragrah and character tags
- etc.
* When you import styles, there should be an option of whether to
add the imported styles to the exisiting styles OR replace the
existing styles with the imports.
* "leave room for sideheads" only in selected paragraph tags. I
don't like having to leave a wide margin on the side of every
page in a chapter/book simply because I need to have a
sidehead in one or two places.
* Automatically continued table and figure names for those that
span more than one page.
* Drag-and-drop cell manipulation for reorganizing tables
* AGH! Better updating capabilities for Index and TOC!
- The entries should stay under their headings when you update.
You shouldn't have to reformat the whole thing every
time.
- We use <entry>.........<page> format. Every time we update, we
have to re-tab them to add the dot-dot-dot part because Frame
just lists them as <entry><page>. This is a real pain in the
ass!
- For a book with numbered chapter pages (1-1) and lettered
appendix pages (A-1), Frame indexes the entries seperately,
so we have to merge the two lists. Urgh!
- I hate how the index entries pick up wierd symbols from
autonumbered paragraph tags. In general, I think the
autonumber variables could use some fixin.
I might add that I vote for a Free Frame 5.1.
> I didn't understand most of your wish list, and if I didn't,
> >chances are that Frame won't either.
Let me explain some things:
- "Leave room for sideheads" in certain paragraph tags rather than
in Flow: By "sidehead," I don't necessarily mean "heading;" we
use sideheads for things like notes and pull quotes. Don't tell
me to use a manually-formatted paragraph with an anchored text
frame, or a custom page. I'm tired of hacks. Manual formatting
only creates more problems. If you can flow text around a
graphic, you should be able to flow it around a "sidehead"
paragraph. If you can leave room in all of the flow, you should
have a way to leave room in a section of the flow.
- "Continued" Table names: You shouldn't need to set up a variable
to add "continued" to a table name (or any continuing
autonumbered item) on a subsequent page. There should be a
check-box in the table/paragraph designer that says "Append
continuation text:" allowing you to enter "cont." or "continued"
or whatever. Maybe I should have given this example solution to
make my point more clear.
- TOC/Index problems: These are mostly "bugs" that stem from
unexplainable variable problems that I wish could be fixed or
documented better. I follow the directions in the manual to the
letter, generate the TOC and the Index, and they're screwed up.
I have re-read the manual and checked all of the variables ad
definitions. I have started from scratch. I have called Frame.
- Headings: No matter what I try, I can't get the Index heads to
autogenerate properly. The only heads that auto-generate are
Symbol, A, C, and occasionally L. The fact that some of them DO
generate indicates to me that there is more to be questioned
than my competence.
- Wierd symbols: My index _DOES_ pick up symbols from autonumbered
paragraphs. Entries that come from bulleted lists become
<entry¨>, entries from numbered lists become <entry1>, and
entries from table titles become <entryTable 1-1>. Frame tech
support had no useful suggestions. True, I _could_ move the
index marker to a place outside of the autonumbered paragraph.
But I think this is a Frame bug that should be fixed, and not
something I should have to worry about maintaining as the
document grows and changes. If anyone can tell me how to fix
this, please do.
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bmp...@world.std.com (Bryan Cholfin)
Geez, where to begin?
1. Definitely, multiple undos, and being able to undo global
replaces.
2. Endnotes would be handy. Not a real must for me, though.
3. Moveable guidelines. Those grids are useless.
4. Being able to create revision ("point") pages without
destroying the format of the whole document. Being able to
format the revision page numbers the way I want.
5. More flexibility in handling frames. Having Frame styles like
the Table styles (I think this was mentioned).
6. Mail-merge.
7. Easier ways to handle text flows (something like the linking/
unlinking tool in Quark XPress would be great)
8. Something not part of the program itself, and perhaps something
that would get better if Adobe buys Frame: more support of
FrameMaker among service bureaus/separators. Very few support
FrameMaker directly, or very well.
------------------------------------------------------------------
ar...@world.std.com (Art Campbell)
How about just concentrating on there being a Frame 6, given the
current purchase by Adobe?
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____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
--
Cheers,
Mike
_________________________________________________________
Michael Heine mhe...@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada
Karl Rasmussen
(Michael Heine) wrote:
> Hi all -
> the 'Frame6 Wish List' thread seems to have run its course -- the results
> are appended.
[...]
Sorry, I have been on sabotical from lurking in comp.text.frame and missed
this thread. Besides, after your intro above *somebody* is bound come
forward with "one more thing". :)
There needs to be a way to print a book file as a single job rather than
printing each file in the book as a sequence of jobs. (I don't know if
this is a problem except on Mac.) Books are split in to files to make
writing convenient and not necessarily to make reading convenient.
Electronic transfers of ps files or pdf files are certainly more
convenient if there is a single file, rather than expecting a reader to
understand my book structure. I find it difficult to believe anyone wants
to print a book to file and get "book.ps1", "book.ps2", ... or worse, with
the PDF writer to get "book.pdf" where the pdf output is overwritten each
time and thus contains only the last file in the book. At the very least,
printing books as single or per file jobs needs to be selectable.
Thanks,
--
Karl Rasmussen
ka...@ppe.ppd.ti.com
Adam E. Ek
paragraph or at the end. I'd like to place information at the beginning
AND at the end in the same paragraph style.
For example, I have a paragraph style called Hint. I use autonumbering
to automatically place the text "Hint:" at the beginning of the paragraph.
I'd like to be able to automatically place a bullet at the end of the
paragraph.
Adam Ek
ae...@ingr.com
Luis Nadeau
1. Decent footnote handling
2. Decent footnote handling
3. Decent footnote handling
Thank you
--
Luis Nadeau
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
nad...@nbnet.nb.ca
C J Silverio
| There needs to be a way to print a book file as a single job rather than
| I find it difficult to believe anyone wants
| to print a book to file and get "book.ps1", "book.ps2", ... or worse, with
| the PDF writer to get "book.pdf" where the pdf output is overwritten each
| time and thus contains only the last file in the book. At the very least,
| printing books as single or per file jobs needs to be selectable.
This would be tolerable if Frame would at least name the
files something other than <Untitled29.pdf>, <Untitled30.pdf>,
etc. (I haven't tried producing new paper and online versions of
my 80-file book since "upgrading" to Frame 5, so I don't know if
5 still does this horrible thing.)
Batch saves to mif format would also be handy for me.
I was on vacation last week, so now's my chance to put a word in.
---
C J Silverio ceej@[ well.sf.ca.us | genmagic.com ]
ke...@meer.net <URL:http://www.spies.com/~ceej/>
Karl Rasmussen
ce...@genmagic.com (C J Silverio) wrote:
> ka...@ppe.ppd.ti.com (Karl Rasmussen) wrote:
>>[ complaint about Frame 4.0, Mac, printing books not as a single job ]
> [...](I haven't tried producing new paper and online versions of
> my 80-file book since "upgrading" to Frame 5, so I don't know if
> 5 still does this horrible thing.)
>[...]
Some one has informed me that Frame 5.0 fixes this. If that is true please
accept my apology for misinformation. I have not upgraded, but if this is
true perhaps I will.
David N. Smith
mhe...@gpu1.srv.ualberta.ca writes:
>the 'Frame6 Wish List' thread seems to have run its course -- the results
>are appended
My favorite wasn't listed:
Keep styles in one place for a book. An update to a style in any
chapter would
be made in one place (say, in the book file itself) and will be used on
all chapters immediately.
I do both writing and book design (with a real book designer to keep me
on
the right track). Styles change frequently as I alternately write and
change or
add styles. Frequently, I find a style change is lost because I forgot to
invoke the import-styles incantation.
For compatibility and generality, I would suggest having an option on each
chapter that allows it to have private styles or to use the book styles.
David N. Smith
dns...@watson.ibm.com
John Goodsen
Another usability nightmare (surprise! ;-) I just found and hope to
see addressed in a later frame release:
Say you have several style (master) pages to be embedded inside a
book, in addition to the default left and right pages. For
example, each title page of a new section in a chapter
(lets call it the "SectionTitle" page style for now)
You build the text on a SectionTitle page and the contents
of that page is designed to be only on that page and not any
other type of style page.
Well, if you go add some text in a previous section and it
happens to extend the page count of a section, the rest
of the pages in that document (in my case a chapter) are
also slewed and now the rest of the SectionTitle pages no
longer contain the text for the beginning of a section!
Also, the text that was *NOT* supposed to be on a SectionTitle
page is now on one. The entire document is slewed and hosed up.
Add more types of style pages, like SubSectionTitle pages
and you've got a usability nightmare. Everytime you add
text in the middle of document and the page count increases,
you are forced to step through every single page of the
document and reset the master pages !!! this is costing us
thousands of $$$ in proofing documents !!! hardly acceptable.
Don't tell me to create a book and keep each different styled
page in it's own file! That's what frame customer support told
me to do! (that's what I'll have to do for now ;-( Here's a
simple solution that will work, but Frame customer support only
responded with an argument that the separate file "solution"
was sufficient (in their arrogance, "sufficient" is what they
define, not what we, the customer asks for):
Rather than just allow for a paragraph to "Start on a New Page",
we should be able to "lock" a paragraph component to a start on
a particular style page. That way, when the document contents
"slew" because of addition text being inserted, there are pre-
defined points of synchronization and the document's master pages
are "slewed" with each "locked" paragraph component that starts
that page.
A simple solution. I hope someone at Frame with some product vision
is hearing this and understands the request. If not, please feel free
to contact me and I'll try to explain it better in person. Thanks in
advance.
--
John Goodsen
The Dalmatian Group, Inc.
User Interface Specialists
jgoo...@dalmatian.com
Anthony DeStefanis
Here's the main blurb:
"Inspired by exhaustive research conducted with
hundreds of FrameMaker users and developed with
a ground-up review of the entire application,
Release 5 offers powerful new features, unmatched
online publishing support and improved cross-
platform performance"
Another quote:
"The only thing we didn't upgrade is the logo"
See, they did all their research and listened to
their users concerns. THE entire application
was reviewed. Everything is wonderful ;-)
Why do you need a frame 6 wish list? ;-)
--
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|| \\ // Anthony DeStefanis Technical Writer |
||_//\\ // to...@dvcorp.com DataViews Corp. |
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\/ Opinions are mine and mine alone!