An even slicker way to document customized master pages is to
put the explanatory text right in the master page because I think
few people would ever think to prowl through the reference pages
for this kind of information. The body text frame on the master
page is nothing more than a placeholder, and any content that
you place inside that frame will never show up on the body pages.
This provides a very convenient place to self-document each
custom master page.
Fred Ridder
From: Steve Rickaby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Foxy stuff on master pages
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 10:06:02 +0100
Hi Framers
In off-group discussions with Angela and others, it's become only too clear
that it's possible to create clever stuff on master pages that is obvious
to its designer but to no-one else ;-) For example, the auto thumbtabs
stuff which came up recently on the group, or anything that involves a
template with complex frames on master pages. Because this often involves
overlaying transparent objects, it can create a maintenance headache for
whoever comes afterwards, as recently witnessed by someone on the group who
had to get an expert to fox out how their template was working [that was a
thumbtabs thing]. It's real important therefore to document how the
template works, if only in a few lines.
In the case I'm discussing with Angela, switchable page backgrounds, when
the technique is working there are multiple conditionalised anchored frames
on a master page, all the same size, all overlaying each other, and with
their boundaries and anchors nudged outside the displayed area to create
the required crop margins. That sort of thing would be enough to fox
anyone.
A way to ensure that the description travels around with the template is to
add one or more extra reference pages called 'Notes' or somesuch, and put a
brief potted description of how the template - or it's more foxy features -
operates there. That way the 'docs' can only be lost if someone
deliberately deletes the relevant reference page(s).
When massing with multiple frames on master pages, it's a lot easier to see
what's going on if you give the various frames a temporary - and different
- fill pattern and/or colored border. When you've finished dickering with
them, you can use the Find > anchored frame feature to select them one by
one and remove the decorations. I use this when building frames for moving
thumbtabs to get the stacking order for the various frames correct.
Hope this helps someone.
--
Steve
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