Fred Ridder wrote:
> I think it would be a great idea if we could treat anchored
> frames as embedded objects with similar properties to tables. But I do
> think it would want to be implemented for anchored frames generically
> rather than just for figures since some documents use anchored frames
> (or single-cell tables) for things other than illustrations--things like
> spreadsheet fragments, code listings, and mathematical proofs.
Of course, you wouldn't want the full folderol for an anchored frame
with Anchor Position: At Insertion Point that contains a bitmap of, say,
a button on a GUI. 8^)
> (Although
> if you read the article by a former IBM-er that was cited earlier in this
> thread you'd learn that we shoudl treat *all* non-text objects as a
> single
> class rather than distinguishing tables vs. figures vs. equations, etc.)
Well, it might make sense for a programmer to do this behind the
scenes. But I don't really care how it is implemented, I just want a
nice clean interface for inserting figures and some method of creating
figure formats in a Figure Designer. It would be extremely annoying to
open An All-Purpose Object Designer to configure the type of object you
wanted and to create all-purpose object formats.
>
> But what I completely fail to see is why handling figures in
> single-celled
> tables is such a "pain to set up".
Yeah, it is so fun to (a) insert a single-celled table previously set up
as a format, (b) import a graphic file or create an anchored frame into
the single para in the cell, and (c) set the anchored frame to At
Insertion Point so you can get the spacing even all around, and then (d)
adjust the cell borders (or anchored frame border) to coincide of the
figure has a ruled box around it.
Wouldn't it be great if you could just select a Figure format when you
are in the file browser and the external graphic is imported into a
figure all ready to fill in the blanks?
I just looked up a textbook on printing technologies (for training press
operators, platemakers, etc.) and a doctoral dissertation. The figures
in those publications follow this model, pretty common in learned
publications:
+------------------------------------+
| |
| |
| |
| DIAGRAM HERE |
| |
| |
| |
+------------------------------------+
**Figure 2.34:** //Components of framistan// // Title for LOF
The framistan is a complex device which // Caption
contains 12,000 components in about
the volume of a matchbox.
KEY:
1 Discombobulator // Xref to fig label
2 Hierogriffin
...
12,000 Pettifogger
Credit: NASA (Saturn rocket)
How do you like them bananas in a table pretending to be a figure? I
prefer to put the figure title above, and the caption below, and I
usually do it with:
@ a figure title para (Keep With Next)
@ an anchor para with an anchored frame At Insertion Point (allows
you to use para properties to control space above/below, indentation),
Keep With Previous
@ a credit para with Keep With Previous
@ one or more caption paras, all Keep With Previous, inc. any keys to
labels in anchored frame
This arrangement keeps the figure "object" together. I also use the
AutoText plug-in from Silicon Prairie to paste in already set up figure
"formats". But, really, why isn't this stuff built in? [NOTE: Adobe
lurkers -- aren't the plethora of plug-ins for common tasks telling you
what functionality you should be incorporating?]
It would be nice if a table/figure title could appear beside a
table/figure, perhaps in the sidebar area of a page frame.
Regards,
Hedley
--
Hedley Finger
28 Regent Street Camberwell VIC 3124 Australia
Tel. +61 3 9809 1229 Fax. (call phone first)
Mob. (cell) +61 412 461 558
Email. "Hedley Finger" <hfinger at handholding.com.au>
