Well, I just got a message from the list for the first time since the 19th, and http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/listinfo/framers is once again accessible. So I think I'll try sending this once more, just as a test (previous attempts were undeliverable). Apologies if this becomes a repeat of a repeat.
Alison Craig wrote: > In Word, I use Text Boxes to highlight various items in an image. Each Text > Box is surrounded by a border of a specific weight that sits a specific > distance from the actual text. > > I have not been able to achieve this effect in FM9 with Text Frames. After > a bit of trial and error I managed to get the side borders to sit a > specific distance from the text (eg, 1mm) but the text on the top always > touches the actual text as if it were an underline (or "overline" as it > were). The Paragraph style I created to use inside the Text Frame specifies > the indents and spacing but the text doesn't seem to obey the Above and > Below Pgf settings - no matter how big I make them. The Above and Below settings determine the relationship of that pgf to the pgfs before and after it. They don't affect placement in the text frame -- if they did, the first pgf on a page wouldn't start at the top of the page. As is often the case in FM, there are a multiple ways to accomplish your purpose. I can think of the following, presented more or less in the order of my preference: -- On a reference page, create a graphics frame (not text frame) and name it something like callout-spacer. Make its height about what you want the space above the callouts to be (width doesn't much matter). For your callout pgf format, go to the Advanced tab of Paragraph Designer and set Frame Above Pgf to callout-spacer. Tweak the height of the reference frame if necessary. I like this best because it's a one-time setup. Each time you use the callout pgf format, the frame above will be there automatically. -- Put a small empty pgf above the callout text. You can make a pgf as small as 2 pts in FM. Low-tech and manual, but if you define the spacer pgf to have the callout pgf as its Next Pgf Tag, it's nearly instantaneous. Create spacer pgf, press Enter, and start typing. -- Put a single-cell table in the text frame, anchored in a small pgf. You can control space above with the anchor pgf, and of course, you have complete control of how far the cell pgf sits from all the edges (via the Table Cell tab of Paragraph Designer, plus the alignment settings in Table Designer). Variation: Make text frame borders invisible and use the table's Ruling settings to create border. This gives you greater control (you can add shading, too). -- Make the text frame border invisible. Then, create a graphic rectangle with no fill and the border thickness, color, etc., that you want. Size and position the rectangle properly in relation to the text frame and group the two. -- Use nested frames, as Nadine suggested. BTW, you can't send images or other attachments to the list (nor can you send HTML or Rich Text messages) -- these are security risks. HTH! Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 ------ rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 ------