Generally, I'm a keyboard guy, Stuart, but I've been more of a mouse guy with Frame. I use a few, to be sure, such as the CRTRL+0 to access variables, the ESC tw for table sizing, the ESC mp for the Shrinkwrap to Fit plug-in. I've not had issues with the keystrokes I use most. What I like about the new GUI is the ready access to all the pods and the chapter tabs, and the ability to adjust the interface's "workspace" based on task. I've kept it on the Authoring workspace, mostly. I also like the ability to switch the UI off and on; and I do switch it off while working on landscape tab-sized pages in my manuals. The one big annoyance -- and I'm pursuing this with Adobe right now -- is not going back to the same point in the document, at least visually, after toggling the UI off and then going back in later. Most of the time, however, Frame seems to remember the insertion point from where I was just working (and BTW, I like the button for going to the insertion point), and if I click my right arrow, I can get back to where I need to be.
I can't comment on the text frames within anchored frames. For good or ill, I've gotten out of the habit of using them. I keep my callouts in my graphics these days, prefering to scale the graphics to the desired anchored frame size and then resize the fonts to our default font size. I know I could get that job done in Frame. But I've been doing the callout work, along with the graphics, in Illustrator. I'm testing Illy CS 4 right now, as well, and I find precise scaling much simpler than in Illustrator 9, which we've been using heretofore. Also, Illustrator CS 4 gives me a lot more flexibility with DXF and DWG files, solving what had been a hassle in collaborating with Engineering, which has been moving over the past year to working primarily in AutoDesk Inventor. I've generated several books with Acrobat Pro 9 3D Extended, from Frame, using Distiller, over the past couple of weeks. I haven't had any bookmark issues (other than remembering to do the PDF setup the first time), but I did run into the "no pages selected to print" messages in Acrobat once on three pages in the PDF that were created from TIFFs of Engineering drawings. The problems did not recur after downloading the latest patches and rebooting from a hard shutdown. On that point, I also got the following advice from a contact at Adobe: ***"If the issue happens again for you, you might want to try to optimize your PDF file ( HOAH.pdf). If you have Acrobat 8/9 Pro you have got the option under: Advanced > PDF Optimizer. In Acrobat 9 Pro ( not sure if it is in Acrobat 8) you would also have the option Document > Examine PDF that would allow you to remove certain data that might cause unnecessary data conversion. It's obviously advisable to do that on a copy of your main file. We also have a general troubleshooting Guide on the web, that might have additional information you might find useful: http://www.adobe.com/go/kb403914."; *** Have there been a few peeves and grumbles and adjustments? For sure. But in the main, so far, so good. Jim -----Original Message----- From: Stuart Rogers [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3:22 PM To: Pinkham, Jim Cc: FrameUsers List Subject: Re: FrameMaker 9 Pinkham, Jim wrote: > Hmm...might I detect a note of teasing here? Or perhaps it's mild > aggravation at an imprecise question. Either way, yes, it's a vague > question, so I'll defer an exhaustive answer for the moment. > > I've been using FM 9, as part of TCS 2, for about two weeks. I've run > into a few ultimately minor bugs and annoyances; good, prompt help > from Adobe; plug-ins carrying over quite well; good FM integration > with the rest of the suite; and an interface that I find more > efficient and productive than FM 7p1. We haven't made any corporate > decisions yet, but at this point, I like the new version a lot and don't want to go back. > Just curious about your take on the GUI, Jim -- do you use your mouse predominantly, or do you rely on keyboard shortcuts to get around? I'm a keyboard guy, and try to use the mouse as little as possible. I've been using FM9/TCS2 for a little over a week on a very small book project, and find the interface clumsy and continually intruding on my document space. For example, Special > Variable brings up the Variables 'pod' or whatever they call it, and I can insert a variable easily enough, but when I want the bottom third of my screen back, I have to grab the mouse to right-click and dismiss the pod. Same with the Designers -- they pop up fine on my keyboard commands, but seem to require a mouse click to dismiss. Same with book window. I have also found a bug, in that text frames within anchored frames become unselectable by mouse under certain conditions. (Haven't exactly figured out what those are, but seems to have to do with whether frames have overlapped each other.) I cannot select the text or its frame with the mouse, only with Esc (o)bject (n)ext repeatedly, and even then, the selected frame is unresponsive to the mouse -- can't move it except with Alt+arrows. (Moving objects around in a graphic is one place I *do* like to use the mouse ;-) And then when I generate a PDF from the book, all my Heading1TOC pgfs are showing up as PDF bookmarks -- even though FM9 no longer lists them as possibilities in the Bookmarks tab of PDF setup. So there's no way to tell FM *not* to put them in; I have to delete them manually in Acrobat. (Which has also been refusing to print anything, claiming that "There were no pages selected to print" after a print-all-pages command.) So.... I'm not such a happy camper with TCS 2. -- Stuart Rogers Technical Communicator Phoenix Geophysics Limited Toronto, ON, Canada +1 (416) 491-7340 x 325 srogers phoenix-geophysics com "Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
