Jing Torralba wrote: > > I use Richard's technique in creating insets in multiple flows within > the same source document. The insets populate cells of many similar > tables where one table uses 100% of the insets and the rest, only a > subset of all insets in different combinations. The tables describe > the options for adding an administrator, and there are three types of > administrators with unique and common options. > > Once I nailed down the process, inset management worked like a charm. > > Judy, I want to add this, in case you are producing PDFs and there are > cross-references from your inset files to external files, meaning, to > the container file itself or to other chapters in the book. These > xrefs will be broken in the PDF. For this you can use Rick Quatro's > script to unlock the insets, generate the PDF, then lock them again. > This preserves the links. > > > > HTH too! > > Jing > > ,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,.-*+*-.,! > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Richard Combs" <richard.combs at Polycom.com> > To: "Judy" <judy at hypack.com>, framers at lists.frameusers.com > Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 1:15:48 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > Subject: RE: Containers and Insets-Building the Manual > > Judy wrote: > > > I read several posts concerning text insets in container documents and > > that sounded like the perfect solution. After a few tests on a very > > small scale, I moved forward to breaking down and reassembling the > > first 3 chapters of our user manual. > > Ch.1: 63 pgs, 61 insets > > Ch.2: 224 pgs, 168 insets > > Ch 3: 83 pgs, 71 insets > > > > Each chapter (individually) worked fine, so with that much done, I > > decided to build a test book and work out the issues around > > cross-references and hypertext before I continued on to the remaining > 6 > > chapters. > > > > My problem is that, with all of the fm files and books open at once, > my > > computer slowed *way* down! I built a book with the 3 container > > documents and added a TOC, but had trouble scrolling through the TOC. > > Nothing "crashed", but it was so slow it's clear that I'm headed for > > trouble. > > That seems like a lot of text insets, but without knowing how/where > you're going to reuse them, I can't say whether you've gone too far > (there's not much point in all this modularization unless the insets are > pieces that will be reused a lot, but in different combinations and > configurations). > > Is each text inset an FM file? It doesn't have to be. A text inset needs > to be a complete flow, but a single FM file can contain many separate > flows (each with its own flow name). So you can put just about any > number of text insets in one file. You can even use this as an > organizing method, putting all text insets of a certain category, > subject, purpose, etc., together in an appropriately-named file. > Consolidating all those text insets into a handful of files may solve > your problem. > > The process isn't difficult: > > 1) On the last page of one of the existing text inset source documents, > select Special > Add Disconnected Pages. Set Number of Pages to Add to > the number of text insets you want to store in this file and click Add. > When FM tries to discourage you from proceeding, tell it you're sure. > > 2) On each added, empty page, paste one of the text insets you want to > store in this file. Don't worry if some of them are more than a page -- > FM will create new pages as needed for each flow (each disconnected page > you added is a separate flow; each has its own end-of-flow symbol). > > 3) Give each flow a unique, meaningful name: > > -- Select a text frame in the flow and select Graphics > Object > Properties. > -- In the Customize Text Frame dialog, enter the name in the Flow Tag > field and click Set. > -- In the Rename Flow dialog, select Rename Current Flow Only and click > Rename. > > When you want to import one of the text insets, select the file and > then, in the Import Text Flow by Reference, select the flow by name. > > HTH! > Richard > > > Richard G. Combs > Senior Technical Writer > Polycom, Inc. > richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom > 303-223-5111 > ------ > rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom > 303-777-0436 > ------ > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as jingtorralba at comcast.net. > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/jingtorralba%40comcast.net > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > I've actually used Richard's technique for insets smaller than a topic, but hadn't thought about doing it for larger sections. It would certainly cut down on the number of files I have to organize *and* that FM has to open and close. I'll think about how to organize things and give it a try.
I don't usually have the Character and Paragraph Designers open, but I'll keep it in mind. I'd also picked up on the problems with cross-references between PDF documents, but thanks for the reminder. Thanks so much! Judy
