RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12
Hi, I fully agree with Mike. I use FrameMaker since version 3, and I use many of the shortcuts. I really prefer the new GUI to the old one. Regarding making text unconditional in FrameMaker 12: It's difficult. When you want to _change_ the condition state you want to set it to On or Off. However, if you have a few conditions and started to change something, and then you notice that you should not change one of the conditions, then you you should be able to set it to As Is. However, this As Is state is really confusing. I tested FrameMaker 12 in my virtual machine, and when I clicked on the On/As Is/Off check box, the check box got hidden (my virtual machine's fault), and I did not notice that it changed to As Is instead of Off. I did not understand why nothing happened when I clicked Apply ... Generally I think that the check boxes are better than the radio buttons in FrameMaker 11. Best regards Winfried From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Mike Wickham Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 2:21 AM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: making stuff unconditional in FM12 Actually, I've not even participated in beta testing of FM and have been solicted for feedback and feature requests from the Adobe team. I'm happy with them. And the new interface, in my opinion, is a big improvement over the old FM 7 interface. I like it so much better. And you can customize your workspaces. You may want to check out this video for an overview of using the new interface (as of FM 9). I found it very helpful in making the switch way back then: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/tips-and-tricks-for-technical-communicators-to-maximize-productivity/getting-started-with-the-new-framemaker-9-user-interface/ You may also want to check out message #35 in the following thread, for screen captures and descriptions of an example custom workspace I use. It fits everything on one screen and works really well for me: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4039348 Mike Wickham On 3/29/2014 6:08 PM, Zimmerman, Gary wrote: I swear it's like the Adobe FrameMaker developers do absolutely NO usability testing, get absolutely NO feedback from existing customers, focus groups, or anything else before they foist on us a crappy, untested GUI that their offshore developers implemented in some kind of cultural vacuum. This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Annotating text in a cross-ref in a PDF
Hi Carol, With no commenting tool selected, I can strike through text in the middle of a cross-reference. When I move the cursor over a cross-reference, then the cursor changes to the hand cursor. Then I press the left mouse button and move the i-beam across part of the cross-reference. The text gets selected. This also works inside of cross-reference text. Then I press the Strikethrough symbol to apply this comment type. However, I agree that I cannot press the Strikethrough symbol and then select part of the cross-reference text. You know that you can change your selected text when you press the SHIFT key and the Left/Right arrow keys! Best regards Winfried -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers- boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Carol J. Elkins Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 7:26 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: framers Digest, Vol 101, Issue 27 Thanks for trying, Winfried. Unfortunately, text in the middle of the cross-reference isn't annotatable. The I-beam cursor starts red-lining wherever it is placed and the user can't segregate just the text that they want to annotate from the surrounding text in the cross-reference. I think that either identifying the revision in a balloon or encircling it with an added explanation is the only option. Since cross-references exist on a layer above the text, I was hoping there was a nifty way to drill down below the cross-ref layer to get at the text. Worse case, I could teach my reviewers how to delete all cross-refs in the document, but that is too complex and also defeats the purpose of checking to ensure the cross-refs go to where they should. I'll add it to my list of feature requests. Carol At 11:00 AM 3/28/2014, you wrote: Hi Carol, I just did what you describe, and it works without any problems. I created a file with some text, created a cross-reference to this paragraph which lists only the paragraph text ($paratext) and created a PDF. Then I move the cursor to the right of the cross-reference. The cursor's appearance changes to an i-beam. Then I press the left mouse button and move the i-beam across the cross- reference. Then I press the Strikethrough symbol to apply this comment type. This also works when I press the Strikethough icon first and then start selecting. This works whether I start selecting from the left or the right side of the cross-reference. Maybe you should move the cursor farther away to get the i-beam cursor. Best regards This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12
Rebecca Officer wrote: . At the moment, it looks like I either have to go the Copy Special route, or manually untick all the tick boxes. The Control+6 keyboard shortcut (built-in, all versions of FM) would definitely be faster (at least until a button is available). Shlomo Perets MicroType, http://microtype.com FrameMaker/Acrobat/Captivate training consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12
An easy way to make a selection unconditional is to press Ctrl+6. The related shortcut is Ctrl+4 to apply a condition. I use unstructured FM12 and I like it (gasp!). There are little things to get used to with each version, sure; once you have the pods/panels set up the way you like, FM is very usable. Many of the changes that the Adobe engineers made over the years are in response to requests from users. They do consider feedback and pay attention to what users want. Look at how lucky we are - we aren't forced into subscriptions like the Creative Cloud. (The forced subscriptions have ended my purchases of the video production suite.) Software is always changing, to attempt to retain and attract customers and evolve with the times. I can't think of any software programs that are completely perfect and bug-free. FM is one of the better ones out there, in my opinion. Consider me a satisfied customer since FM 5.0. Alexandra Duffy ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Annotating text in a cross-ref in a PDF
Hi Winifried, I'm not sure why this works for you and not for me. I am simply unable to select specific text within a paragraph that is a cross-reference. If you are willing, I'll take this off-line and email you personally to see if we can figure out what the difference might be that is causing this. Carol At 01:54 AM 3/31/2014, Reng, Dr. Winfried wrote: Hi Carol, With no commenting tool selected, I can strike through text in the middle of a cross-reference. When I move the cursor over a cross-reference, then the cursor changes to the hand cursor. Then I press the left mouse button and move the i-beam across part of the cross-reference. The text gets selected. This also works inside of cross-reference text. Then I press the Strikethrough symbol to apply this comment type. However, I agree that I cannot press the Strikethrough symbol and then select part of the cross-reference text. You know that you can change your selected text when you press the SHIFT key and the Left/Right arrow keys! Best regards Winfried -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers- boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Carol J. Elkins Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 7:26 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: framers Digest, Vol 101, Issue 27 Thanks for trying, Winfried. Unfortunately, text in the middle of the cross-reference isn't annotatable. The I-beam cursor starts red-lining wherever it is placed and the user can't segregate just the text that they want to annotate from the surrounding text in the cross-reference. I think that either identifying the revision in a balloon or encircling it with an added explanation is the only option. Since cross-references exist on a layer above the text, I was hoping there was a nifty way to drill down below the cross-ref layer to get at the text. Worse case, I could teach my reviewers how to delete all cross-refs in the document, but that is too complex and also defeats the purpose of checking to ensure the cross-refs go to where they should. I'll add it to my list of feature requests. Carol At 11:00 AM 3/28/2014, you wrote: Hi Carol, I just did what you describe, and it works without any problems. I created a file with some text, created a cross-reference to this paragraph which lists only the paragraph text ($paratext) and created a PDF. Then I move the cursor to the right of the cross-reference. The cursor's appearance changes to an i-beam. Then I press the left mouse button and move the i-beam across the cross- reference. Then I press the Strikethrough symbol to apply this comment type. This also works when I press the Strikethough icon first and then start selecting. This works whether I start selecting from the left or the right side of the cross-reference. Maybe you should move the cursor farther away to get the i-beam cursor. Best regards This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12
I share a lot of Gary's frustrations, although I haven't expressed it as eloquently :-). I also appreciate Alexandra's and Scott's opinions. I am not opposed to the OWL interface, per se, having used it in InDesign, etc. It is the general lack of quality control and consistency that has been disappointing for me. FM 9 was really a dog as far as performance and stability and the interface changed the way important short cuts worked in previous versions. FrameMaker 11 had an undocumented FDK change that caused problems with document display updates in plugins and scripts. Documentation updates have lagged behind in each release. The ExtendScript documentation is sparse and contains inaccurate information. At the same time, users have had to pay premium dollars for each release while Adobe struggles to get it right. For me, FrameMaker 8 was a solid version. It had unicode support and the old, simple interface made things fast and efficient for automation. Scripts typically run slower in the newer versions and you have to ignore long periods of a white, Not Responding screen. InDesign is not perfect for long documents, but the quality and fit and finish of the entire InDesign universe is a stark contrast to the FrameMaker world. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-366-4017 r...@frameexpert.com From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Zimmerman, Gary Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2014 7:08 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12 I swear it's like the Adobe FrameMaker developers do absolutely NO usability testing, get absolutely NO feedback from existing customers, focus groups, or anything else before they foist on us a crappy, untested GUI that their offshore developers implemented in some kind of cultural vacuum. (Not offshore culture so much as programmer culture - before any programmers get offended, there are plenty of exceptional programmers who have a GREAT sense of usability and customer needs - apparently Adobe hasn't hired any for the FM team, nor any usability/human factors consultants.) The programming underneath may be great (I doubt it, with the general fragility of the thing for many releases now), but the usability if off-the-charts bad. Like something designed by a bunch of college programmers who have no concept of building a usable product, but instead think more is better so they toss in everything figuring that they'll have something for everyone, and end up with such a hash salad that you spend more time jumping through GUI hoops than you do productive writing. (Remember what college kids did when word processors introduce lots of fun fonts to play with - the FM 9 and 10 GUI is pretty much the GUI equivalent of ransom letter tech writing.) I can remember when FM was unquestionably a better choice than Word for any serious documentation work. Now they're approaching parity. I don't know about FM8, but when we jumped from 7 to 9, it was all downhill after that. We're on 10 now, debating upgrading. We're also moving to a DITA CMS and Xmetal editor - much less powerful, but it does what it needs to do without being an obstacle to the writers. We didn't even consider using FM as our XML editor, though the transition might have been less of an issue for our writers who are used to FM. Sorry to rant. I LIKE FM. I'm just so sorry they messed with the GUI and messed up so badly with 9 and onwards. They may fix it to be decent again incrementally, but like Windows 8, they should have scrapped the whole thing when they realized what a horrible blunder they made instead of turning a deaf ear and insisting everything was great for so long, when real users knew it wasn't so. Credibility gone. Maybe 11 is better, maybe 12 even better. Don't know if I'll ever get to try them. -- garyZ ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Keyboard shortcuts -- Was: Re: making stuff unconditional in FM12
I'm going to disagree only with the keyboard shortcuts comment -- they sort of fixed it is the most generous comment I can make. If you were a dedicated keyboardist, the new keyboard shortcut is slower than -- well molasses in January. On first starting Frame you wait the first time on the blinking menu to first appear -- several seconds. On subsequent use of the keyboard shortcut, it's hit or miss. It appears that the longer your paragraph format list is, the slower it is because I don't have trouble with the Character catalog. And many times, in the paragraph formatting, Frame flat doesn't recognize the first letter of the format. It will stop on a totally different letter forcing you to mouse the selection as subsequent taps of the desired letter combination does not bring up the correct format desired. For years I have carefully crafted my templates to take advantage of those keyboard shortcuts. The loss was devastating. During the time that they were missing entirely, someone on this list mentioned alternative keyboard shortcuts which I have forgotten as I always used F8 and F9 with the alphabet letter. I'm wondering if that alternate route still works. Regards, Linda Pelton On 3/30/2014 11:27 AM, Scott Prentice wrote: Aw .. c'mon .. that's a bit harsh, don't you think? I'm not a fan of the new (since FM9) UI either, but personally attacking the people behind the current product really isn't fair. The current team developing FrameMaker *is* very interested in customer feedback, and does listen. (And it's certainly not the programmers' faults .. they implement the features they are told to.) The new UI is a significant change from the old standard, but can be tamed if you're willing to spend the time to learn how to make it do what you want. There are training videos and other info about setting up workspaces and other features, and with FM12, they have fixed most of the missing keyboard shortcuts (I believe). I totally agree that there are some frustrating aspects to it, but that's the new world of UI design. If you don't like it, stick with FM8. No one is forcing you to upgrade (although they do encourage it). As for XML editors .. I think you'll find that XMetaL is considerably lacking when compared to FM. Especially if you're planning on generating PDFs .. you'll either need to take a step back on your formatting and layout, or you'll still need to use FM for PDF publishing. (But I am biased .. I'll admit that freely.) Cheers, ...scott On 3/29/14 4:08 PM, Zimmerman, Gary wrote: ** I swear it's like the Adobe FrameMaker developers do absolutely NO usability testing, get absolutely NO feedback from existing customers, focus groups, or anything else before they foist on us a crappy, untested GUI that their offshore developers implemented in some kind of cultural vacuum.(Not offshore culture so much as programmer culture - before any programmers get offended, there are plenty of exceptional programmers who have a GREAT sense of usability and customer needs - apparently Adobe hasn't hired any for the FM team, nor any usability/human factors consultants.) The programming underneath may be great (I doubt it, with the general fragility of the thing for many releases now), but the usability if off-the-charts bad.Like something designed by a bunch of college programmers who have no concept of building a usable product, but instead think more is better so they toss in everything figuring that they'll have something for everyone, and end up with such a hash salad that you spend more time jumping through GUI hoops than you do productive writing.(Remember what college kids did when word processors introduce lots of fun fonts to play with - the FM 9 and 10 GUI is pretty much the GUI equivalent of ransom letter tech writing.) I can remember when FM was unquestionably a better choice than Word for any serious documentation work.Now they're approaching parity.I don't know about FM8, but when we jumped from 7 to 9, it was all downhill after that.We're on 10 now, debating upgrading.We're also moving to a DITA CMS and Xmetal editor - much less powerful, but it does what it needs to do without being an obstacle to the writers.We didn't even consider using FM as our XML editor, though the transition might have been less of an issue for our writers who are used to FM. Sorry to rant.I LIKE FM.I'm just so sorry they messed with the GUI and messed up so badly with 9 and onwards.They may fix it to be decent again incrementally, but like Windows 8, they should have scrapped the whole thing when they realized what a horrible blunder they made instead of turning a deaf ear and insisting everything was great for so long, when real users knew it wasn't so.Credibility gone.Maybe 11 is better, maybe 12 even better.Don't know if I'll ever get to try them. -- garyZ ** ** *From:*framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com
RE: making stuff unconditional in FM12
I'm with Scott on this one. I do have my gripes about some of the FM interface (I'm still using 10 but will upgrade to 12 as soon as WebWorks supports it), but in general, I've found the pods and tearaway catalogs useful. I use two monitors, one in portrait mode for my content, and one in landscape mode for all of the dialogs. Works well and keeps my working area clean. Adobe is paying a lot of attention to its users. I've had direct contact with the Adobe development team based on comments made here and in the Adobe forums - they are listening. Bear in mind that FrameMaker is not the only product Adobe sells and some of the changes made were to make FrameMaker more consistent with their other products. You may consider this approach misguided but it's corporate policy and almost certainly beyond the control of the Adobe team. Regards Keith From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Scott Prentice Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2014 12:27 PM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: making stuff unconditional in FM12 Aw .. c'mon .. that's a bit harsh, don't you think? I'm not a fan of the new (since FM9) UI either, but personally attacking the people behind the current product really isn't fair. The current team developing FrameMaker *is* very interested in customer feedback, and does listen. (And it's certainly not the programmers' faults .. they implement the features they are told to.) The new UI is a significant change from the old standard, but can be tamed if you're willing to spend the time to learn how to make it do what you want. There are training videos and other info about setting up workspaces and other features, and with FM12, they have fixed most of the missing keyboard shortcuts (I believe). I totally agree that there are some frustrating aspects to it, but that's the new world of UI design. If you don't like it, stick with FM8. No one is forcing you to upgrade (although they do encourage it). As for XML editors .. I think you'll find that XMetaL is considerably lacking when compared to FM. Especially if you're planning on generating PDFs .. you'll either need to take a step back on your formatting and layout, or you'll still need to use FM for PDF publishing. (But I am biased .. I'll admit that freely.) Cheers, ...scott NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY This e-mail, including all materials contained in or attached to this e-mail, contains proprietary and confidential information solely for the internal use of the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or otherwise and ensure that it is permanently deleted from your systems, and do not print, copy, distribute or read its contents. AVIS DE CONFIDENTIALIT? Le pr?sent courriel, y compris tous les documents qu'il contient ou qui y sont joints, renferme des renseignements exclusifs et confidentiels destin?s uniquement ? l'usage interne du destinataire pr?vu. Si vous avez re?u le pr?sent courriel par erreur, veuillez nous aviser imm?diatement, notamment par retour de courriel, et vous assurer qu'il est supprim? de fa?on permanente de vos syst?mes; veuillez ?galement vous abstenir d'imprimer, de copier, de distribuer ou de lire son contenu. ___ You are currently subscribed to framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
