Requesting help with hypertext commands and character tags

[Combs, Richard]

David Stamm wrote:   

> We have numerous instances of damage to specified named 
> destinations and some of the content after those destinations 
> in our FrameMaker files.
> Sometimes, FrameMaker does the following:
>   - removes the "named destination" character tag from one 
> paragraph and applies it to part or all of the 
> immediately-following paragraph, or
>   - changes the color of a destination _paragraph_ tag based 
> on the color of the "hypertext" character tag
>   - changes the point size of a destination _paragraph_ tag

I had trouble understanding your descriptions. Are you really creating
first-level headings that consist of links to your second-level
headings? And if the jump consists of the destination's paratext, why
not use an xref? <shrug /> Never mind, it's your doc... 

FM is a remarkably stable and solid piece of software. I can't believe
that a char tag defined with color "As Is" would suddenly be redefined
with color "hypertext" without operator error. Since you have separate
paper and screen templates, perhaps there's a problem involving the
templates themselves or your update formats procedure. 

Likewise, the text range to which a char tag is applied just doesn't
move around -- with one exception: if you apply character formatting
(tag or ad hoc) adjacent to the pilcrow, FM sees it as a pgf attribute,
creating a pgf format override. Make sure at least one character (it can
be a space) separates the end of the char formatting from the pilcrow. 

I can't even imagine what, other than operator error, would cause a
change in font size. 

Maybe doc corruption due to network issues? Have you tried working on
the docs on your local hard drive? 

Oh, and I can't think of any good reason to apply a char tag to the
"named destination" of your hypertext jump. In fact, since a destination
is actually a marker (zero-width character at a specific point of the
text flow), not a text range, that's not what you're doing. You're just
selecting a string of text that happens to include the destination
marker and applying the char tag to it. My advice is stop doing that. 

HTH!
Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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