Foxy stuff on master pages

[Fred Ridder]

An even slicker way to document customized master pages is to
put the explanatory text right in the master page because I think
few people would ever think to prowl through the reference pages
for this kind of information. The body text frame on the master
page is nothing more than a placeholder, and any content that
you place inside that frame will never show up on the body pages.
This provides a very convenient place to self-document each
custom master page.

Fred Ridder


>From: Steve Rickaby <srickaby at wordmongers.demon.co.uk>
>To: framers at FrameUsers.com
>Subject: Foxy stuff on master pages
>Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 10:06:02 +0100
>
>Hi Framers
>
>In off-group discussions with Angela and others, it's become only too clear 
>that it's possible to create clever stuff on master pages that is obvious 
>to its designer but to no-one else ;-) For example, the auto thumbtabs 
>stuff which came up recently on the group, or anything that involves a 
>template with complex frames on master pages. Because this often involves 
>overlaying transparent objects, it can create a maintenance headache for 
>whoever comes afterwards, as recently witnessed by someone on the group who 
>had to get an expert to fox out how their template was working [that was a 
>thumbtabs thing]. It's real important therefore to document how the 
>template works, if only in a few lines.
>
>In the case I'm discussing with Angela, switchable page backgrounds, when 
>the technique is working there are multiple conditionalised anchored frames 
>on a master page, all the same size, all overlaying each other, and with 
>their boundaries and anchors nudged outside the displayed area to create 
>the required crop margins. That sort of thing would be enough to fox 
>anyone.
>
>A way to ensure that the description travels around with the template is to 
>add one or more extra reference pages called 'Notes' or somesuch, and put a 
>brief potted description of how the template - or it's more foxy features - 
>operates there. That way the 'docs' can only be lost if someone 
>deliberately deletes the relevant reference page(s).
>
>When massing with multiple frames on master pages, it's a lot easier to see 
>what's going on if you give the various frames a temporary - and different 
>- fill pattern and/or colored border. When you've finished dickering with 
>them, you can use the Find > anchored frame feature to select them one by 
>one and remove the decorations. I use this when building frames for moving 
>thumbtabs to get the stacking order for the various frames correct.
>
>Hope this helps someone.
>
>--
>Steve

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