Grouping Definitions

[Steve Rickaby]

At 09:19 -0500 5/1/07, MATT TODD wrote:

>I am a newbie using FM 7.0.

Welcome to the Great Big Adventure ;-)

>Does FM provide a way to group character definitions or paragraph styles. For example, in the Character Definition window, I'd like to place all size definitions in a "Size" folder and all color definitions in a "Color" folder, and I'd like those folders to appear in the Character Definition window selection pop-up.

No: all tag definitions that you define in the Paragraph or Character Designer are listed alphabetically in the Paragraph and Character palettes. However, it makes sense to use similar names to collect related tag names together, for example by called the first and subsequent paragraph tags for a numbered list 'Numbered1' and 'Numbered', rather than, say, 'FirstNumbered' and 'Numbered', which would separate them in the tag list.

Tags whose names start with '~' appear at the bottom of the list. I use this convention to signal tags that aren't meant to be selected by users, but which are part of some internal mechanisation. However, this really only applies to environments where FrameMaker tags are applied automatically, such as structured FrameMaker and - I guess - FrameScript.

However, your question may expose a misunderstanding in how tag names are, or ideally should be, used. Because you may decide to restyle a tag, it's best to name them according to their purpose and not their function. For example, don't call a paragraph tag '10 point Bookman', for example, but call it 'Body'. That way it still has a sensible name even if you decide not to use Bookman. Similarly, a character tag for emphasising text can be called 'Emphasis' and not 'Italic'. (If I've misinterpreted what you wrote, just ignore this paragraph.)

> I'd like the same thing in the Paragraph Designer - all paragraph styles having to do with tables in a "Table" folder, all styles defining numbered, lettered, or bulleted lists in a "Lists" folder - and those folders to appear in the Paragraph Designer selection pop-up.

It is remotely possible that a plug-in might exist to do this, but I don't know of one. I also cannot see what advantage it would give you, but what do I know? Certainly the ergonomics of the designer dialogs are sub-optimal, but we all know that.

>Anyway to accomplish this in native FM, or perhaps a script? By the way, I'm the same Matt who won the LavaCon registration at the 2006 Austin Chautauqua.

Well done.

-- 
Steve