Adobe Unveils Technical Communication Suite
Hedley Finger
hfinger at handholding.com.au
Tue Sep 25 16:18:48 PDT 2007
Bodvar and others:
At Tuesday, 25/09/2007, 07:07 PM;, you wrote:
>IMHO it only remains for Adobe to realise that FM is also one of the
>best tools for regular book layout,
Well, it will be if we ALL start screaming for
@ working in double-spreads, i.e.
-- photographs and graphics that spread across the gutter of
facing pages,
-- automatic equalising the depth of facing pages
-- sideheads that are (optionally) automatically ragged L flush
R on left pages, ragged R flush L on right pages
-- table and figure titles that are (optionally)
automatically ragged L
flush R on left pages, ragged R flush L on right pages
PageMaker could a lot of the above and, it is reputed, so can
InDesign!
@ floating tables that don't drag the lines from their anchor paragraph
onto the next page
@ a unified figure element like a one-celled table with integrated title,
caption, and graphic components; can also float
@ tables and figures that can have their titles above, below,
to the left
or to the right of the table body
@ footnotes (*, +, etc.) and endnotes/citations (1, 2, etc.) mingled
on the same page
@ proper support for notes other than footnotes: chapter endnotes, book
endnotes
@ automatic flowing of lengthy footnotes over successive pages if they
exceed the allowable footnote depth on a page
@ support for bibliographies/citations (inc. Harvard and Chicago style)
@ a multifaceted cross-reference format that automatically adjusts for
the location of the target:
'see Table 9.2 opposite' // doublespread
'see Table 9.2 previous' // ref on L page pointing to prev R
'see Table 9.2 overleaf'' // ref on R page pointing to next L
'see Table 9.2 above' // same page
'see Table 9.2 below' // same page
'see Table 9.2, 'Desirable features for FM', on page 167' //
far target
@ a proper indexing app built-in that shows real-time display of all
entries and allows a main entry to be changed, thus changing all
markers with that main entry; just mash-up emDex, IXgen, Index Pro,
Macrex, Cindex, Sky Index, etc.; also includes progressive match
with similar existing entries, a thesaurus/taxonomy for
different subject
domains that similarly proposes candidate entries
@ in Indexes, automatic continuation entries when subentries break from
an R page to a following L, e.g.
canines (cont.)
breeds
recommended diet
exercise requirements
@ internal xrefs as hotlinks in PDFs, e.g.
dogs. See canines
@ automatic updating of index xrefs if target changes
@ as well as automatically associating graphic elements above and below
paragraphs, how about to the left or right and BEHIND the para?
Altogether now ...
What do we want?
ALL OF THE ABOVE
When do we want it?
FOUR RELEASES AGO
Given Frame Technologies' and Adobe's history of issuing releases with
minimal features for large upgrade fees, we can expect all of the above
to be implemented in ... let's count up ... release 22!
Regards,
Hedley
--
Hedley Stewart Finger
28 Regent Street Camberwell VIC 3124 Australia
Tel. +61 3 9809 1229 Mobile +61 412 461 558,
E-mail <mailto:hfinger at handholding.com.au>
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