RANT: FrameMaker's "help" function

[Peter Gold]

Hi, Deirdre:

In FM Help, it's common that information is present, but it is
described in terms that aren't exactly the ones you expect or search
for, or it is buried in the mass of found topics.

Your search did find what you needed, about 12 lines down, in the
topic, "Breaking tables at a specific place."

Searches in Help file that's included in your FrameMaker installation
(the one that comes up with the F1 key, or from Help > Help Topics) is
and in the online Help you get by choosing Help > Complete FrameMaker
Help, which takes you to a page at Adobe.com sometimes rank responses
differently. Under User Guides, Using Adobe FrameMaker 8, clicking
LiveDocs takes you to a searchable online version of the User Guide.
Searching for table break returns the topic "Breaking tables at a
specific place" as the third entry.

This is all un- or under-documented. LiveDocs for some Adobe
applications work like wikis - you can post comments and correction
requests directly to them.

You can contribute greatly to the FrameMaker community if you'd post a
formal request at
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform to make
the FM LiveDocs interactive, and also to correct the LiveDocs, PDF,
and distributed versions of the FM Help topics "Controlling page
breaks in tables," and "Controlling where tables begin" to include
linked references to  the topic "Breaking tables at a specific place."

Future generations of FM users will thank you.

HTH

Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Deirdre Reagan <deirdre.reagan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Is anyone else as annoyed by FrameMaker's useless help function as I am?
>
> I want to put a page break in my table.  Here's what I get when I type
> "table break" into the Help search function:
>
> ***
> Controlling page breaks in tables
>
> If all the rows of a table don't fit in a text column, some of the
> rows move to the next page or column. You can control how the table
> breaks between pages or columns. For example, you can set the minimum
> number of rows that can appear on a page or column, or specify that
> two rows always appear together on the same page or column. You can
> also force a break at any row in a table.
>
> When you insert a table, the minimum number of rows in a column or on
> a page is determined by the table format. You can change this number
> in the Table Designer.
>
> On the other hand, keeping two rows together and forcing a page break
> are not part of the format; they are custom settings, which you make
> on a case-by-case basis. If you apply a different format to the table,
> these settings are not overwritten.
>
> For information on controlling where a table starts on a page or in a
> column, see Controlling where tables begin.
> ***
>
> Ok.  So, I can control how the table breaks.  Great!  I can force a
> break at any row in a table.  Fantastic!
>
> Anyone notice anything missing?
>
> I especially like this nugget of useful information: "forcing a page
> break [is] not part of the format; they are custom settings, which you
> make on a case-by-case basis."
>
> Um, where?  How?
>
> In case anyone here doesn't know, it's Table> Row Format > Start Row:.
>
> Deirdre
> _______________________________________________
>