FrameMaker 9

[Pinkham, Jim]

Generally, I'm a keyboard guy, Stuart, but I've been more of a mouse guy
with Frame. I use a few, to be sure, such as the CRTRL+0 to access
variables, the ESC tw for table sizing, the ESC mp for the Shrinkwrap to
Fit plug-in. I've not had issues with the keystrokes I use most. What I
like about the new GUI is the ready access to all the pods and the
chapter tabs, and the ability to adjust the interface's "workspace"
based on task. I've kept it on the Authoring workspace, mostly. I also
like the ability to switch the UI off and on; and I do switch it off
while working on landscape tab-sized pages in my manuals. The one big
annoyance -- and I'm pursuing this with Adobe right now -- is not going
back to the same point in the document, at least visually, after
toggling the UI off and then going back in later. Most of the time,
however, Frame seems to remember the insertion point from where I was
just working (and BTW, I like the button for going to the insertion
point), and if I click my right arrow, I can get back to where I need to
be.

I can't comment on the text frames within anchored frames. For good or
ill, I've gotten out of the habit of using them. I keep my callouts in
my graphics these days, prefering to scale the graphics to the desired
anchored frame size and then resize the fonts to our default font size.
I know I could get that job done in Frame. But I've been doing the
callout work, along with the graphics, in Illustrator. I'm testing Illy
CS 4 right now, as well, and I find precise scaling much simpler than in
Illustrator 9, which we've been using heretofore. Also, Illustrator CS 4
gives me a lot more flexibility with DXF and DWG files, solving what had
been a hassle in collaborating with Engineering, which has been moving
over the past year to working primarily in AutoDesk Inventor.

I've generated several books with Acrobat Pro 9 3D Extended, from Frame,
using Distiller, over the past couple of weeks. I haven't had any
bookmark issues (other than remembering to do the PDF setup the first
time), but I did run into the "no pages selected to print" messages in
Acrobat once on three pages in the PDF that were created from TIFFs of
Engineering drawings. The problems did not recur after downloading the
latest patches and rebooting from a hard shutdown. On that point, I also
got the following advice from a contact at Adobe: 

***"If the issue happens again for you, you might want to try to
optimize your PDF file ( HOAH.pdf). If you have Acrobat 8/9  Pro you
have got the option under:  Advanced > PDF Optimizer. In Acrobat 9 Pro (
not sure if it is in Acrobat 8) you would also have the option Document
> Examine PDF that would allow you to remove certain data that might
cause unnecessary data conversion. It's obviously advisable to do that
on a copy of your main file. We also have a general troubleshooting
Guide on the web, that might have additional information you might find
useful: http://www.adobe.com/go/kb403914." ***

Have there been a few peeves and grumbles and adjustments? For sure. But
in the main, so far, so good.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart Rogers [mailto:srogers at phoenix-geophysics.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3:22 PM
To: Pinkham, Jim
Cc: FrameUsers List
Subject: Re: FrameMaker 9

Pinkham, Jim wrote:
> Hmm...might I detect a note of teasing here? Or perhaps it's mild 
> aggravation at an imprecise question. Either way, yes, it's a vague 
> question, so I'll defer an exhaustive answer for the moment.
> 
> I've been using FM 9, as part of TCS 2, for about two weeks. I've run 
> into a few ultimately minor bugs and annoyances; good, prompt help 
> from Adobe; plug-ins carrying over quite well; good FM integration 
> with the rest of the suite; and an interface that I find more 
> efficient and productive than FM 7p1. We haven't made any corporate 
> decisions yet, but at this point, I like the new version a lot and
don't want to go back.
> 

Just curious about your take on the GUI, Jim -- do you use your mouse
predominantly, or do you rely on keyboard shortcuts to get around?

I'm a keyboard guy, and try to use the mouse as little as possible. 
I've been using FM9/TCS2 for a little over a week on a very small book
project, and find the interface clumsy and continually intruding on my
document space.  For example, Special > Variable brings up the Variables
'pod' or whatever they call it, and I can insert a variable easily
enough, but when I want the bottom third of my screen back, I have to
grab the mouse to right-click and dismiss the pod.  Same with the
Designers -- they pop up fine on my keyboard commands, but seem to
require a mouse click to dismiss.  Same with book window.

I have also found a bug, in that text frames within anchored frames
become unselectable by mouse under certain conditions.  (Haven't exactly
figured out what those are, but seems to have to do with whether frames
have overlapped each other.)  I cannot select the text or its frame with
the mouse, only with Esc (o)bject (n)ext repeatedly, and even then, the
selected frame is unresponsive to the mouse -- can't move it except with

Alt+arrows.  (Moving objects around in a graphic is one place I *do*
like to use the mouse ;-)

And then when I generate a PDF from the book, all my Heading1TOC pgfs 
are showing up as PDF bookmarks -- even though FM9 no longer lists them 
as possibilities in the Bookmarks tab of PDF setup.  So there's no way 
to tell FM *not* to put them in; I have to delete them manually in 
Acrobat.  (Which has also been refusing to print anything, claiming that

"There were no pages selected to print" after a print-all-pages
command.)

So.... I'm not such a happy camper with TCS 2.


-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
Toronto, ON, Canada
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

srogers phoenix-geophysics com

"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product."

-- Eleanor Roosevelt