Thumbs down: FrameMaker 9 Welcome Screen

[Diane Gaskill]

Well, to each his own, I guess.  When I save things, I expect them to stay where I put them and not return to the default position.  Further, when I upgrade software, I expect that the xy parameters of the file window would be preserved.  I should not have to reset them, but this did not happen in FM9, even when I made changes and saved. But they did in FM8.  Am I seeing a bug here?

My book files are never buried behind any chapters. I keep my FM area organized so that this does not happen.  A litle extra work at the beginning but it saves time later.

Diane
==============

-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Kindall <j.kindall at tecplot.com>
>Sent: Mar 30, 2009 9:28 AM
>To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
>Subject: Thumbs down: FrameMaker 9 Welcome Screen
>
>"Diane Gaskill" <dgcaller at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> I also do not like the fact that FM9 opens a book file on the left
>side of
>> the FM window and its huge and docked.
>
>In my opinion, this is the single best improvement in the new FrameMaker
>9 UI.  Now I don't have to dig out the book file from behind the
>eleventy chapters I've opened in front of it, and if I have multiple
>books open, they are managed separately from the chapters I've opened
>from them.  I can even arrange it so the books are tabs in a single
>panel or so I can see them all at the same time, whichever way I want to
>work.  It makes FrameMaker much like an IDE for writing.
>
>BTW, the book area can be collapsed and will stay collapsed, addressing
>your concern with how much space it takes -- your books then "fly out"
>from an unobjectionable icon strip.  I have been playing with this mode,
>and I like it quite a bit.  Of course, if you don't like the books on
>the left, you can put them somewhere else, such as on the right, on the
>bottom, or even in a tabbed strip across the top.  It is a frankly
>brilliant design and long overdue.
>
>Of course, if you want it to work the old way, that is simple too -- you
>can tear the books off and position them as you like.  They do float
>over your other documents, which is a change, but wonder of wonders, you
>can put them on your second display now!  That is an absolute usability
>improvement -- FrameMaker has finally moved into the '90s.
>
>The welcome screen?  In an ordinary day I would see it for about five
>seconds.  I don't see any way to turn it off, but I also don't see any
>reason to.
>
>I haven't done a major project in FrameMaker 9 yet, but so far the
>changes I've seen are all obvious improvements that will make working in
>FrameMaker much less frustrating.  Now if only they'd get some
>inheritance going with their document model, I'd be in heaven.
>
>-- 
>Jerry Kindall, SDK Technical Writer
>Tecplot, Inc. | Enjoy the View
>Bellevue, Washington, USA
>_______________________________________________
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