FrameMaker Feature Requests

[meg miranda]

My appologies, I didn't take the time to find the original poster of this request.
 
I would have a few feature requests, but first some info on how we use Frame:
 
We've got Frame set up with unstructured templates (even though we all have had DITA experience) and we use RoboHelp to convert 8 books into one single online help system.
 
Some of the larger issues I run into all the time:
 
Big irritation that I have, is that the variables are and have been a struggle to work with.  Individual writers (over time with writers coming and going) set up variables for their book, because, hey, it sounds like a logical and good idea. But when we bring multiple books together, I have no good way to manage the variables.  My advice to several writers has been to not use variables at all in favor of using the global search and replace functionality.  So I'd say either remove variables from Frame or put some effort into making them worth using. Interleaf used to do such a stand up job with variables. 
 
Other features that would be excellent to me would be things that focus on being able to globally manage paragraphs, characters, master pages, variables, table types, conditional values, graphics settings, anchored frame settings, and markers.  Seems like every release I end up having to troll through 10-20 different books making macro-level changes through each of the supporting files. 
 
Let's see and another pain in the backside has been finding and removing paragraph or character styles that are applied but no longer used.  We did extensive template clean-up 3 releases ago, but are still finding interesting settings that deviate from the current template.  Even after we believe we have applied the paragraph style, the old thing still hangs on. I've had to apply paragraph styles, then apply default character style, then re-apply paragraph style before things stick. 
 
Integration with RoboHelp is a whole other set of grumblings.
 
Thanks and I hope this might help in some small way.
 
-meg

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