FrameMaker graphics question

[Ken Poshedly]

I did cross-post this elsewhere because -- for whatever reason -- I don't see my 
infrequent posts on this list until one or two days after posting and that just doesn't work for me,

We produce operator and other manuals for a heavy equipment manufacturing company using FrameMaker 11.0 on a Windows XP plaform.

1. Is there a way to force a certain width line border around all imported graphics as they are brought in?

2. Is there a more "elegant" way to insert a sequential figure number than how my company currently does it?

Background for question 1:
The
 procedure here for inserting images is to first insert a right-aligned 
anchored frame 3.25 in. wide. That frame is set to "Run into Paragraph" 
and as already stated, "Right Aligned"; it is anchored to its procedural
 text to the left, so if its procedural text is deleted or  moved, that 
anchored frame goes with it. 

I then import by reference an 
subject image inside that anchored frame, scale it to 2.75 in. wide and 
then right-align it inside that anchored frame. (The height of the 
subject image, of course, then dictates the height of the anchored 
frame, but that's no problem.) That leaves a 0.50 inch margin between 
the left side of the subject image and the left side of the anchored 
frame.

The reason for the anchored frame, by the way, is to 
artificially force the procedural text for that subject graphic into a 
one-column format. Yes, I'm one of the few who still believes that a 
true two-column format should be used throughout a book (whether or not 
there are images on the right), but my NOT tech writing or page 
layout-sophisticated supervisor believes all white space on a page needs
 to be used. Thus, most pages wind up with a mix of one-column and 
two-column layouts. (Those paragraphs not accompanied by a graphic are 
full-page-width, while those paragraphs with a graphic are artificially 
left-column-width. Pretty sloppy to my way of thinking.)

Anyway .
 . . after importing, positioning and scaling the subject image as 
described above, I left-click on it (the image, not the anchored frame) 
and use the Graphics toolbox icons to select a solid black border that 
is 0.5 pt in width because all images (referenced or embedded) import 
"naked" (with no line border). 

So CAN a line border with a 
predefined width be set so we don't have to do it for every image? (Of 
course anchored frames with images that are used repeatedly are simply 
copied and pasted wherever required and they retain their size and 
border attributes.)

Background for question 2:

After the 
image is imported, positioned, sized and "bordered", a small text box is
 also placed inside the anchored frame but directly below the subject 
image and left-aligned with its left border. The empty paragraph marker 
within that little text box is then tagged "section graphic counter"; it
 is set to then automatically display the word "Fig." and the applicable
 chapter and sequential figure number separated by a hyphen. For 
example, "Fig. 1-2". Surely you get the idea.

That little text 
box is a problem because one has to eyeball its placement to make sure 
it's not too close and not too far from its subject graphic and that it 
is perfectly left-aligned with the left border of its subject graphic. 
Then the subject graphic's runaround props must be set to "Do not 
runaround" or else no graphic counter text appears inside the little 
text box.What a damn pain in the . . .!

Note that we do also use 
full-page-width images and in those cases, I simply insert a two-row, 
single-column table, stretch it to full-page-width, import and center 
the image into the top row (or "cell"), tag the empty paragraph marker 
inside row 2 as "section graphic counter" and the result is as described
 above (left-aligned text with "Fig. 1-2" or whatever), but without 
having to create another funky little text box.

I toyed with 
creating a one-column, two-row, right-aligned table to use this method 
for single-column-width graphics, but FrameMaker doesn't allow text to 
the left of a table (at least that I know of). And Frame (or a least MY 
version) doesn't allow placement of a table inside an anchored frame. (I
 just tried it once more and it won't.)

So again I ask if  there a way to accomplish this whole extravaganza more simply?

Yep, it's Friday.

Ken in Atlanta
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