[Framers] "Secret" Freeze Pagination Feature

Tue Apr 25 04:58:52 PDT 2017

Hi Rick,

thanks for your comprehensive answer! This was very helpful for me, especially the remarks about the limitations (I was not aware of them yet).

Regards,
Stefan Gentz
Adobe Worldwide TechComm Evangelist

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers [mailto:framers-bounces+gentz=adobe.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Rick Quatro
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 13:40
To: 'An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software.' <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Re: [Framers] "Secret" Freeze Pagination Feature

Hi Stefan,

The concept behind Freeze Pagination could be very useful for certain categories of documentation. The way it is implemented in FrameMaker severely limits its usefulness. Here are the major problems that occur when you freeze pagination:

1. Paragraphs that break across a page are split into two paragraphs.
2. Tables that break across a page cause point pages to be added as soon as the pagination is frozen.
3. Content after last page of a multi-page table is pushed to the following page.
4. This may be the hardest to live with: autonumbers are reset on each page because of the disconnected text frames.
5. You can't freeze pagination in a structured document.

I have a good client that uses point pages for documentation used in a particular transportation sector. I wrote a "PointPages" plugin back in 2005 or so that overcame some of the limitations listed above. I sold a few copies but you had to follow a specific process to get good results and I got a disproportionate number of support requests, so I discontinued it. I converted some of the key functionality to a set of FrameScript scripts so that my client could still use point pages in her documentation. She still uses it for her client today.

If you are curious about how I overcame the limitations of Freeze Pagination, you can see the PointPages documentation at

http://www.rickquatro.com/resources/PointPages.pdf

Be careful that you don't ask the wrong question about Freeze Pagination.
The question should not be "Do you use it?" You should ask, "Do you have a need for a reliable point-page feature?" The answer to the first question could be a reflection on the limitations of the feature in FrameMaker, not the need for point pages in general. That said, I don't think there is a big demand for point pages in general. I have had a few requests over the years, but not a large amount.

As far as the existing command, my suggestion would be to leave it there.
Since it is not documented, it is not likely to become a support problem for Adobe, but I know at least one client that still uses it. I can't see any reason to take it out unless it is somehow "in the way" in the code.

But what about a Point Pages feature that actually works! I am not sure what the demand is, but the simplest solution could be a way to apply custom numbering to individual pages, just like custom numbering can be applied to entire FrameMaker files (and book components). The premise behind Freeze Pagination is that the point pages would be automatically created after pagination was frozen. But I think people would give up this automated aspect and be willing to apply the point page numbering "manually" if this was available to them in FrameMaker. The users of my plugin were certainly willing to do some manual work to get point pages in their docs.

Rick

Rick Quatro
Carmen Publishing Inc.
rick at frameexpert.com
585-366-4017

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers
[mailto:framers-bounces+rick=rickquatro.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Stefan Gentz
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 5:20 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: [Framers] "Secret" Freeze Pagination Feature

Hi Framers,

Klaus Daube reminded me a few days ago, that there are some "secret"
features in FrameMaker, that are still present in the product today, but are no longer in the UI nor documented, especially "Freeze pagination" and "Open Heroic". I'm currently going through them and discuss them with the product managers and documentation team.

So, one of these "secret features" is "Freeze pagination": It's still present in FM 2017 and can be accessed with Esc-p-z.

For those who do not know the feature: Let's say you have a 100-page document with one text flow. On the master page you have a footer with a page count variable (<$curpagenum>). Now you can "freeze pagination" which will disconnect all text frames (that is, you get 100 disconnected pages with a Text Flow "A"). Now you can add new disconnected pages between other pages (called "point pages"). Or if you are at the end of a page and add new content, a new page is added right next to the current page with a connect text frame to the previous page. The page number will show a "point page number" (e.g. when you add pages after page 7, they will be numbered as 7.1,
7.2 etc.).
The idea of this feature back in the days was to create "revision pages"
("point pages").

That said, I understand how the feature works, but in more than 20 years I have never used it myself (never had a use case for it) nor met anyone ever using it and all people I have asked in the last days who know this feature told me the same (never had a use case).

My question to you:
- Has anyone ever used this feature when it was still present in the UI many versions back?
- Is anyone still using it? 
- What is the use case scenario that you can think of where it still might be useful?

Your feedback will help us to have a new look at this feature and discuss what to do with it (bring it back to the UI and document it or keep it hidden or maybe even remove it).

Looking forward to your feedback,
Stefan Gentz
Adobe Worldwide TechComm Evangelist

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