[Framers] FrameMaker 2020

[Mike Wickham]

Optical margins are margins made to look visually straight. FrameMaker 
makes them actually straight. So, if you have a line that begin with, 
say, a quotation mark or an apostrophe, there is a bit more white space 
at that point on the line, because the character is small. Your eye 
notes that and your brain tells you that the column edge isn't exactly 
straight. With optical margins, characters are shifted slightly to make 
them visually appear straight. Here's a short article with a graphic 
that shows it:
https://indesignsecrets.com/tip-of-the-week-using-optical-margin-alignment.php

Yes, FrameMaker can use old style numerals if the file has them, but not 
automatically. You can't just type the numbers and get oldstyle, you 
have to use the Character Map to find them in the font and then copy or 
type in their Alt-codes. Programs that support OpenType features can be 
set to automatically convert to old style numerals.

Again, yes, there are also fonts that have numerators/denominators and 
super/subscripts, and you can use them if you set up variables or go the 
Character Map route, but that's extra work. If Frame just had separate 
settings for them, instead of just one, you wouldn't even need a font 
that contained these characters. Or, if Frame utilized OpenType 
features, it would pick those automatically.

But, you're right, I should file them as a feature request. Again. :)

Mike


On 1/16/2020 7:48 AM, Lin Sims wrote:
> What is an optical margin?
>
> Also, if you're looking for "old style numerals", are you talking about
> where numbers like the 3 extending slightly below the baseline? That
> appears to be a function of the font set as much as anything else. I'm
> pretty sure I've seen fonts that provide that still.
>
> As for super/subscripts or numerators/denominators, again, depending on the
> font you use, there are font sets that include super and subscript glyphs
> that work well as numerators and denominators, instead of using the
> superscript/subscript function on the character designer. I've got a whole
> set of variables that are just constructed fractions using built-in font
> glyphs. (We use Source Sans Pro because it has a lot of the mathematical
> symbols we need and it also lets us construct those fractions.)
>
> At any rate, if there are features you'd like added, you can always put in
> a feature request: https://tracker.adobe.com/#/home
> Talk about them here and I'm sure a bunch of us would vote for them. You
> can also make requests on the Adobe FrameMaker forum:
> https://community.adobe.com/t5/framemaker/bd-p/framemaker?page=1&sort=latest_replies&filter=all
> and
> tag it with Feature Request.
>
> On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 6:17 PM Mike Wickham <info at mikewickham.com> wrote:
>
>> New versions of FrameMaker always seem to concentrate on adding features
>> for the structured community. I get it. That's the strenght of the
>> program. But the new features I'd like to see involve handling of
>> graphics and type. For example, it would be nice to be able to make a
>> graphic float in the middle of a two-column page, and have both columns
>> wrap around it. Or how about taking advantage of the various OpenType
>> features that InDesign can handle with ease, but Frame is clueless
>> about-- like easy, true small caps, or oldstyle numerals? Or optical
>> margins and hanging indents, for a more modern, refined look in printed
>> docs? Or a separate offset setting for numerators and denominators?
>> Right now, you can set superscript and subscript offsets to work for
>> either super/subscripts or numerators/denominators, but not both.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> On 1/15/2020 2:54 PM, TW Smith wrote:
>>> Over the years, I've beta tested a few FrameMaker versions. I always test
>>> on live projects, which I know isn't the best idea, but it gives me
>>> information about how the beta works in the real world. Before the beta
>>> concludes, I save my project files as MIF, so I can continue documenting
>> in
>>> the non-beta, current FM version. Not sure what I need in a new version
>> of
>>> FM. Probably stronger Word filters, a better way to round-trip MIF, and a
>>> more robust and straightforward way of finding missing fonts in the
>> actual
>>> files. Cheers.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 15, 2020 at 2:58 PM Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
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>