From FrameMaker Product Management

Question

We do look at the forum posts from time to time. More so during product planning phases. The inputs received on the forums is a valuable source of information for us.
We also try to have direct communication with experienced FrameMaker users. We are currently in the planning phase for the future versions of FrameMaker. We would really appreciate if FrameMaker users can take out some time to share their ideas and wishlist with us.
We would prefer to receive a prioritised list of 5 to 10 features (not more than 10). And also a short description for each feature. Based on your requests we might want to schedule a call and discuss your ideas. Some information about yourself and your organisation would help us see your requests in the correct perspective. You can post your list of prioritised features on this forum, or send it to me directly ([email protected]). I understand that many of you have posted multiple requests in the past. It would be helpful if you resend your prioritised wishlist.
Thank you for your continued support.
Aseem Dokania
Product Manager - FrameMaker

Answer 1

b Fix the ever-lovin' memory leak!
It's getting beyond tiresome to have to restart the program four or five times a day because "FrameMaker has experienced a serious problem and must quit"!!!!! There must be two hundred .recover. files hiding on my hard drives.
Move the spellcheck dialog out of the way (or, better, shift the text window) so we can see the suspected misspelling in context. Hiding the highlighted string with the dialog (even another one unconnected to the spellchecking task) is torture.
Some keyboard-driven means of getting into and out of the dialogs\toolbars. When using, e.g., the Paragraph Designer, it would be much easier to Shift+Tab back to the main doc window. Ctrl+M is great for getting _into_ it, but it's a mouse-driven world to get out. Being able to move among various toolbar/dialogs without going to the mouse would be very useful.
Drop Caps at the beginning of a 'graf. The current anchored frame method is tedious, and it just doesn't work very well for the material I deal with.
I have copied a few of Tim Murray's list here because I really like them, in addition to my own footnote and anchored frame requests (q.v. supra). I've flagged his suggestions: "¶", my comments have no flag.
¶ Allow forced-justify of the last line of a paragraph.
I've torn out so much hair trying to work around this (never successfully, btw)!
¶ Don't consider the space at the end of a line as a character when determining positioning.
This has always been a puzzle. I leave non-mandatory space at the end of each 'graf in case I want to add more text later or join two 'grafs. This "feature" often drives a new blank, line between 'grafs. Odd.
¶ If you type Alt+0039, you should get a straight single quote and 0034 should give you the straight double quote.
b Feet'n'inches, minutes'n'seconds are all straight quotes.
So it's "turn off smart quotes, enter character(s), turn smart quote back on" or the esc sequences. Dumb smart quotes would be very nice. It would even be nice if Ctl+z reversed the smartness, as it does in MS Word. I could handle two keystrokes for the job, but as it is, we waste a lot of time keeping things straight (so to speak).
¶ Wider fields and dialogs. The good news: A fellow named Klaus Daube has created a modified fmdlg.dll for Windows that has nice wide fields for the Resize Selected Column dialog box. You can download it at http://www.daube.ch/docu/fmaker20.html.
Thanks, Tim, this is great!!
Adobe should include this directly in the application. Does it also work (I'm not able to try it right now) for the next issue you raise:
¶ Show us the path. Some dialogs that show paths to files chop the path down to next to nothing. Show us the whole path, start to finish, and let it wrap when needed.
Oh, yeah!!! That's really old technology.
b The same thing goes for cross references.
It's often difficult to tell which of similar strings I am trying to catch when all I can see is forty characters.
¶ More keyboard support in dialog box lists; Shift+ and Ctrl+click. In the "Set Up Table of Contents" for example, pressing a letter should jump you to an item in the list. Some dialogs do, some to not. Further, you can't Shift+click or Ctrl+click either, and the up/down arrow keys don't work.
I, too, am a rodentophobe. Being left-handed may be a part of it, but having to use the mouse to do anything more complex than bringing up a designer just wastes too much time and effort. Keyboard short cuts (preferably that do not involve seven key strokes) are the best way to go.
¶ Do dialog tabs differently. Guess what you can't do? You can't change tabs by pressing Ctrl+Tab!
Once more, the mouse is vermin, and should be avoided any time possible.
¶ Quick outline view.
Again, this would make life so much easier.