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Enhanced Toolbar for FrameMaker 9 p250

Deutsche version

Shlomo Perets from MicroType provides the ToolbarPlus Express for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 files to add useful commands and menu items. This page is about the integration of these commands into a toolbar for FM-9 and a modification of the appearance of all tool bars.

Overview

Precondition
Toolbars
Workspaces
Difference to MictoType's implementation
  Context menu "Insert special symbols"
  Documents

Installation

Uninstallation

"Standard" in this text refers to the original FrameMaker installation. $HOME is the installation directory of FrameMaker.

[To top/bottom of page] Precondition

The installation of the Enhanced Toolbar requires that the ToolbarPlus Express has been purchased. This is checked during installation.

A complete description of the Enhanced Toolbar can be found in FM9-etb-en.pdf.

[To top/bottom of page] Toolbars

The standard toolbars of FM-9 are gray in normal state and coloured only when hovered over. Hence it is difficult to recognise buttons on a large screen instantly.

The Enhanced Toolbar exchanges the icons in the standard toolbars so that the normal appearance is coloured and the buttons are gray in hovered state: align_object, object_properties, para_format, quick_access, table_format, text_format and trackchanges.

To cope with the additional capabilities of the ToolbarPlus Express and to save space on laptops, new toolbars are defined:


DDD quick access ws


Only file and edit related buttons left here, document related moved to Extra, Paragraph and Character bar. Flyout for special symbols removed (more symbols available with context menu).


DDD quick access lt


Only hard to acces items left here to save space.


DDD paragraph bar


Paragraph catalogue, copy ¶ format , repeat last ¶ command, paragraph format drop down list, text alignment menu, tabulation menu, paragraph actions.


DDD character bar

Character catalogue, copy ƒ format, repeat last ƒ command, character format drop down list, convert text to lower case, mixed case, upper case.
DDD tables bar FM9 tables tool bar
Standard table commands + copy column width

DDD extra

unstructured
FM9 toolbar in structured mode structured

  • View items: Edit view, print view, jump back, jump next, previous screen, next screen.
  • Find/replace, find next, spelling checker
  • Equations palette, unwrap equation/frame, shrink wrap equation/frame, insert anchored frame, insert footnote, insert table.
  • Copy conditional text settings, show/hide condition indicators.
  • Structure items are visible only in structure mode: Structure view, element catalogue, edit element attributes, copy element attributes, repeat last element command.
  • Display vertical tool palette.

Tool tips for all toolbars show keyboard shortcuts where applicable.

Vertical toolbar

With the Enhanced Toolbar the vertical toolbar is back to FM-9. For better handling the switching has been changed from 4 to 2 levels. Unfortunately no tool tips are available, hence this description of the buttons. The top right button is a dummy. To leave the toolbar click on the X-button.

Vertical toolbar with description of the buttons

[To top/bottom of page] Workspaces

Two additional work spaces are defined: DDD_LT for laptops with at least 1200 pixels width, and DDD_WS for workstations with larger screens.

DDD_LT

DDD_WS

[To top/bottom of page] Difference to MictoType's implementation

In the D+DD implementation a variant of the MicroType menu is integrated into the Help Menu and some additional documents are available also. The superfluous original menu items Clip Art and Samples are removed, because they just open a folder, while the Enhanced Toolbar offers better access. Clip art for scales and grids for diagrams is added.

[To top/bottom of page] Context menu "Insert special symbols"

The standard button for inserting special symbols is removed from the toolbar, because the new context menu offers a much larger set of symbols from the FM-7 Character set.

In the D+DD implementation the menu Insert Special Character is extended with the following four symbols:

‘ left single quote  \xd4
’ right single quote \xd5
“ left double quote  \xd2
” right dobule quote \xd3

[To top/bottom of page] Documents

The ToolbarPlus Express and the Enhanced Toolbar provide additional documentation, which partly is standard FM-9 documentation, but hidden. For curious people even some still valid documents from FM-7 are provided.

Title in menu MT D+DD Description (partly form the document)
Function Key Chart (PDF) yes yes *) Table with all functions and commands of the MT customization. The second page lists all buttons with their commands which are specific to the MT customization (and hence the Enhanced Toolbar)
Special Characters Chart (PDF) yes yes Five pages with the set of characters and symbols which can be reached with ESC sequences and special short cuts, such as CTRL+Q, x. The following fonts are considered: Windows standard characters; Symbol; Dingbats; Wingdings and Webdings.
Standard Shortcuts yes yes *) PDF with list of shortcuts by category (Navigating, Files, Tables, Graphics, Quick Keys and Text Editing)
Escape Shortcuts yes yes *) PDF with list of ESC commands by category (Files/Documents, Pagination, Para. Formatting, Tables, Char. Formatting, Special, View, Highlighting, Close Dialog Box, Find and Replace etc.), 2 pages
Structured Escape Shortcuts yes yes PDF with list of ESC commands in structure view by category (element, view, focus in, close, validate, move insertion pt, select and miscellaneous). 1 page.
Templates, Samples & Clipart yes yes

Read-only FM file with hyperlinks to the various sample files and clip art files (MT special).
Clip art for diagrams (scales, grids) are added.

Getting Started Guide (FM-9) yes yes PDF with the same content as chapter 1 in the User Guide
User Guide yes no, already in Help Link to PDF with the same content as the Help system.
Character Sets (FM-9) no yes

This document describes support for the Unicode character sets in Adobe® FrameMaker® 9
When you open a FrameMaker 7.x document in FrameMaker 8 or FrameMaker 9, font encoding is used to convert the characters to Unicode encoding.

MIF Reference (FM-9) no yes MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a group of ASCII statements that create an easily parsed, readable text file of all the text, graphics, formatting, and layout constructs that Adobe® FrameMaker® understands. Because MIF is an alternative representation of a FrameMaker document, it allows FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information while preserving graphics, document content, and format.
MML Reference (FM-7) no yes FrameMaker ® includes support for a markup language called MML (Maker Markup Language). You can use any standard text editor to create an MML file. Later, you can open the MML file as a FrameMaker document or import it into a FrameMaker template. In a department where different people are responsible for writing and formatting documents, writers can use MML statements to mark up manuals in progress; at the same time, graphic designers can create the formatting specifications in FrameMaker templates.
Customizing FrameMaker (FM-7) no yes This manual describes how to customize Adobe® FrameMaker® by changing settings in initialization files and creating custom menu configurations. This information applies to the following platforms: Windows® 98; Windows NT® 4.0 and later; Windows ME; Windows 2000; Windows XP
ToolBar Plus UG yes yes *) Installation procedure for the ToolbarPlus Express 4.0 installation (relevant only for the MT flavour)

*) Since some of the commands are no more valid, this PDF displays them with strike through.

[To top/bottom of page] Installation

  1. You may wish to read the documentation (1MB) before you decide about the installation.
  2. The ToolbarPlus Express is a prerequisite. Purchase it here (USD 25.-) .
  3. Download Express Customization for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 from Kagi Store, but do not follow further installation advice from the e-mail you got from Kagi/MicroType!
  4. Expand the downloded ZIP to any location (to be memorised). This will only store one file FM9-Customization-MicroType.zip.
  5. Close FrameMaker. if necessary.
  6. Download Inst-FM9-toolbars-en.zip (3.5MB)
    Version Date Changes
    1.4 2010-02-17 Structure the items on the toolbars more logical (?); more individual icons for the new functions.
    1.3 2010-02-10 Installation: support multiple FM-users; remove option "install without MT enhancements".
    Tool bars: correct handling of characters "degree" and "multiply"; vertical tool bar added; description enhanced
    1.2 2010-01-15 Toolbars slightly modified; description modified
    1.1 2009-12-21 Change installation process to protect MT's work; remove alternative installation of MT package
    1.0 2009-07-24 First issue of installation program
  7. Expand the downloaded ZIP to any location. This will only store one file Install-FM9-toolbars-en.exe
  8. Execute this self extracting archive, which expands its files to C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\ and then starts the the installation program.
    Installation program

    File structure set up in C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\

    DDD
    Icons
    Toolbars
    WorkSpaces
    FM-puzzle.ico
    Install-FM9-etb.exe

     
  9. Fill in the location of the MicroType ZIP file from step 4 (or browse for its location).
  10. The password for the Force option is only communicated to known people for special cases, because I do not want to sacrifice the work of Shlomo Perets for the Express Customization.
  11. A message box indicates successfull installation (see first note below).

Notes

What is installed on your computer ?

%APPDATA% is the symbolic name for the User area C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data.
$HOME is the installation directory of FrameMaker.

[To top/bottom of page] Uninstallation

If you want to get rid of the enhancement and go back to the original FM installation:

  1. Start the installation with the shortcut in the Start Menu and click Reset FM-GUI to original .
  2. All files of this installation will be removed (toolbars, work spaces, icons, config files, clip art, add. documentation).
  3. FrameMaker 9 will copy the original toolbars into the user area at its next start.
  4. Since this is not a Windows un-installation, you must delete the installation directory and the short cut manually to get rid of all items. On the other hand this allows to install the Enhanced Toolbar again later.
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 URL:  Created: 2009-07-20  Updated:
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