FrameMaker is not Microsoft Word. Word is popular because any fool can create an ugly memo or a letter in five minutes. FrameMaker requires you to understand a bit more before you get started, but offers huge payoffs in return. This document should get you up and running with FrameMaker very quickly, at least if you know how to use a computer and how to write a document using a word processor.
Throughout this document, I will use the convention of File Æ Open to indicate that you should use the command "Open" from the menu item named "File" at the top of the interface. This document uses many of the conventions and ideas found in this document: Playing with it may be useful to your understanding.
FrameMaker has three models that you need to get straight up front. The paragraph model, the character model and the document model.
never modify the formatting of a paragraph directly, use the paragraph designer instead.
The paragraph model--represented by a paragraph name or "tag"--specifies all the characteristics of the paragraph including things like default font, margins, line spacing, numbering, etc. Each paragraph tag can be found in the big menu in the middle of the top control bar. Try placing the cursor in a paragraph then use the menu to change that paragraph's tag. You can modify the settings of a particular paragraph with the paragraph designer . Access it with Format Æ Paragraph Æ Designer .
When modifying the attributes of a paragraph with the designer you should almost always do "update all" not "apply." The difference is that "update all" affects all paragraphs with the displayed tag, whereas "apply" affects only the one the cursor is in. When doing a big document, you almost always want consistency, so "update all" is the better choice. If you want a single paragraph to look different from the rest, create a new paragraph tag with a different name. In the long run, I have found that this approach saves lots of time. To create a new paragraph tag, just type a new name where the name of the tag appears in the designer; FrameMaker will ask you if you want to create this tag and put it in the catalog of tags--answer yes.
character tags override paragraph-specified fonts.
Like the paragraph model, FrameMaker has a character level model as well, again represented by a "tag." A character tag is really a name for a particular set of font attributes. I generally find that what I want to use most is paragraph tags and not character tags, but your mileage may vary. The most common use of character tags is the "emphasis" tag that all documents have. This applies italics to the current font. I also usually make a character tag (using the character designer , Format Æ Character Æ Designer ) "code" so I can have a monospaced font for text that should look "computerish."
use master pages to express information about the page layout of a document, such as number of columns, placement of a title block, and placement of page numbers.
The other important model is the document model, which is expressed in the notion of "master pages." You can switch to viewing the master pages of a document instead of the body pages (the ones that hold your textual content) with View Æ Master Pages . Every master page is named, and every body page has a master page "applied" to them. By changing the master page, you affect the layout of all body pages using that master. To change the master page for a given body page use Format Æ Page Layout Æ Master Page Usage .
There are two basic things to do with master pages: control the flow of text and put "background" information on pages. By adding textboxes (see See Also: Graphics, Figures And Screen Dumps below for more on creating textboxes) to a master page you are saying that any body page using this master page should have a text box in the location you specified in the master page. That's how I made this document have two columns: the master pages have two text boxes of the appropriate size. Can you guess how to make the big "header" box that is on page one of this document? Of course! The master page for page one has three text boxes, one being for the title block.
When you add a text box to a master page it will ask you to add it to a flow. Flow is really an advanced topic so basically I will just recommend that you stick to one flow (the default is flow "A") and add all your text boxes to it. This assures that as you type text it "does what you expect" by flowing from one box to the logical next box. If you are curious, think about a newspaper with all of its pages, columns, and stories. Each story is one logical "flow" but the story may be in different physical parts of the document and could occupy many different columns.
By default, documents come with blank areas at the top and bottom of their master pages. In these areas, you can simply position text (or graphics for that matter) which will appear on all body pages using that master page. This information is not editable from the body page, so it should be things like copyright notices, letterheads, page numbers, etc.
To insert page numbers, running headers, or the like you first want to position the cursor where you want the information and then use Special Æ Variable menu item. This will present you with a dialog detailing your choices. I used this to create the header at the top of this page which says "Learning FrameMaker in 15 Minutes" by inserting a variable called "Running H/F 1." By using other versions of this variable (such as 2 or 3) you can make that header track the current section title or subsection title.
ian's law of framemaker: you can't have too many frames.
One of the reasons that people end up using FrameMaker instead of LaTeX or Microsoft Word is that figures, screen dumps, and the like are substantially easier if you use FrameMaker. They are simple if you apply Ian's law: always add more frames.
Anchored frames are almost always what you want when you are writing a document. These are frames which are "attached" to a particular point in the text. If you insert text before the anchor point, the frame moves "down" in the document to accomodate the new text. (You can see the attachment point and other useful info such as paragraph marks if you use View Æ Text Symbols .) The way to create an anchored frame is to position the cursor at the point you want the frame anchored to and then use Special Æ Anchored Frame to insert the frame. If you want to the simplest type of frame, which simply exists right below the insertion point, chose "anchored below current line" from teh anchored frame dialog. There are lots of options involving frames that you can explore, but generally the defaults work well.
Inside a frame, you can draw figures using the built-in graphics tools. The tool palette can be accessed from the accelerator button in the top, right corner of the interface which has the little triangle on it. To import screen dumps info a frame you can use File Æ Import ÆFile . FrameMaker understands lot of popular formats, but choosy authors choose GIF.
A cool thing about FrameMaker is that you can add textboxes to a frame and then use them just like the textboxes that you normally type text into. The text box tool is the button the tool palette that looks like a document. Textboxes understand paragraph tags, character tags, and all the usual text handling features of FrameMaker, but they also function like graphics. This is useful for putting a paragraph of commentary on a figure or graphic, but it is most useful for providing labels, like "Figure 2: A picture of my dog." You can create a paragraph tag called "figure" and adjust its numbering so that any paragraph with that tag gets the next sequential number: pow, automatic figure numbering! As we will see in a moment, this strategy helps substantially when doing cross referencing.
The simplest way to do this is as follows is by creating a frame at a given point in the document. This is different from an anchored frame which moves with text inserted before it. Here's the sequence of commands
If your figure is wider than one column in a two column document but not as wide as the page, you can make the master page have three textboxes instead of two. The "extra" textbox being skinny in the area next to where the figure will be placed.
Equations are the one part of FrameMaker that I think could use substantial improvement and also, in my opinion, the only part of FrameMaker which is not superior to LaTex . You create an equation using the accelerator button on the top, right part of the interface with the S on it. To create a new equation place the cursor where you want the equation to go and then pull down the menu on the top left of the equation panel. You need to select one of the "New Equation" options; I find "small" looks the best for equations intermixed with text and medium for equations that are their own paragraph.
The basic way equations work is that you create a "box" for an equation in one of the three sizes and then that box is shown for your editing pleasure. Once you have used the equation editing tools, you "shrink wrap" the box (that's an option on the pull-down menu) and the equation editing tools disappear and the box (with the equation in it) is inserted into your text at the cursor point. Editing equations is basically a "pick from a menu" type of operation and FrameMaker seems to have all the symbols and operators that I have needed.
if you want a cross reference to it, it should probably have its own paragraph tag.
For simplicity, we'll stick to cross referencing within a single document. The most important thing to remember about a cross reference in FrameMaker is this: Whatever your reference is to controls the content of the reference. Thus, paragraph tags which use autonumbering work well with cross referencing, i.e. if you add an "upstream" figure, the later figures get renumbered and cross references show the right value (since they are dependent on the object referenced). An obvious variant of this strategy works well for the references section of technical papers.
You insert a cross reference by positioning the cursor where you want the reference to go and then using Special Æ Cross Reference . The dialog box that pops up has a list of paragraph tags on its left hand side. You should select the tag of the item you want your reference to from this list. This is why you want things to have paragraph tags if you reference to them, they are easy to find. I always use a tag type of "figure" for all my figure names, for example. Having selected a tag type, select the paragraph in question from the list on the right side. You have now selected what to link to, so you need to tell the cross reference what format to use in the document. You can pick a format from the list of options at the bottom, it's a pop-up menu. I find the default cross references fairly wordy and usually create new ones (using the "Edit Format" button on the dialog) with shorter texts like "Figure 2" instead of "Figure 2: A picture of my dog" on page 3.