Chapter 6. Formatting Text with Character Tags

Transcription

1 Chapter 6 Formatting Text with Character Tags 143

2 144 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference In many desktop publishing applications, you use a single style sheet for both paragraph and character formatting. If you select a word, the style is applied just to that word. If you select a paragraph (or just click in the paragraph), the style is applied to the entire paragraph. FrameMaker, by contrast, makes a distinction between paragraph-level and character-level formatting. Paragraph tags always format an entire paragraph. Character tags provide a way to format one or more characters inside the paragraph. For example, you can create formats for italicized, underlined, or bold text. By applying character tags, you can quickly format text, but more importantly, you maintain consistency and make it easy to update your document. For example, suppose your new corporate style department bans boldface text from product documentation. The Menu Item character tag formats menu items in boldface text, so you change the weight property of the Menu Item character tag and update the tag s definition globally in the book. If you had used the Format menu (or B button) to emphasize menu items, you would have to scan your book for each bold menu item and manually remove the bold formatting. Character tags also act as formatting building blocks for other FrameMaker features. Using character tags, you can assign color or other formatting to a portion of a crossreference or a variable. In structured documents, text range elements can use character tags for their formatting. Character tags also format specific portions of an element, such as prefixes or suffixes. Applying Character Tags The character catalog lists the character tags in a document. To display the catalog, click the character catalog button in the upper-right corner of the FrameMaker window. Click to display the character catalog. Although you can apply multiple character tags to achieve formatting effects, FrameMaker recognizes just the last tag. If, for example, you apply an italicized character tag and then apply a boldface tag, the text will most likely display as boldface, italicized text. FrameMaker, however, recognizes only the last character tag you applied. A better approach is to create a single character tag that combines both properties.

3 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags 145 Using the Character Catalog to Apply a Tag To apply a character tag through the character catalog, follow these steps: 1. Select the text you want to format. 2. In the character catalog, click a character tag. The character tag is applied to the selected text. In the status bar, the character tag name indicates that you applied the tag. Name of character tag applied to selected text FrameMaker provides other ways to apply a character tag, including: CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT Selecting a menu choice Using the right-click pop-up menu Using keyboard shortcuts You can also apply character tags by using the Character Designer, but this isn t recommended because you could accidentally modify the character tag definition. Selecting a Menu Choice To apply a character tag through a menu choice, follow these steps: 1. Select the text you want to format. 2. Select Format Characters, then select a character tag from the submenu. Using the Right-Click Pop-Up Menu The pop-up menu displayed when you right-click (Windows) or CTRL-click (Mac) also gives you a way to apply a character tag. Follow these steps: 1. Select the text you want to format. 2. Right-click (Windows) or CTRL-click (Mac) to display the pop-up menu, select Characters, and then select a tag from the list that s displayed.

4 146 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference Using Keyboard Shortcuts To apply a character tag using a keyboard shortcut, follow these steps: 1. Select the text you want to format. 2. Press F8 (Windows or UNIX) or CTRL-8 (all platforms). The bottom-left of the status bar is highlighted. Active area 3. Display the character tag you want by doing any of the following: Use the arrow keys to scroll through the list of available tags. Type a letter to jump to that section of the character catalog. Type the first few letters of the character tag name. 4. Press ENTER. Some of the keys on your computer may be specially programmed. If so, one or more keyboard shortcuts may not work as described. Consult your system documentation for help. Modifying Character Tags In the Character Designer, you modify character tag properties, such as font size, color, and angle. When you save your changes, you update all character tags in the document at once. Content formatted by the updated character tag is automatically reformatted. The Character Designer consists of the same choices as the Paragraph Designer s Default Font sheet. For a description of each item, see Default Font Sheet on page 117. The commands on the left side of the Character Designer also work very much like the commands in the Paragraph Designer. To modify a character tag, follow these steps: 1. Display the Character Designer by selecting Format Designer or by pressing CTRL-D (Windows or UNIX) or ESC O C D (all platforms). 2. Click the character tag you want to modify in the Character Tag drop-down list.

5 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags 147 The Menu Item character tag formats text as bold. The other properties are set to As Is because they re not needed. 3. Click As Is for the properties you want determined by the paragraph tag. Font size is a good example. In some templates, the body and table cell paragraph tags have different font sizes. If you want to emphasize something in a body paragraph and in a table cell, you don t want the character tag to control the font size. This would make the table cell text as large as the body paragraph text. For this reason, it s best to set font size to As Is. See the following section, As Is Character Properties, for details. 4. Use the other drop-down lists to change the properties you need. CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT If the color you need isn t listed, modify your document s color definitions (select View Color Definitions), and the new color will be displayed in the Character Designer. For details, see Chapter 20, Color Output. 5. Click the Apply button. Your changes are displayed on the selected text. 6. Click the Update All button to modify all instances of the character tag in your document. If you don t click the Update All button, you create an override. See Avoiding Character Tag Overrides on page 148 for more information. As Is Character Properties When you create a character tag, you don t use many properties in the Character Designer. For example, in an Emphasis character tag, you change the angle setting to Italics (or Oblique, depending on the font). The remaining properties font family, font size, weight, variation, color, word spread, underline, and so on come from the paragraph tag applied to the current paragraph. Using the As Is setting for the other properties saves time and helps you build character tags that format content properly.

6 148 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference Figure 6-1 illustrates the benefit of using As Is properties. Most properties have been modified in the first example, which improperly formats the text. In the second example, most properties except weight are set to As Is, so the text is formatted correctly. Most of the check boxes are grayed out, and the Size drop-down list is blank. This indicates that those properties have been set to As Is. You set check box properties to As Is by double-clicking the check box (if the check box is originally clear). When you click As Is in the Size drop-down list, the field is cleared. See the sidebar Understanding Check Boxes in FrameMaker on page 151 for more information. Most properties in the Command character tag have been specified, so text formatted by the tag looks like this: Type Caution:\t in the Autonumber Format field. Most properties except the weight are set to As Is in this character tag. The text is now properly formatted. Type Caution:\t in the Autonumber Format field. Figure 6-1. Using As Is properties Avoiding Character Tag Overrides When you modify a tag in the Character Designer and click the Apply button instead of clicking the Update All button, you create an override. A star is displayed next to the character tag name in the status bar. You also create an override by applying a character tag to an entire paragraph. Typically, if you need to change the style of the entire paragraph, you should create a new paragraph tag instead of applying a character tag.

7 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags 149 Star indicates the Emphasis character tag has been modified. Star indicates the Emphasis character tag overrides the Body paragraph tag. You remove character tag overrides by importing the template with the Remove Format Overrides option checked or by reapplying the character tag. To remove a paragraph tag override, apply the Default Paragraph Font character tag and reapply the paragraph tag. In a structured document, you need to reapply the original element. Overrides defeat the goal of maintaining consistently formatted and structured documents. Though FrameMaker provides ways to remove overrides, you should avoid creating them in the first place. Creating Character Tags In addition to modifying tags in the Character Designer, you also create them. When you create a character tag, it s best to follow a specific naming convention. Typically, you should name character tags based on their function rather than their style properties. For example, your template may include a character tag that formats computer commands with the Courier font. Instead of naming the tag Courier, you name it Command. If you decide later to format commands in bold, you can update the Command character tag without changing the tag name. If you had named the tag Bold, the character tag name would not describe the new property. To create a character tag, follow these steps: CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT 1. Display the Character Designer. The settings of the currently selected text (or of the text at the insertion point) are displayed. When you position the cursor in text formatted with a character tag, the Character Designer displays that character tag s name. However, the properties shown in the Character Designer are not necessarily that character tag s properties. Many character tags have items set to As Is, and those will not be reflected when you first display the Character Designer. Instead, you see the setting of the underlying paragraph tag. To see the actual settings, click the tag name again in the Character Tag drop-down list. 2. Click the Commands button, then select Set Window to As Is from the pop-up menu to reset the character properties. This crucial step is discussed in more detail in As Is Character Properties on page 147.

8 150 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference Select Set Window to As Is 3. Click the Commands button and select New Format from the pop-up menu. The New Format dialog box is displayed. 4. Type the name of your new tag in the Tag field, then click the Create button. The new tag is displayed in the character catalog. By default, the Store in Catalog and Apply to Selection check boxes are checked. The latter is irrelevant unless you selected text before creating the tag. Do make sure that Store in Catalog is checked, or the tag will not be displayed in the character catalog. New character tag 5. Change the properties as needed, then click the Update All button to save your changes. Notice that all of the As Is settings disappear again. To verify that the tag is set correctly, click its name in the Character Tag drop-down list again.

9 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags 151 Understanding Check Boxes in FrameMaker FrameMaker check boxes confuse many users. Most programs have only two settings for a check box checked or unchecked. In FrameMaker, there are three values checked, unchecked, and As Is. As you see in the following examples, the check boxes look different on the Mac, Windows, and UNIX platforms. Checked Unchecked As Is Windows Mac UNIX Check boxes set to As Is are particularly confusing, but you change the value of check boxes the same way on all three platforms. To clear the As Is setting, check the box once. To change the value from As Is to checked, check the box twice. CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT Renaming Character Tags FrameMaker makes it easy to change the name of a character tag you ve already created. For example, you may need to rename the Emphasis character tag Strong. After you rename Emphasis, the character tag name will change to Strong where you ve applied it, and the previous tag name will no longer be displayed in the character catalog. Renaming character tags also lets you globally assign a new character tag to text formatted by a deleted tag. When you select the formatted text, the deleted character tag name is still displayed in the status bar. You can rename the deleted tag in the Character Designer. This applies the new character tag where the deleted tag is applied in your document. When you rename a character tag, FrameMaker updates the catalog definition and the locations where you applied the tag; however, references to the old tag name (for example, in variables and cross-references) are not updated. You ll need to search for the old tag name in these components and change the name yourself. To rename a character tag, follow these steps: 1. Display the Character Designer. 2. Click the tag you plan to rename from the Character Tag drop-down list. If you re renaming a deleted tag, select the text that was previously formatted by the tag. (The deleted tag name is marked in the status bar with a star.)

10 152 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference 3. In the Character Tag field, type the new name over the name. 4. Click the Update All button. A confirmation dialog box is displayed. 5. Click the OK button. The renamed character tag is applied in your document and listed in the character catalog in place of the initial tag. The Global Update Options dialog box also lets you rename a tag, but the method involves more steps. See the next section for details. Updating Character Properties Globally FrameMaker s global update feature provides several ways to modify more than one character tag at once. For example, you can replace all instances of magenta text with black text, apply a different character tag in place of the old one throughout the document, and more. There are three global update options: All Characters and Catalog Entries: You can update specific properties in all character tags, paragraph tags, and text lines. Use this option if, for instance, you need to change the default font size in all tag definitions and text lines. All Matching Tags in Selection: You can modify character tags that have been applied to different words in a paragraph. For example, suppose the Menu Item character tag is applied to one word and the Command character tag is applied to a different word in the same paragraph. You can select the paragraph and remove bold formatting from both character tags. All Tagged: Applies a new character tag in place of the selected tag. For example, you can use this option to apply the Hyperlink character tag instead of the Underline character tag in an entire document. Changing Specific Properties You can instantly modify specific character properties in a document, whether the properties are in character tags, paragraph tags, or text lines. This is handy for removing color from all characters or only from selected character tags and changing the default font. To modify selected properties, follow these steps: 1. Display the Character Designer. 2. Click the Commands button, then select Set Window to As Is from the pop-up menu. This resets all character properties.

11 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags Click the properties you want to update from the drop-down lists, click the Commands button, then select Global Update Options from the pop-up menu. The Global Update Options dialog box is displayed. 4. Do one of the following: To update specific properties in all character tags, paragraph tags, and text lines, click the All Characters and Catalog Entries radio button. If you selected a tag name before performing this step, FrameMaker gives you the option to apply the tag to all characters in the document. Typically, you want to avoid this, so click the No button to update only the properties you changed. To update specific properties in character tags applied to selected text, click the All Matching Tags in Selection radio button. 5. Click the Update button. FrameMaker globally makes the appropriate changes. CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT Reassigning a Character Tag Globally FrameMaker provides a way to assign a new character tag in place of the selected tag. For example, you can swap each instance of the Button character tag with the Key character tag. To reassign a character tag globally, follow these steps: 1. Display the Character Designer. 2. In the Character Tag drop-down list, click the tag name you want to apply. 3. Click the Commands button, then select Global Update Options from the popup menu. The Global Update Options dialog box is displayed. 4. Click the All Tagged radio button, then click the tag you want to replace from the drop-down list. 5. Click the Update button. A confirmation dialog box is displayed. 6. Click the OK button to update the tag.

12 154 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference Removing Character Tag Formatting After you apply a character tag, you can remove the tag by selecting text and applying the Default Paragraph Font character tag. The text will be reformatted with the paragraph tag properties. If a character tag has been applied to an entire paragraph, you need to remove the character tag formatting and reapply the paragraph tag (or for structured documents, reapply the original element). To remove character tag formatting from selected text, follow these steps: 1. Display the character catalog. 2. Select the text you want to reformat. 3. In the character catalog, click Default Paragraph Font. The text is reformatted with the original paragraph style. In the left status bar, the character tag name is no longer displayed. A star displayed next to the paragraph tag name indicates an override. See Avoiding Character Tag Overrides on page 148 for more information. Instead of using the character catalog, you can press F8 (Windows or UNIX) or CTRL-8 (all platforms) to activate the status bar and select Default Paragraph Font to remove the character formatting. Deleting Character Tags All character tags can be deleted from the character catalog except the Default Paragraph Font. When you delete a tag, the catalog is updated, but variables, crossreferences, and other components can still refer to the deleted tag name. Deleting a tag also does not remove the character format from text. The name of the deleted character tag is still displayed in the status bar, along with a star to indicate that it s an override. To prevent the override, globally replace each instance of the character tag you plan to delete with another tag. See Reassigning a Character Tag Globally on page 153 for details. If you delete the tag without globally applying another one, you can select the text formatted by the deleted tag and assign a new one in its place. For more information, see Renaming Character Tags on page 151. To delete a character tag from the character catalog, follow these steps: 1. Display the character catalog. 2. Click the Delete button to display the Delete Formats from Catalog dialog box. You can also display the dialog box by clicking the Commands button in the Character Designer and selecting Delete Format from the pop-up menu.

13 Chapter 6: Formatting Text with Character Tags Click the tag you want to delete, then click the Delete button. To delete all character tags, press and hold ALT-E (Windows only). This method quickly deletes the tags. You can delete tags from the paragraph catalog the same way. If you make a mistake, you must click the Cancel button and start over. There is no Apply button. Click the tag you want to delete. CREATING AND MANIPULATING TEXT 4. Click the Done button. The character tag you deleted is no longer displayed in the character catalog. Additional Character Tags Tips This chapter has covered applying character tags to text directly, but you can also format text in variables, cross references, autonumbered paragraphs, markers, and other FrameMaker components. Table 6-1 describes more advanced uses for character tags. You ll read more about each component in the corresponding chapter (for example, cross-references formats are discussed in the cross-reference chapter).

14 156 FrameMaker 7: The Complete Reference Item Variable Autonumbered paragraph Cross-reference format Marker Text line Spell checker Change bar Reference page Hyperlink Description Create a book title variable and include a character tag to italicize the title. See Chapter 9, Storing Content in Variables. Create a bullet character tag that uses the Wingdings font and use the character tag in the autonumber format of a bulleted paragraph tag. See Autonumbering Details on page 134. Format cross-references as blue in a PDF by inserting a blue character tag in the cross-reference format. Before you create a PDF file for printing, set the color in the blue tag to As Is. See Formatting Cross-References on page 200. You can achieve the same result by printing spot color to black, except that all color would print as black. Read more about spot color in Chapter 20, Color Output. Italicize See Also in an index entry by including a character tag in the index marker. See Chapter 16, Creating Indexes. Draw a text line using the Text Line feature in the Tools Palette and format the text with an italicized character tag. See Chapter 13, FrameMaker s Graphics Tools. Skip spell checking for specific words by setting their language to None in a character format. See Chapter 4, Word-Processing Features. Mark text you modify with a change bar character tag instead of or in addition to relying on automatic change bars. See Chapter 4, Word-Processing Features. Create highlighted page numbers for TOC entries in a PDF file by applying a blue character tag to <$pagenum> building blocks on the TOC reference page. See Chapter 15, Creating Tables of Contents. Create a character tag with all properties set to As Is and apply to hyperlinks. The format marks the beginning and end of the hyperlink without modifying the character properties. See Chapter 22, Creating Interactive Documents with Hypertext. Table 6-1. Character Tag Tips