Images, callouts, diagrams, etc. can all be useful additions to a document. But they aren’t always easy to work with. Here are a few tips and tricks I use when working with graphics in Adobe FrameMaker. If you use a different publishing software, you likely have similar tools available to you that you can explore.
Draw Tools
When working with images in FrameMaker, I often make use of the Draw tools to add arrows, boxes, and other callouts to my images to bring attention to certain areas or specific buttons/icons that the text is discussing. These can be found in the Graphics Toolbar. I keep mine docked to the left-hand side of my window, but it can also be docked to the right or kept floating.
If you don’t see the Graphics Toolbar, you can open it by selecting Tools… from the Graphics menu (as shown below) or by selecting View>Toolbars>Graphics Toolbar. You can also press Esc 1 w.
I won’t go into each specific tool in this toolbar, but you will find tools similar to ones you find in other publishing software, like draw tools (Line, Arc, Rectangle, Oval, PolyLine, etc.), text insertion options (more on that next), and options to change line styles, widths, colors, fill, etc.
Inserting Text
FrameMaker provides two tools in the Graphics Toolbar for inserting text: Text Frame and Text Line, as shown below.
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Text Line lets you insert a line of text into your document. This text will float on top of other text or images wherever you insert your cursor (it doesn’t have to be in a graphic frame), and the font/style can be changed using the Character Designer. You can press <Enter> to add a new line of text but remember that the lines do not connect to each other (for example, if you make changes and the next needs to reflow).
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Text Frame inserts a text box that you can enter text into. This is my preferred option as it allows you to enter blocks of text and controls the line breaks using the size of the text frame, rather than working a line at a time. You can also apply paragraph styles to the text in a text frame that will be preserved upon output to HTML (which doesn’t happen with Text Line).
Align
A tool I use frequently that is NOT found in the Graphics Toolbar is Align. To get to this tool, you need to select Graphics>Arrange…>Align…. This will open a panel with the various align options, as shown below.
I find this tool really helpful when trying to line up images or callouts in my graphic frames. To use it, simply select the objects you want to align (the last selected will be the object used to set the alignment) and select the align option you want to use.
Runaround Properties
Sometimes when adding a text frame to my image, the words in the textbox start wrapping unexpectedly. If this is the case, rather than turn to the Text Line tool (which will go over top of the image without issue), check the Runaround Properties for the image (Graphics>Runaround Properties…). Setting the Style option to Don’t Run Around (as shown below) will prevent the text from wrapping if you have your text frame set on top of your image. Just be careful that you aren’t covering up anything in the image that you want shown!
I hope you can use some of these tools when working with graphics in your own publications!
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