Adobe FrameMaker: Setting Tabs, Part III

by Barbara Binder

If you've been paying attention to my FrameMaker articles over the past few weeks, you've learned how to set tab stops and how to modify them. Let's finish up this series by learning how to work with dot leaders.

Dot Leaders in a Table of Contents

The typical table of contents will display leader dots between the entry and the page number. Should you press the period key repeatedly to add these dots? Nooooo! Try this, instead.

1. Open a new, portrait document.
   
   
2. Select the Right-align tab from the Paragraph Formatting toolbar (the Right-align tab is the red item shown below).
   
   
   
   
3. Click under the ruler to set a right-align tab stop under the 2 inch mark.
   
   
   
   
4. Type the following:
   
   
   
   
5. Select all of the lines and create a Paragraph format called "TOC leaders."
   
   
6. Double-click the tab arrow to open the Edit Tab Stop dialog box. Confirm that you have alignment set to right in the left column, and pick one of the leader options from the right column. (I prefer the ones that are a little more spread apart.)
   
   
   
   
7. Click Edit and then Update All (in the Paragraph Designer). Remove Overrides.
   
   
   
   Nice, and if you need to adjust the position of the page numbers, just drag the tab arrow left or right. The leader will adjust accordingly.
   
   
8. Finish up with Update All, remove Overrides.

Dot Leaders in a Form

This same exercise can be used for forms that require lines. The only difference is that we use a line leader instead of a dot leader:

1. Open a new, portrait document.
   
   
2. Select the Right-align tab from the Paragraph Formatting toolbar.
   
   
   
   
3. Click under the ruler to set a right-align tab stop under the 3 inch mark.
   
   
   
   
4. Type in the following:
   
   
   
   
5. Select all of the lines and create a Paragraph format called "Form."
   
   
6. Double-click the tab arrow to open the Edit Tab Stop dialog box.
   
   Confirm that you have alignment set to right in the left column, and type an underline (Shift+hyphen) into the Custom leader text box.
   
   
   
   
7. Click Edit and then Update All. Remove overrides.
   
   
   
   That was extremely simple, and best of all, you can drag the tab arrow left or right to adjust the length of the lines.
   

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If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker 9 class. Too elementary for your skill level? How about the Advanced FrameMaker 9 class? Hope to "see" you there.

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

Comments

[Steve Gray]

Hey, Barbara, I was going over your description of the tab process, and it's very nicely done. One thing I'm noticing, though, is when I try and edit the tabs via Paragraph Designer, the lower-left button on the pop-up is labeled "Continue," rather than "Edit." It seems to be preventing me from changing or adding tabs that way. A double-click on the tab marker in the tab bar works properly, with an "Edit" on that button, so I'm not completely stuck.

Here is a grab of the popup in question:

http://gallery.gray-imagery.com/photos/805390934_DniND-XL.jpg

Do you know if this is normal behavior? Or did I uncover a bug of some sort?

(I'm using Framemaker 9 as part of Technical Communication Suite 2.)

-Steve-

[Barbbinder]

Hi Steve:

What you discovered is a FrameMaker inconsistency! If I double-click the tab setting in Paragraph Designer the button reads Edit. If I double-click the tab arrow under the ruler, the button shows Continue. Everything else seems to be exactly the same, so you can use either technique.

All my years in FrameMaker and I never noticed. Your attention to detail is why you are a successful technical writer, while I make my living as a trainer! :-)

~Barb

P.S. Glad you liked the Tab series, and thanks for letting me know.