RE: Figure numbering out of sequence with floating anchored frames

[Esmond Pitt <esmond.pitt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The problem with this scheme is that you are forced to make the page-breaking 
decisions yourself, and you basically lose the 'Floating' function. There are 
occasions when I genuinely don't care which figure appears first, I want Frame 
to figure it out and lay out the pages optimally, and I'd just like the figure 
numbering to agree.

On Sunday, November 18, 2001 8:53 PM, Dan Emory [SMTP:danemory@primenet.com] 
wrote:
> Frankly, I've never understood the need for any of these unnecessarily
> convoluted schemes for associating figure numbers with graphics in anchored
> frames, and the grief described here by Ezra confirms my belief that the
> simplest method is always the best. I oppose the use of text frames within
> anchored frames unless they are actually part of the graphic (e.g., lengthy
> text callouts with leader lines, or a legend.). Figure titles ought not to
> be put in text frames within anchored frames, and rarely is this approach
> justified. As described below, there is a simple way to assure that figure
> titles appearing outside of and below anchored frames can always be kept on
> the same page as the associated anchored frame.
>
> ANCHORING ANCHORED FRAMES TO PARAGRAPHS
> Anchoring anchored frames to the end of paragraphs containing text is
> almost guaranteed to cause grief, and there is no reason to do so. Almost
> always, it is best to anchor an anchored frame to an empty paragraph that
> is specially designed for that purpose (I call the paragraph tag used for
> this purpose FrameAnchor). The space above and below settings for the
> FrameAnchor paragraph format establishes the amount of white space above
> and below the anchored frame. If you use multi-column page layouts, you may
> need two different versions of the FrameAnchor tag, where the only
> difference between the two is in the Pagination properties, (i.e., one
> version is set to In Column, and the other version is set to Across All
> Columns).
>
> DON'T APPLY AD-HOC PAGE/COLUMN BREAKS TO FrameAnchor PARAGRAPHS
> Using Special > Page Break to apply an ad-hoc page or column break override
> to the FrameAnchor paragraph format is bad practice, and it is unnecessary.
> Instead, I use a special paragraph format called PageBreak for this
> purpose. This paragraph format has a very large Space Below setting. It is
> inserted as an empty paragraph immediately before the paragraph where you
> want the page break to occur. PageBreak's large Space Below setting
> guarantees that the page or column break will be produced at that point.
> Subsequently, if page/column break positions change, you simply delete the
> superfluous empty PageBreak paragraphs, and then insert new empty PageBreak
> paragraphs as required..
>
> SELECTING THE ANCHORING POSITION TYPE FOR ANCHORED FRAMES
> The Anchoring Position for anchored frames should normally be set to At
> Insertion Point. This selection guarantees that the anchored frame will
> float. Also, this selection forces the position of the empty FrameAnchor
> paragraph to always be below the top of the anchored frame, thus
> FrameAnchor's font size never contributes to the amount of white space
> above the top edge of the anchored frame (i.e., the amount of white space
> is solely determined by FrameAnchor's Space Above setting), thus, if the
> anchored frame appears at the top of a page, the white space gap is 0,
> otherwise the gap is FrameAnchor's Space Above setting.. Using the At
> Insertion Point anchoring position setting also assures that the empty
> FrameAnchor  paragraph always appears on the same page as its associated
> anchored frame.
>
> Anchored frames which have their Anchoring Position set to At Insertion
> Point cannot be centered. Consequently, the width of the anchored frame
> should normally be the full width of the column(s) it spans. If the width
> of the graphic is less than the width of its containing anchored frame, the
> graphic should be centered in the anchored frame by choosing Graphic >
> Align, and turning on L/R Centers. One minor problem arises as a result of
> this approach, namely, with the Anchoring Position set to At Insertion
> Point and the anchored frame set to the same width as the text column(s) it
> spans, the empty FrameAnchor paragraph is not visible, even with Text
> Symbols turned on. However, you can use Find/Change to search for all
> instances of FrameAnchor. As each instance if found, its associated
> anchored frame is highlighted.
>
> THE FigureTitle PARAGRAPH TAG
> The FigureTitle paragraph tag (again, you may need two versions of it if
> you use multi-column page layouts) has Keep With in the Pagination
> Properties set to Previous. This assures that it will always appear on the
> same page as the Anchored Frame. The white space gap between the bottom of
> the anchored frame and the top of FigureTitle's text is determined by the
> Space Below setting in the FrameAnchor paragraph format. The white space
> gap below FigureTitle is determined by Figure Title's Space Below setting.
> Normally, FigureTitle's Alignment setting is set to Center.
>
> CREATING GRAPHICAL ARRAYS USING TABLES
> When creating arrays of graphics (e.g., two or more graphics of the same or
> different  sizes arranged horizontally across the page, you should use
> special tables in which each anchored frame and its associated figure
> title, if any, are placed in a table cell. Normally, the same FrameAnchor
> and FigureTtile paragraph tags can  be used without modification to create
> graphics within tables. It's sometimes helpful to use tables which contain
> large numbers of small, equal-width columns. That way, when graphics of
> different sizes appear in a table, you use table straddles to create column
> widths that that are customized to match each graphic's width. Also, the
> Numbering property in the Table Designer allows you to create the sequence
> (Rows First or Columns First) in which table autonumbers are generated.
>
> At 09:56 PM 11/17/01 -0800, Ezra Steinberg wrote:
> >Software: FM 6.0 (FCS, no updates) on Solaris 2.7 on Sun Ultra 5.
> >
> >I have my figure numbering working properly in my book. However, I have
> >an anomaly that appears at the beginning of a document.
> >
> >The first figure is a screen shot in an anchored frame that takes up
> >most of the page; I have a text frame near the bottom of the anchored
> >frame with Figure n as the autonumber for my Figure paragraph tag. The
> >second screen shot is in an anchored frame, too, also with a text frame
> >near the bottom using the Figure paragraph tag, but this screen shot
> >takes up only about a quarter of a page.
> >
> >With the anchored frames set NOT to float (the default), the figure
> >numbering works out right in the sense that the figure number for the
> >large screen shot is 1, the figure number for the small screen shot is
> >2, and figure 1 appears on one page and figure 2 on the following page.
> >
> >However, since the text where I need to put the anchored frame for the
> >first screen shot appears near the top of page that it falls on, the
> >large screen shot has to go to the next page, leaving a lot of ugly
> >white space on the previous page (where the anchored frame is). However,
> >if I set both anchored frames (for both screen shots) to float, the
> >second (smaller) screen shot gets placed on the page preceding the large
> >screen shot, since the text with the anchor for the second screen shot
> >comes (logically) right after the text with the anchor for the first
> >screen shot.
> >
> >So, with both anchored frames floating, the text following the large
> >screen shot is pulled onto the page that precedes the page the large
> >screen shot to fill up the white space there, which is good. However,
> >the smaller screen shot comes along with it, since its anchored from
> >comes in the very next sentence and the small screen shot can also fit
> >on that preceding page. But since the smaller screen shot has a higher
> >figure number (by one) than the large screen shot, the figure numbering
> >looks (to the reader) like its out of order.
> >
> >Of course, I'm assuming the numbering is "correct" according to
> >FrameMaker which is simply following my directive to float the anchored
> >frames and therefore flow the text (and any anchored frames in that text
> >that will fit on the page) that comes after the large screen shot onto
> >the page preceding that screen shot to fill in the white space that's
> >available there.
> >
> >Anyone familiar with a workaround to this so that I can avoid getting a
> >big chunk of white space on a page and yet still have figure number
> >always look like its in the proper sequence (and without manually
> >fiddling with the ordering of sections, etc., since major edits to that
> >chapter can change where things fall on the page anyway and I'd like
> >this problem to be solved automatically, like a good computer should?
> >;-)
> >
> >Ezra
> >--
> >------------------------------------------------------------------
> >Ezra Steinberg                          Resonate, Inc.
> >Senior Technical Writer                 385 Moffett Park Drive, Suite 205
> >mailto:ezra@resonate.com                Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1208      USA
> >Voice: 408.548.5529                     FAX: 408.548.5679
> >
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>
> ====================
> | Nullius in Verba |
> ====================
> Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
> FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
> Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
> 177 Riverside Ave., STE F, #1151, Newport Beach, CA 92663
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