Re: Multiple search windows...

[Lee Richardson <lhr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Noted. Thanks for the suggestion.

...Lee

At 1:29p -0700 8/23/02, Dov Isaacs wrote:
>Glen,
>
>As hopefully you are aware, I am not part of Adobe's FrameMaker
>development, marketing, sales, or support teams. Lee Richardson,
>who does monitor this forum, manages the FrameMaker development
>team. I sure he will have seen your post.
>
>        - Dov
>
>
>
>At 8/23/2002 12:09 PM, Glenn Maxey wrote:
>>Hi Dov,
>>
>>Here's an enhancement to FrameMaker that I mentioned in the past, but
>>want to bring up again because the usability problem still bothers me
>>BIG TIME. Could you please add it to the list of enhancement requests?
>>
>>REQUEST:
>>
>>Allow for and support multiple Find/Change windows. Each time you hit
>>Ctrl+F or otherwise lauch the Find/Change, you get a new window. This
>>way you can establish multiple search(/replace) criteria one time and
>>have them available for as long as the windows are open.
>>
>>Even if you limited it to a maximum of two or three search windows, it
>>would be 100% superior than just one. Although the windows would be
>>equivalent in what they could do, users would probably most frequently
>>use one to search for text and the other to search for things.
>>
>>[If you limit the number of windows to, say, three, Ctrl+F can serve to
>>launch new Find/Change windows until the maximum is reached; thereafter,
>>it round-robins through each Find/Change window.]
>>
>>REASON:
>>
>>Because searching for paragraph formats, character formats, paragraph
>>tags, ..., special tags uses the same Find/Change window as does
>>searching for normal text, the GUI becomes error prone and cumbersome.
>>
>>Specifically, in order to look for anything, you have to establish both
>>what type of tag you're looking for through a drop down and some
>>identifying text by entering it (even if it's wild cards).
>>
>>A frequent error is when I decide that I need to look for specific text
>>in the document after having looked for a tag (like a token or
>>Unresolved Cross-Reference). I change the identifying text and forget to
>>change the type of tag in the drop-down. True, immediately getting the
>>message that it wasn't found often clues me in. However, almost as
>>often, it doesn't. "Did I spell it right? Should I change the case? Is
>>there leading or trailing space? Or is it really not in the
>>document/book?"
>>
>>More common, a set of books will require several changes. Each change
>>requires looking for something specific.
>>
>>- Sometimes it is more efficient to look for one thing across a set of
>>documents or books; then you change the search parameter and make
>>another pass through the documents or books. Although efficient from
>>FM's perspective, this is not always efficient from a writer's
>>perspective.
>>
>>- Sometimes it is more efficient to completely modify a document/book
>>(implying multiple passes on the document with different search
>>parameters), before moving onto the next document/book. This is where it
>>gets really tedious re-establishing search(/replace) patterns.
>>
>>
>>The point is, FrameMaker shouldn't make it so easy for me to screw up
>>and generate error messages. It shouldn't be putting stumbling blocks
>>and usability quirks in my way for things that I do frequently. Things
>>that I do frequently are:
>>
>>[*] Search(/replace) text in the document/book.
>>[*] Search for tags (formats, unresolved references, etc.) in the
>>document/book.
>>[*] Look for one string in one document, while looking for another
>>string in another document.
>>
>>I do them so frequently, that I often do them in rapid sequence. It gets
>>to be a real pain changing search settings. I find myself adapting my
>>thought process or work flow to match the limitations of the tool. Well,
>>here is one case where the tool should be adapted to match the thought
>>process and improve the work flow.
>>
>>Having two or three search(/replace) windows would be a huge stride in
>>improving FrameMaker's usability and reducing pilot error.
> >
>>
>>
>>Glenn Maxey
>>Technical Writer
>>Voyant Technologies, Inc.
>>1765 West 121st Avenue
>>Westminster, CO 80234-2301
>>Tel. +1 303.223.5164
>>Fax. +1 303.223.5275
>>glenn.maxey@voyanttech.com
>
>
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