RE: Booklet in FM

["Snavely, Deborah" <dsnavely@xxxxxxxx>]

>I am not convinced, however, that FrameMaker can't handle the flows
>and numbering much as it would for discontiguous articles that appear
>in newsletters or small-format newspapers.  I'd have to experiment
>with some of the scenarios in Chapter 11 of the current manual, since
>there is no explicit information regarding saddle-stitched booklets
>such as Dina is attempting to make, but I suspect that it is possible
>to do this in FrameMaker.  Frankly, if it isn't, then it should be!

Framers, Dina,

It's possible. I've done it, in Frame 4.0.4/Mac and Frame 5.1.1/Mac and
Frame 5.5.x/Mac. It's a pain, but a manageable pain. The big limitation is,
you DON'T want to lay out the fussy version of the document until AFTER all
your content and pagination breaks and copy-fitting are final, final, final.
Frame will let you look at two-page spreads, but only when your page-to-page
flows are sequential, and that makes it difficult to put figures opposite
text in the final format. 	So to make this work, you need one doc
formatted to custom size: 5.5 by 8.5 portrait, with room for whatever
headers and footers and first pages, etc., you need. Author the doc there,
see how many pages it comes out to, adjust to suit yourself and the fact
that a booklet of this format demands a total page count divisible by 4 (add
blank inside back cover, front cover, etc, as needed). 
	And then you need a second document with two flows, formatted to
landscape 11 x 8.5 with the two-frames-per-page layout and flows A and B (B
containing the virtual page numbers) all carefully connected in the fabulous
zig-zag of composition for a saddle-stitched booklet. (A trick for keeping
your layout correct: the sum of both page numbers on a spread will always
equal the total number of pages plus one.) Set your layout file to the
correct number of pages (if doing this a lot, create templates for 12, 16,
20, 24, 28, 32... pages). 
	Finally, import the body flow from the main source doc into the
correct-length layout document, and double-check that you did your layout
work right with a test print. I've done this by brute force and ignorance in
the past, but these days, I'd tackle it as above. 

Deborah Snavely
dsnavely@visa.com
disclaimers apply

*****************BEGIN QUOTE*********************
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 11:30:58 -0700
From: Peter Gold <peter@highsoft.com>
Subject: Re: Booklet on FM for Mac

Well, you're right that you need to think this out ahead of time. FM's page
number variable won't provide accurate page numbers when a single page is
employed as a two-page spread. However, you can create a small text frame
with its own text flow tag, say "B", that uses an autonumbered paragraph
format to create sequential numbers.

To get the booklet layout, create a new custom document, with appropriate
page size, etc. Delete the main text columns from the master pages. Then add
enough disconnected blank pages to accommodate your needs (see the note
about page count at the end of this discussion.) 

In a small magnification view, where you can see most or all of your pages,
copy the main text frame from the first body page and paste it on the page
that's going to be the second page. Connect the first one to the second (See
Help or the manual). Continue the process of pasting and connecting in the
sequence you want your booklet's pages to follow. This is how layout
programs are typically used, and, though FM's rarely used this way, it's
perfectly capable of nearly all that you'd expect, with the exception of
having two different page numbers on one page spread.

Now, you have to repeat this sequence of copy/pasting text frames and
connecting them in sequence, only this time, you draw them small where the
page numbers should be. If you make the first one contain your autonumbered
paragraph format, you'll see each number appear when you paste a new frame
and connect it. In fact, it might be helpful to draw these guys first, so
you can follow the numbered sequence from page to page as you draw the main
text containers.

Because you will need to know the number of pages in order to get the
layout right, you may want to first "pour" your document into a template
that uses the same size text frame you'll have in the final booklet to get
the page count in that size.

It's not an endless slippery slope once you get all the skills together,
and develop a workflow plan.
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