Chapter 6
Formatting Text
with Character Tags
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n many desktop publishing applications, you use a single style sheet for both
paragraph and character formatting. If you select a word, the style is applied just to
that word. If you select a paragraph (or just click in the paragraph), the style is
applied to the entire paragraph.
FrameMaker, by contrast, makes a distinction between paragraph-level and
character-level formatting. Paragraph tags always format an entire paragraph. Character
tags provide a way to format one or more characters inside the paragraph. For example,
you can create formats for italicized, underlined, or bold text.
By applying character tags, you can quickly format text, but more importantly, you
maintain consistency and make it easy to update your document. For example, suppose
your new corporate style department bans boldface text from product documentation.
The Menu Item character tag formats menu items in boldface text, so you change the
weight property of the Menu Item character tag and update the tag’s definition globally
in the book. If you had used the Format menu (or B button) to emphasize menu items,
you would have to scan your book for each bold menu item and manually remove the
bold formatting.
Character tags also act as formatting building blocks for other FrameMaker features.
Using character tags, you can assign color or other formatting to a portion of a crossreference or a variable.
In structured documents, text range elements can use character tags for their
formatting. Character tags also format specific portions of an element, such as prefixes
or suffixes.
I
Applying Character Tags
The character catalog lists the character tags in a document. To display the catalog, click
the character catalog button in the upper-right corner of the FrameMaker window.
Click to display the
character catalog.
Although you can apply multiple character tags to achieve formatting effects,
FrameMaker recognizes just the last tag. If, for example, you apply an italicized
character tag and then apply a boldface tag, the text will most likely display as boldface,
italicized text. FrameMaker, however, recognizes only the last character tag you applied.
A better approach is to create a single character tag that combines both properties.
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Using the Character Catalog to Apply a Tag
To apply a character tag through the character catalog, follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to format.
2. In the character catalog, click a character tag. The character tag is applied to the
selected text. In the status bar, the character tag name indicates that you applied
the tag.
FrameMaker provides other ways to apply a character tag, including:
■ Selecting a menu choice
■ Using the right-click pop-up menu
■ Using keyboard shortcuts
You can also apply character tags by using the Character Designer, but this isn’t
recommended because you could accidentally modify the character tag definition.
Selecting a Menu Choice
To apply a character tag through a menu choice, follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to format.
2. Select Format | Characters, then select a character tag from the submenu.
Using the Right-Click Pop-Up Menu
The pop-up menu displayed when you right-click (Windows) or CTRL-click (Mac) also
gives you a way to apply a character tag. Follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to format.
2. Right-click (Windows) or CTRL-click (Mac) to display the pop-up menu, select
Characters, and then select a tag from the list that’s displayed.
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Name of character tag applied to selected text
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Using Keyboard Shortcuts
To apply a character tag using a keyboard shortcut, follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to format.
2. Press F8 (Windows or UNIX) or CTRL-8 (all platforms). The bottom-left of the
status bar is highlighted.
Active area
3. Display the character tag you want by doing any of the following:
■ Use the arrow keys to scroll through the list of available tags.
■ Type a letter to jump to that section of the character catalog.
■ Type the first few letters of the character tag name.
4. Press ENTER.
Some of the keys on your computer may be specially programmed. If so, one or more
keyboard shortcuts may not work as described. Consult your system documentation
for help.
Modifying Character Tags
In the Character Designer, you modify character tag properties, such as font size, color,
and angle. When you save your changes, you update all character tags in the document
at once. Content formatted by the updated character tag is automatically reformatted.
The Character Designer consists of the same choices as the Paragraph Designer’s
Default Font sheet. For a description of each item, see “Default Font Sheet” on page 117.
The commands on the left side of the Character Designer also work very much like the
commands in the Paragraph Designer.
To modify a character tag, follow these steps:
1. Display the Character Designer by selecting Format | Designer or by pressing
CTRL-D (Windows or UNIX) or ESC O C D (all platforms).
2. Click the character tag you want to modify in the Character Tag drop-down list.
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The Menu Item character tag
formats text as bold. The other
properties are set to As Is
because they’re not needed.
4. Use the other drop-down lists to change the properties you need.
If the color you need isn’t listed, modify your document’s color definitions (select View |
Color | Definitions), and the new color will be displayed in the Character Designer. For
details, see Chapter 20, “Color Output.”
5. Click the Apply button. Your changes are displayed on the selected text.
6. Click the Update All button to modify all instances of the character tag in your
document. If you don’t click the Update All button, you create an override. See
“Avoiding Character Tag Overrides” on page 148 for more information.
As Is Character Properties
When you create a character tag, you don’t use many properties in the Character
Designer. For example, in an Emphasis character tag, you change the angle setting to
Italics (or Oblique, depending on the font). The remaining properties—font family, font
size, weight, variation, color, word spread, underline, and so on—come from the
paragraph tag applied to the current paragraph. Using the As Is setting for the other
properties saves time and helps you build character tags that format content properly.
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3. Click As Is for the properties you want determined by the paragraph tag. Font
size is a good example. In some templates, the body and table cell paragraph
tags have different font sizes. If you want to emphasize something in a body
paragraph and in a table cell, you don’t want the character tag to control the
font size. This would make the table cell text as large as the body paragraph
text. For this reason, it’s best to set font size to As Is. See the following section,
“As Is Character Properties,” for details.
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Figure 6-1 illustrates the benefit of using As Is properties. Most properties have been
modified in the first example, which improperly formats the text. In the second
example, most properties except weight are set to As Is, so the text is formatted
correctly. Most of the check boxes are grayed out, and the Size drop-down list is blank.
This indicates that those properties have been set to As Is. You set check box properties
to As Is by double-clicking the check box (if the check box is originally clear). When you
click As Is in the Size drop-down list, the field is cleared. See the sidebar
“Understanding Check Boxes in FrameMaker” on page 151 for more information.
Most properties in the Command character tag
have been specified, so text formatted by the
tag looks like this:
Caution:\t
Type
Autonumber Format field.
in the
Most properties except the weight are set to As
Is in this character tag. The text is now properly
formatted.
Type Caution:\t in the Autonumber
Format field.
Figure 6-1. Using As Is properties
Avoiding Character Tag Overrides
When you modify a tag in the Character Designer and click the Apply button instead of
clicking the Update All button, you create an override. A star is displayed next to the
character tag name in the status bar. You also create an override by applying a character
tag to an entire paragraph. Typically, if you need to change the style of the entire
paragraph, you should create a new paragraph tag instead of applying a character tag.
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Star indicates the Emphasis
character tag has been modified.
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Star indicates the Emphasis character
tag overrides the Body paragraph tag.
Creating Character Tags
In addition to modifying tags in the Character Designer, you also create them. When you
create a character tag, it’s best to follow a specific naming convention. Typically, you
should name character tags based on their function rather than their style properties. For
example, your template may include a character tag that formats computer commands
with the Courier font. Instead of naming the tag Courier, you name it Command. If you
decide later to format commands in bold, you can update the Command character tag
without changing the tag name. If you had named the tag Bold, the character tag name
would not describe the new property.
To create a character tag, follow these steps:
1. Display the Character Designer. The settings of the currently selected text (or of
the text at the insertion point) are displayed.
When you position the cursor in text formatted with a character tag, the Character
Designer displays that character tag’s name. However, the properties shown in the
Character Designer are not necessarily that character tag’s properties. Many character
tags have items set to As Is, and those will not be reflected when you first display the
Character Designer. Instead, you see the setting of the underlying paragraph tag. To see
the actual settings, click the tag name again in the Character Tag drop-down list.
2. Click the Commands button, then select Set Window to As Is from the pop-up
menu to reset the character properties. This crucial step is discussed in more
detail in “As Is Character Properties” on page 147.
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You remove character tag overrides by importing the template with the Remove
Format Overrides option checked or by reapplying the character tag. To remove a
paragraph tag override, apply the Default Paragraph Font character tag and reapply
the paragraph tag. In a structured document, you need to reapply the original element.
Overrides defeat the goal of maintaining consistently formatted and structured
documents. Though FrameMaker provides ways to remove overrides, you should avoid
creating them in the first place.
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Select Set Window to As Is
3. Click the Commands button and select New Format from the pop-up menu.
The New Format dialog box is displayed.
4. Type the name of your new tag in the Tag field, then click the Create button. The
new tag is displayed in the character catalog.
By default, the Store in Catalog and Apply to Selection check boxes are checked. The
latter is irrelevant unless you selected text before creating the tag. Do make sure that
Store in Catalog is checked, or the tag will not be displayed in the character catalog.
New character tag
5. Change the properties as needed, then click the Update All button to save your
changes. Notice that all of the As Is settings disappear again. To verify that the
tag is set correctly, click its name in the Character Tag drop-down list again.
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Understanding Check Boxes in FrameMaker
FrameMaker check boxes confuse many users. Most programs have only
two settings for a check box—checked or unchecked. In FrameMaker, there
are three values—checked, unchecked, and As Is. As you see in the
following examples, the check boxes look different on the Mac, Windows,
and UNIX platforms.
Checked
Unchecked
As Is
Mac
UNIX
Check boxes set to As Is are particularly confusing, but you change the
value of check boxes the same way on all three platforms. To clear the As Is
setting, check the box once. To change the value from As Is to checked,
check the box twice.
Renaming Character Tags
FrameMaker makes it easy to change the name of a character tag you’ve already
created. For example, you may need to rename the Emphasis character tag Strong.
After you rename Emphasis, the character tag name will change to Strong where
you’ve applied it, and the previous tag name will no longer be displayed in the
character catalog.
Renaming character tags also lets you globally assign a new character tag to text
formatted by a deleted tag. When you select the formatted text, the deleted character
tag name is still displayed in the status bar. You can “rename” the deleted tag in the
Character Designer. This applies the new character tag where the deleted tag is applied
in your document.
When you rename a character tag, FrameMaker updates the catalog definition and the
locations where you applied the tag; however, references to the old tag name (for example,
in variables and cross-references) are not updated. You’ll need to search for the old tag
name in these components and change the name yourself.
To rename a character tag, follow these steps:
1. Display the Character Designer.
2. Click the tag you plan to rename from the Character Tag drop-down list. If
you’re renaming a deleted tag, select the text that was previously formatted by
the tag. (The deleted tag name is marked in the status bar with a star.)
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3. In the Character Tag field, type the new name over the name.
4. Click the Update All button. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.
5. Click the OK button. The renamed character tag is applied in your document
and listed in the character catalog in place of the initial tag.
The Global Update Options dialog box also lets you rename a tag, but the method
involves more steps. See the next section for details.
Updating Character Properties Globally
FrameMaker’s global update feature provides several ways to modify more than one
character tag at once. For example, you can replace all instances of magenta text with
black text, apply a different character tag in place of the old one throughout the
document, and more.
There are three global update options:
■ All Characters and Catalog Entries: You can update specific properties in all
character tags, paragraph tags, and text lines. Use this option if, for instance, you
need to change the default font size in all tag definitions and text lines.
■ All Matching Tags in Selection: You can modify character tags that have been
applied to different words in a paragraph. For example, suppose the Menu Item
character tag is applied to one word and the Command character tag is applied
to a different word in the same paragraph. You can select the paragraph and
remove bold formatting from both character tags.
■ All Tagged: Applies a new character tag in place of the selected tag. For
example, you can use this option to apply the Hyperlink character tag instead of
the Underline character tag in an entire document.
Changing Specific Properties
You can instantly modify specific character properties in a document, whether the
properties are in character tags, paragraph tags, or text lines. This is handy for
removing color from all characters or only from selected character tags and changing
the default font.
To modify selected properties, follow these steps:
1. Display the Character Designer.
2. Click the Commands button, then select Set Window to As Is from the pop-up
menu. This resets all character properties.
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3. Click the properties you want to update from the drop-down lists, click the
Commands button, then select Global Update Options from the pop-up menu.
The Global Update Options dialog box is displayed.
■ To update specific properties in all character tags, paragraph tags, and text
lines, click the All Characters and Catalog Entries radio button. If you
selected a tag name before performing this step, FrameMaker gives you the
option to apply the tag to all characters in the document. Typically, you want
to avoid this, so click the No button to update only the properties you
changed.
■ To update specific properties in character tags applied to selected text, click
the All Matching Tags in Selection radio button.
5. Click the Update button. FrameMaker globally makes the appropriate changes.
Reassigning a Character Tag Globally
FrameMaker provides a way to assign a new character tag in place of the selected tag.
For example, you can swap each instance of the Button character tag with the Key
character tag.
To reassign a character tag globally, follow these steps:
1. Display the Character Designer.
2. In the Character Tag drop-down list, click the tag name you want to apply.
3. Click the Commands button, then select Global Update Options from the popup menu. The Global Update Options dialog box is displayed.
4. Click the All Tagged radio button, then click the tag you want to replace from
the drop-down list.
5. Click the Update button. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.
6. Click the OK button to update the tag.
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4. Do one of the following:
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Removing Character Tag Formatting
After you apply a character tag, you can remove the tag by selecting text and applying
the Default Paragraph Font character tag. The text will be reformatted with the
paragraph tag properties. If a character tag has been applied to an entire paragraph, you
need to remove the character tag formatting and reapply the paragraph tag (or for
structured documents, reapply the original element).
To remove character tag formatting from selected text, follow these steps:
1. Display the character catalog.
2. Select the text you want to reformat.
3. In the character catalog, click Default Paragraph Font. The text is reformatted
with the original paragraph style. In the left status bar, the character tag name is
no longer displayed. A star displayed next to the paragraph tag name indicates
an override. See “Avoiding Character Tag Overrides” on page 148 for more
information.
Instead of using the character catalog, you can press F8 (Windows or UNIX) or CTRL-8
(all platforms) to activate the status bar and select Default Paragraph Font to remove the
character formatting.
Deleting Character Tags
All character tags can be deleted from the character catalog except the Default
Paragraph Font. When you delete a tag, the catalog is updated, but variables, crossreferences, and other components can still refer to the deleted tag name. Deleting a tag
also does not remove the character format from text. The name of the deleted character
tag is still displayed in the status bar, along with a star to indicate that it’s an override.
To prevent the override, globally replace each instance of the character tag you plan to
delete with another tag. See “Reassigning a Character Tag Globally” on page 153 for
details.
If you delete the tag without globally applying another one, you can select the text
formatted by the deleted tag and assign a new one in its place. For more information, see
“Renaming Character Tags” on page 151.
To delete a character tag from the character catalog, follow these steps:
1. Display the character catalog.
2. Click the Delete button to display the Delete Formats from Catalog dialog box.
You can also display the dialog box by clicking the Commands button in the
Character Designer and selecting Delete Format from the pop-up menu.
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3. Click the tag you want to delete, then click the Delete button. To delete all
character tags, press and hold ALT-E (Windows only). This method quickly
deletes the tags. You can delete tags from the paragraph catalog the same way.
If you make a mistake, you must click the Cancel button and start over. There is no
Apply button.
4. Click the Done button. The character tag you deleted is no longer displayed in
the character catalog.
Additional Character Tags Tips
This chapter has covered applying character tags to text directly, but you can also
format text in variables, cross references, autonumbered paragraphs, markers, and other
FrameMaker components. Table 6-1 describes more advanced uses for character tags.
You’ll read more about each component in the corresponding chapter (for example,
cross-references formats are discussed in the cross-reference chapter).
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Click the tag you
want to delete.
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Item
Description
Variable
Create a book title variable and include a character tag to
italicize the title. See Chapter 9, “Storing Content
in Variables.”
Autonumbered
paragraph
Create a bullet character tag that uses the Wingdings font
and use the character tag in the autonumber format of a
bulleted paragraph tag. See “Autonumbering Details” on
page 134.
Cross-reference
format
Format cross-references as blue in a PDF by inserting a blue
character tag in the cross-reference format. Before you create
a PDF file for printing, set the color in the blue tag to As Is.
See “Formatting Cross-References” on page 200. You can
achieve the same result by printing spot color to black,
except that all color would print as black. Read more
about spot color in Chapter 20, “Color Output.”
Marker
Italicize See Also in an index entry by including a character
tag in the index marker. See Chapter 16, “Creating Indexes.”
Text line
Draw a text line using the Text Line feature in the Tools
Palette and format the text with an italicized character tag.
See Chapter 13, “FrameMaker’s Graphics Tools.”
Spell checker
Skip spell checking for specific words by setting their
language to “None” in a character format. See Chapter 4,
“Word-Processing Features.”
Change bar
Mark text you modify with a change bar character tag
instead of or in addition to relying on automatic change
bars. See Chapter 4, “Word-Processing Features.”
Reference page
Create highlighted page numbers for TOC entries in a PDF
file by applying a blue character tag to <$pagenum>
building blocks on the TOC reference page. See Chapter 15,
“Creating Tables of Contents.”
Hyperlink
Create a character tag with all properties set to As Is and
apply to hyperlinks. The format marks the beginning and
end of the hyperlink without modifying the character
properties. See Chapter 22, “Creating Interactive Documents
with Hypertext.”
Table 6-1. Character Tag Tips