How to Create Character Formats in Adobe FrameMaker

Character formats allow you to customize the look of individual words or characters within paragraphs in FrameMaker while maintaining the benefits (predictability and consistency) provided by using paragraph formats. When you create character formats in FrameMaker you are designing the properties of individual text that you can insert in paragraph formats without overriding the properties of an entire paragraph.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Adobe FrameMaker

1. Open a FrameMaker document and click "Format" "Characters" "Designer" on the main menu. The "Character Designer" dialog box displays. The Character Designer is used to create new character formats.
2. Click the "Family" drop-down arrow to select a font family, such as Arial or Verdana.
3. Click the "Size" drop-down arrow to select a font size. Choose 10-12 pt for body type paragraphs and choose larger sizes for headings.
4. Click the "Angle" and "Weight drop-down arrows to italics or bold text to the character format. Note that your options default to Regular, meaning no italics and no bold.
5. Click the "Color" drop-down arrow to select a color for the character format.
6. Add additional options such as underline, superscript, case.
7. Enter a descriptive name for the paragraph tag in the "Character Tag" field.
8. Click the "Apply" button. The "New Format" dialog box displays. This dialog box is basically asking if you want to create the new character format, store it in the character catalog, and apply it to the currently selected text.
9. If you don't want to apply the character format to the selected text, but want to save it, deselect the "Apply to selection" check box and click the "Create" button. Otherwise, keep the defaults and click the "Create" button.

Tips & Warnings

• When you select the "As is" property, the character tag will take on the properties of the paragraph in which it is inserted. So if if you want to create a character tag that is always bold no matter what the font of the paragraph is, select "As is" in the "Family" drop-down list and "Bold" in the "Weight" drop down list.