- Cross-References
- Generated File Hypertext Links
- Links to URLs
- Graphic Button Links
- Edit Hypertext Links in Acrobat 5
- Summary
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Graphic Button Links
You have heard the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" many times. This is true in online documents as well—a graphic button provides a clearly defined visual aid to help users navigate online documents. This method is your greatest timesaver for creating FrameMaker navigational buttons that work in Acrobat.
Previously, you learned how to create a single hypertext link, available in one location in a document. Graphic buttons used for navigation purposes usually appear on many or all pages throughout a document. You can insert a graphic button hypertext link on each page in a document, or do it the easy way and create the hypertext buttons one time on FrameMaker's master pages.
Hypertext links included in FrameMaker's master pages work in Acrobat PDF on each body page that corresponds to the master page with the hypertext links.
Important Information About FrameMaker Versions
Here's an important piece of information about master page hypertext links. If you have the original FrameMaker version 6.0, hypertext links on master pages are not activated after the file is converted to Acrobat PDF. Don't worry; it's just a bug in the software. The problem is fixed with the FrameMaker 6.0 update.
Visit http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html. A table is displayed with available Adobe products. Look for FrameMaker, and click the platform you are using (Macintosh, Windows, UNIX). The selected platform download page is displayed. You see several items for download. Look for FrameMaker 6.0 Update for Platform—Multiple Languages. Follow the instructions to download and install the update.
Create a Hypertext Link on Master Pages
In this section, I show you how to create a hypertext-linked graphic to navigate a document forward one page at a time.
Set Up a Graphic
I begin with master pages in a FrameMaker 6.0 document. Here's how to do it:
Decide upon a graphic that you want to use for your resulting online document.
For this example, a right-pointing arrow is used to indicate a page forward symbol.
Place the graphic on a master page.
Do not place the graphic in an anchored frame or behind a text column frame.
Select Graphics, Tools.
The graphics Tools palette is displayed.
Select the Place a Text Frame tool.
Draw a text frame over the graphic that is approximately the same size.
The Add New text Frame window is displayed.
Select Background Text, and click the Add button.
Background text indicates that this text frame is not available for text input on body pages. A background text frame is displayed on corresponding body pages. In this case, you insert a hypertext command in the text frame that is activated on each corresponding body page.
Select the text frame only, without selecting the graphic. Use Ctrl+click (Windows) to select a text frame.
Select Graphics, Bring to Front.
In order for hypertext links to work, the text frame containing the hypertext command must be in the foreground.
Use the graphics Tools palette to switch the text frames properties to Fill:None, Pen:None.
Because the graphic is behind the text frame, you must make the text frame transparent in order to see the graphic.
Insert a Hypertext Command
After you have included a graphic and text frame, as indicated in the previous instruction, you're ready to insert a hypertext command that pages forward when activated.
As you saw earlier in this article, hypertext commands are markers that are inserted in text or text frames. After you understand how to use hypertext commands, experiment and have some fun with them.
To insert the page forward hypertext command, follow these steps:
Click one time in the text frame that you created in the previous exercise.
Having trouble clicking inside the text frame? If the text frame is still selected, you cannot click inside it. First, click somewhere else on the page to deselect the text frame, and click inside it.
Select Special, Hypertext.
The Hypertext window is displayed.
Select Jump to Next Page from the Command pull-down menu.
nextpage is displayed in the Syntax field.
Click New Hypertext Marker. Switch to body pages.
You see the new graphic displayed on body pages using that master page's layout.
Make the document View-Only, and test the button.
When you convert the document to Acrobat PDF, the button you created will work just as you intended.
You can create variations of the page forward button:
Create a previous page button: use the Jump to Previous Page hypertext command.
Create a menu button that links to an online menu: Select the Open Document command. The syntax reads something like this for a file called menu.fm, openlink menu.pdf. The key to linking to another document altogether is remembering two things: 1) use .pdf as the filename suffix rather than .fm, 2) convert the menu.fm file to pdf.