Family Tree Maker(TM)
Warts
Book: Text Items
Text Items are special unstructured reports which can only be included
in Books. They have their own special text editor.
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Content
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Index: Names in Text
Items are not indexed. Names in all other reports are indexed.
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Images: Images from
the scrapbook can be included, but not the associated captions or descriptions.
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Editor
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PgUp/PgDn keys sometimes don't work, or work in
reverse! This is perhaps aggravated by right justification of text.
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Data entry is occasionally blocked, requiring CTL-X
to unlock.
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Centered text sometimes
jumps back to the left margin on Save.
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Centered text
This always happens on initial creation
of a text item with a centered title. Prevent it by doing two saves (CTL+S)
then
center the title. |
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Editor is sadly lacking in many common word processor
facilities, such as:
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Numbered or bullet lists
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Indentation
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Text Drag and drop
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Footnotes
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Page boundary indications
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Widow and orphan control
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Editor permits only limited
drag and drop of pictures (but not text). Pictures can only be dragged
to the edge of the screen. There is no automatic scrolling, so one must
drag, drop, scroll, drag, drop, scroll, etc. if traveling beyond the current
screen.
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Home and End keys sometimes position the cursor
at the ends of the whole document, instead of the current line as they
ordinarily do. This usually occurs on initial opening of the text item,
and the effect disappears on use of CTL-X, after which the keys behave
normally.
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The handle on the vertical scroll bar does not represent
the relative size of the document. The handle will appear the same if there
are many pages off-screen, or a single line. This makes for the disconcerting
effect of having the handle zoom from one extreme of the bar to the other,
with no middle ground, when there are only a few lines which will not fit
on the screen.
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Cut and Paste shortcut keys (CTL+X, CTL+C, CTL+V)
occasionally stop working. Dialog selection of these continues to work,
and other applications are unaffected. Close file and reopen to cure.
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Format
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Superscripts are always elevated
the same (tiny) amount regardless of the sizes of the base and superscript
typeface. The smallest superscript (8 pt) is barely distinguishable from
normal 10 pt body text. On larger face sizes, it looks positively
ridiculous.
Hypothesis
The smallest selectable
font size is 8 pt. The default size is 10 pt. With text of 10 pt a superscript
of 8 pts should be elevated (10-8=2) 2 pts. So all superscripts
are thus elevated 2 pts, when in fact an 8 pt superscript on 20 pt text
should be elevated (20-8=12) 12 pts. |
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positively
ridiculous
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Formatting: The smallest
selectable font size is 8 pt, but smaller sizes are possible when copied
from the clipboard. The window that displays the size of selected text
will even show a size that is not on the
menu of available sizes.
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not
on the menu |
Operation
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Insert Picture: The list of candidate
individuals possessing scrapbook pictures includes aliases, causing such
individuals to be listed twice. Since one cannot distinguish between real
and alias names in the list, this is confusing.
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The Format pull-down contains items
which may be selected by cursor for further selection. If the font list
is large enough, however, passing that line on the menu becomes impossible,
as the list of fonts is immediately displayed, covering
up the remainder of the items! One must navigate with
the up- and down-arrows and use "Enter" to select Size, Style or Alignment
items.
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items
Font | Size | Style | Alignment |
covering
up |