Quick Comparison of Ventura & Framemaker

[priest -at- sfu -dot- ca]

I'm appalled by the misinformation that's been published in this list.  I 
hope the following corrects it.  It is sourced from 
http://www.coreluser.com/html/vent_table.html (which also compares 
Pagemaker and QExpress).
 
I'm only listing where the products differ.  I think you'll be surprised at 
how much more Ventura offers.  I summarize what I think is most important, 
after the list:
[recommend reading this using a monospace font!]
  
                                   VENTURA 8         FRAMEMAKER 5.5
PAGE LAYOUT:
Two-page spreads                   yes               no
Select ruler zero-point            yes               no
Max. page size                     1800x1800"        216x216"
Gustomize non-printing guidelines  yes               no
Auto vertical rules 'tween cols    yes               no
Freeze pagination                  no                yes

FRAMES
Frame style mgmt                   yes               no
Straddle frames                    yes               no
Convert shapes>frames              yes               no
Fills (solid, patterns and...      gradients,PS,     none
                                   bitmap, vector,
                                   fractal generated

TEXT EDITING/FORMATTING:
Justification (l/r/c/full plus..   decimal, final    none
                                   line control
Conditional text support           extensive         simple
Copy attrs between paras           through tags      through clipboard
Rotate paragraphs                  yes               no
Grammar checker                    yes               no

TYPOGRAPHIC CONTROL:
Hanging punctuation                yes               no
Custom pair kerning                yes               no
                                   0.001em incr.
Interactive pair kerning           yes, 0.001em      no
Baseline shift control             yes               no
Custom underlines                  extensive         no
Custom strikethrough/overline      extensive         no
Drop caps                          yes               no
Font sizes                         1-2000pts         2-400pts
                                   0.01pt incr.      0.001pt incr.
Text fills                         fills as above    solid only
Tabs stops per paragraph           66                unlimited
Text scaling                       not paragrphs;    yes
                                   artistic text is
                                   completely tweakable

GRAPHIC HANDLING:
Fit text to path                   yes               no
Bitmap brghtnss/cntrst control     yes               no
Bitmap special fx                  yes               no
Adjust image resolution indiv.     yes               no
Adobe PShop plugins                yes               no
Object merging/combining           yes               no
Lock objects                       yes               no
Attach graphics above/below text   through anchored  yes
                                   frame?    

TABLES:
Skew first row/column              yes               no
Linear algebraic functions (?)     no                yes
Fill                               as above          limited
Change indiv. cell margins         by tagging        yes

IMPORT/EXPORT
Text import filters                a few more        a few less
                                   (tend to be obscure formats:
                                   AmiPro, WordStar, Xywrite)
Text export filters                a few less        a few more
                                   (MSWord7 the only non-obscure one)
Spreadsheet import                 All Lotus,        a few less
                                   Excel, Quattro
Graphic imports/exports            very extensive    extensive
Other publishing formats           FM, PM            VP, Interleaf
Electronic distribution            HTML+CSS,         slightly better
                                   Envoy, Barista    Acrobat?

BOOK BUILDING:
Update XRef across pubs            no                yes
Customize text&ref of xref         no                yes

PRINT OPTIONS:
Page imposition                    extensive         none
Colour trapping, spreading, etc    yes               no
Colour profiling                   yes               no
Output bureau profiles             yes               no
Hexachrome seps                    yes               no
 
UI:
Undo Levels                        up to 99          one
Document-wide layers               yes               no
Zoom                               2-1250%           25-400%
Customize toolbar, keyboard,etc    extensive         very limited
Right-mouse context menus          extensive         limited
Library (exchange styles, gfx      yes               no
 between docs)     

INCLUDED APPS:
                                   BitStrm Font Nav  ATM4, AToC, Acrobat
                                   WP8 w/SGML
                                   Database Publisher
                                   PhotoPaint8
                                   OCR-Trace8
                                   CorelScan
                                   Capture, Versions

For pretty much *ANY* function you're familiar with, that isn't in this 
list, you *CAN* do in either product.  I've only listed where the products 
differ.
 
You'll note that the Ventura column has very few "no" entries, while the 
Framemaker one is full of them.  This isn't because Framemaker is being 
unfairly picked on: it really doesn't have as much functionality as 
Ventura, and it really doesn't offer anything more than Ventura.
 
And you'll note that there are some *very* important things in Ventura:

  * two page spreads
  * frame style tagging
  * better text justification control
  * extensive conditional text control
  * hanging punctuation!
  * kerning!
  * baseline shift, drop caps, custom underlines/strikethroughs/overlines
  * text-to-path
  * great bitmap controls
  * page imposition!
  * colour trapping, spreading, choking, profiling!
  * multiple undo!
  * customize the UI to *your* needs and habits!
  * useful context menus!
  * styles/graphics/files/etc library!
  * database publication!
 
The exclamation marks indicate things that I feel are *ESSENTIAL* to 
professional-level long-document publication.  How can you go straight to 
press if you don't have imposition, trapping and hanging punctuation?!
 
The bottom line is this:
 
IF YOU WANT TO DO PROFESSIONAL WORK, YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO CHECK OUT 
VENTURA VERSION 8.
 
Corel dropped the ball a few versions ago and scared a *lot* of people 
off.
 
But DON'T JUDGE THE CURRENT PRODUCT ON YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES.  Go get the 
30-day demo CD and give it a thorough work-out.  You'll have to get over 
the mental hurdle of using a different UI, but once you've made that 
effort, I think you'll find that Ventura works better than Framemaker.
(http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/ventura8/trial.htm)
 
Hint: Visit the user's group. It is very friendly and extremely helpful.
(news://cnews.corel.ca/corelsupport.ventura8)
(http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/ventura8/index.htm)

Hint: Windows has very poor memory management, and Ventura is sensitive to 
it. You may need to tweak your system to get it to be stable.  The 
newsgroup will help.  You also need good video drivers and plenty of 
memory.  Recent patches (the demos seem to have them already applied) have 
greatly reduced the problems mentioned in reviews.

Hint: Use InCtrl when you install the demo. You may be able to subvert the 
one-shot demo limit.  It's a pain, but possible. (Then go buy the 
product!)
(http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/18/02/ut1802.001.html) 

Hint: You *may* be able to pester the product manager for further 
information.  Or, this *may* be an obsolete web address -- I really don't 
know: venturaprodman -at- corel -dot- ca
 
SURPRISE!  You *may* be able to run Ventura8 in your web browser.  At 
least, that *seems* to be what this website is all about: 
http://www.runaware.com/service=runaware/owner=sys/action=show_app?c_app_id=381
(but I really think it'd be excrutiatingly painful to run a large app 
through a web connection.  Ye godz!)
 
Features in Action: There are some cheezy QuickTime movies of Ventura at 
http://www.corel.com/featuresinaction/suite_content/fia_ventura8.html
(get the demo disk; real life is so much better than video!)

Finally, go hit Google and look for reviews of Ventura8.  You'll find they 
all pretty much praise it to the limit.  If there's a common theme, it's 
that it's the most powerful long document publishing software available.  
Ignore the crashprone commentary; the service packs fix many of the 
problems, and patching windows helps a lot, too.