RE: Wanted: Any available doc comparing Word XP and FrameMaker 7.2

["Nuckols, Kenneth M" <Kenneth -dot- Nuckols -at- mybrighthouse -dot- com>]

Gay Alson asked...

> 
> First off, I'm not trying to revive the old argument between these two
> opposing camps.
> 
> However, I'm preparing a proposal for my boss to help decide which way
to
> jump in a proposed upgrade to our authoring tool and I need something
more
> recent than the excellent (archived) straw poll conducted back in
1995,
> when
> a reader asked for opinions as to which was the superior tool. At that
> time,
> people were still on Word 6 and Frame 5 but I don't want to base my
> recommendations on features or functionality that have significantly
> changed.
> 
> FrameMaker 7.2 seems to have made real improvements in several areas
but I
> haven't been as lucky in finding similar information about Word XP.
Can
> anyone point me toward a document that compares these two latest
versions?
> (If not XP, even 2003 would help.)
> 

I can't speak much about FrameMaker one way or the other, because
frankly I haven't used it much. But I can speak to a critical
_limitation_ of Word. Any version of Word. And every version of Word for
the foreseeable future.

NEVER, under ANY circumstances, EVER use MS Word if there is even the
SLIGHTEST chance that any document you create will be printed outside
your shop. In other words, if you create your documents and send them
off to a printer for printing, binding, publishing, etc., then don't use
Word. Word has some flaky and inexcusable problems related to the
"normal.dot" template that can screw up the formatting of a document
just by taking it from one computer to another (let alone from one
network to another).

And having worked for a commercial printer for about two years, it also
does very odd things with colors. Most commercial printers use a Pantone
color matching system, and no matter how many times we asked and how
sophisticated and saavy a customer was, we could never get anyone with
Word to provide us files that were set in true Pantone color matching. I
think that's just because Word is incapable of supporting it (or maybe
because Microsoft's version of Pantone is different from everyone
else's, just like their version of JAVA).

Word certainly can make your life easy with all the automatic aids, and
if you set it up correctly you can make automating a document a piece of
cake. But that only seems to last (in my experience) as long as you keep
producing the document on the same computer with the same settings and
sending it to the same printer (device, not company). You start messing
with any of those variables, and suddenly everything you worked so hard
to get "perfect" can go loopy on you in a heartbeat.

I'll leave it to others who know more about FrameMaker to give you that
side of the story. But I would be hesitant to use Word unless you're
going to be doing everything yourself within your organization.

That's just my $.02...

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This e-mail may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, purge it and do not disseminate or copy it. 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today!. http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help includes a one-click RoboHelp project converter. It's that easy.  Watch the demo at http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.