Ventura/Frame - summary

[Damien Braniff <Damien_Braniff -at- PAC -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

I recently asked for opinions on Ventura 8 and Framemaker.   Generally both
are thought to be good with Frame having the edge and with better support.
Summary of responses below. Thanks to all who replied.  Should help me
build a case for the right tool for what we plan to do.

*******
Unless V8 is much different from V7 ..
for inter-chap xrefs: FrameMaker
for unlimited lists (including TOC levels): FM
for floating pix and tables (frames): Ventura
for design flexibility: Ventura
for HTML out: Ventura  (actually, the word mangler probably is best)
for PDF out: FrameMaker

*******

Two recent reviews of Ventura have praised its improvements in the long &
structured document-handling area.
However, both articles said that FrameMaker still has superior tools. I am
very fond of Corel (including WordPerfect), and don't like some
ofFrameMaker's weird usability problems, but it has certainly improved my
productivity.

*******

All I can tell you is that one of the Senior Writers at Corel once made
the statement to me that the hardest part of her job was using Ventura
to get the job done.

If THEY don't like their own product ....

*******

Ventura is a good package but Corel's support is pretty abysmal. Support
for Frame is generally very good.

*******

Actually (although really just IMO), Ventura was an excellent product until
it was taken over by Corel. They tried to attach too many bells and
whistles instead of leaving it as a desktop publisher. Personally, I still
miss it.

*******

I'm a die-hard Ventura groupie, but I stopped using it before version 7.0
came out (we moved totally on-line, otherwise I may still be using
Ventura).  I would, however, take a long look at Frame (if I were looking
for a publisher), as it is everywhere and there must be a reason for that
(i.e., I'd switch just for the benefit of learning Frame).

*******

I haven't seen any comparisons of the two packages, but I have been using
Ventura 8 for about the past month. (I've been a Ventura user for several
years now.) It's a little buggy here and there, but overall I've been
satisfied with it. It's MUCH better than version 7. Yes, I do think it's
got more bells and whistles than it needs, and no, I don't use many of
those bells and whistles myself. I wonder if the disgruntled comment
attributed to the Corel writer was made because that writer is trying to
use all those bells and whistles.


Damien Braniff
Technical Author
PAC International


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