Re: Framemaker as authoring tool

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- SIMPLYWRITTEN -dot- COM>]

As regular denizens here know, we're most definitely a FrameMaker shop. If
we use Frame, we make money. If we don't, we don't.

It's mostly because of Frame's behind-the-interface power. Its interface
isn't friendly, cheerful, helpful, or stylish. But neither is an FA-18
cockpit. Its paradigm is that of strong structure, not brochure-simple
layout. It is unparalleled for long document production, and that's where
its benefits are aimed, not at the DTP or word processing market. It's not a
competitor to Word or PageMaker. However, if you truly want something simple
to write in, use Word and import the file.

I describe Frame as an authoring tool because it is; you can write in it
quite easily. You can also import other text. If you want to be picky, you
can adopt Adobe's characterization of Frame as a "technical documentation
tool", which is also a good description.

>o  There's no outline mode!  How can you do serious authoring
>   without an outliner?

And not much need for one. Such an outline mode is irrelevant when Frame is
used, as it often is, as a "manager" for dozens of files. Such an outline
would be hundreds of pages long. If you really, really want something like
that, use FrameMaker +SGML. That'll get you one whale of an outline.

>o  Bugs, bugs, bugs, and more bugs.  Even the current version of
>   Frame, 5.5.6, is as chock full of bugs as Word.  It amazes me
>   that people even like it for typesetting: italics jam into
>   adjacent roman type; the same footnote symbol can appear
>   twice on the same page; thousands more at this level of
>   carelessness.

And often the result of incompatible drivers. Frame is as buggy as any other
piece of comparably-sized software, true. It's still far better when it
works. Honestly, I think that Frame was less buggy when Frame Technologies
owned it, but that may be nostalgia talking.

>o  Clunky user interface.  Zillions of bad decisions slow you
>   down.

As I said, the interface isn't a happy face. Frame makes no pretense of
appealing to the mass audience, as Word must. It ain't Word. You have to
seriously learn its paradigm to make it work to its maximum capability. But
then...whoooee! Buckle up and grab something solid.

>o  You're always in page layout mode.

I rather like that, and when in Word I use layout view. I'd rather work
simultaneously in layout and authoring. Not everyone agrees, and in Frame
you can shut off the text markers.

>o  You can't say that one style is "based on" another, and thus
>   you can't easily redefine a single attribute across a related
>   set of styles.

And thank God for that. I don't know how many times we've been blindsided by
Word's pesky "based on" routine...change something in a fit of
experimentation, and you may screw up hundreds of pages of delicate and
unstable layout. And such experimentation in the middle of a project
conflicts with the FrameMaker worldview of plan...design...execute. Frame
doesn't encourage PageMaker-style playing 'round. It encourages and grandly
empowers the engineering approach to documentation. And anyway, Word's style
practices aren't relevant to simple writing.

>Don't get me wrong: I hate Word as much as anyone.  And I use
>Frame because it gives more control over the output.  But for
>authoring, Frame seems like the weaker of the two.  Unless
>there's something important that I'm missing, which is why I'm
>asking.  In other words, I don't want to start a debate over which program
>is best.  Please, no one do that.  I just want to know what motivates
>people to say, "Frame is great for authoring!"  What's it got that other
>stuff hasn't got?

Sometimes we work with non-Framer writers, and they work in Word, which we
then import. In fact, we often build our Frame templates and Word templates
to have identical style tags, so the import is slick and clean. But if we
can, we like to work directly in Frame, because that shortens our production
schedule.

Tim Altom
Adobe Certified Expert, Acrobat
Simply Written, Inc.
The FrameMaker support people
Ask about Clustar Method training and consulting
317.899.5882
http://www.simplywritten.com


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