"Neil Gould" writes:

Frank Stearns wrote:
"Neil Gould" writes:

snips

Those programs are not for technical writing or publishing. Even
Adobe keeps FrameMaker alive and well because it is the only
surviving alternative to Ventura for that purpose. For my active
clients, I only use FrameMaker because it has kept abreast of the
rather significant changes to the publishing industry since the last
update of Ventura.


snips

I just met with a client this morning whose tech documents are done in FM!

IIRC, my first copy of FM was 3, prior to Adobe's acquisition of Frame, Inc.
At that point, it was no match for VP technically, but its cross-platform
abilities were a big plus. Then, Corel acquired VP and managed to screw it
up for a few years, during which time Adobe improved FM's ability to handle
type and color properly, among other things. Today, FM is the most viable
app for technical documents, IMO, largely because Corel dropped the ball.
Although some folks complain about FM's UI (it isn't anywhere near as
flexible as VP's), it has not been a problem for me, and I appreciate that
fact that it has remained "familiar" for decades. That's rather atypical for
Adobe apps, which shuffle their UI with regularity.


I used VP for a couple of client projects. Can't remember if it was Corel or not.

I initially liked what I saw and was looking forward to using it -- until things
started going wrong in small and large ways at every turn. Made me crazy as hell,
and the usual issues with support. "Oh, yes, sorry; that is a known problem;" or,
"don't know about that;" and the classic "Please reinstall" with the classic
response, "I've done that 10 times, no change..."

FM was typically very stable. I loved FM3 under Sunview on my Sparc station, but it
was of limited capability compared to the needs of the current day. Eventually, I
was forced over to windows for a number of business reasons.

FM conquered with FM4, and the introduction of their fabulous Table Editor -- still
from what I've seen the best thing out there for tables.

Combine that with FM's very powerful numbering system, their book system,
long-document capabilities, and now multiple delivery paths, and it is likely still
a "best buy" -- assuming you need that kind of power.

Frank
Mobile Audio
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