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At 06:26 PM 5/2/00 -0700, Chuck Martin wrote:
>---------------------------Snip-------------------------
>FrameMaker has oodles of usability issues that have never been addressed,
>and there are things that cannot be done, at least not easily, in
>FrameMaker, that are a snap to do in Word.
==================================================================
Yes there are some unresolved usability issues in FrameMaker, but this may
be the price that must be paid for avoiding the Word-like feature bloat that
increases the likelihood of catastrophic crashes, and (more importantly)
preserves the stability needed to successfully create, print, convert, and
distribute very large documents, even on underpowered platforms without huge
memory capacity. Some of the recent postings (particularly Bill Hall's)
describing the catastrophic productivity losses produced when Word crasher
make this point quite well.
For example, I've created single files in FrameMaker having up to 1000
pages. These FrameMaker files were created by a 3rd-party product called
UniMerge, which merges a FrameMaker template with records extracted from a
database to produce fully formatted FrameMaker MIF files for high-end
printing. The resulting huge MIF files were then successfully opened in
FrameMaker, output to postscript, and distilled to produce PDFs that were
FTP'd to a printing company for production. The platform on which this was
all done had only 32 MB of memory and an AMD 266 Mhz CPU. Try that with Word.
FrameMaker is also ideally suited for use as a "single source" for producing
printed documents, on-line help files, PDF, HTML, XML, and more. For
success, single-sourcing requires very consistent tagging of paragraphs,
formatted character strings, cross-references and other document objects.
FrameMaker also has very robust conditional text, variable definition,
hypertext, and equation capabilities, as well as the capability to
seamlessly autogenerate many types of lists (TOC, LOT, LOT, etc.) and
multi-level indexes, all of which are vital in producing complex technical
documents.
Additionally, FrameMaker's text inset feature can be used to support a
collaborative authoring environment, in which simultaneous, non-conflicting
edits can be performed on a single file. In this environment, each author
creates each of his or her assigned modules (which can contain text, tables,
and graphics) in separately named text flows within a single Framemaker
file. Each named text flow constitues a single text inset. The master
document file is essentially gbecomes a skeleton into which each of these
text insets are imported by reference at the appropriate locations. Each
time the skeleton document is opened, the imported text insets are
automatically updated to reflect the latest versions. Notice that this
approach can also greatly improve information reusability, since a single
text inset can be imported into many different document files, all of which
are automatically updated whenever changes are made to the text inset.
Entire libraries of text insets can be created for boilerplate, frequently
used notes cautions and warnings, etc., and these libraries can support many
different document projects.
FrameMaker also provides reference pages which can contain repetivitely used
graphic objects, boilerplate text, and almost anything else. Graphic objects
can be made to appear above or below paragraphs whose formatting specifies a
named frame on a reference frame. Altenatively any object on a reference
page can be copied and pasted into the body of the document.
FrameMaker's methodology for achieving the consistent tagging of document
objects is far superior to that of Word (or any other DTP for that matter),
and the ultimate in consistent tagging can be achieved by using
FrameMaker+SGML which can absolutely guarantee that documents are not only
consistently tagged, but also conform to a prescribed structure. Notice that
this capability of FM+SGML can greatly improve productivity even if
exporting to SGML or XML is not a requirement.
The requirement for consistent tagging of document objects is also vital for
the following activities, which are commonly required in a tech pubs
environment.
1. Globally updating of formats (e.g., paragraph formats, cross-reference
formats, etc.) across all or selected files within a large book. The source
of the updated formats can be a FrameMaker template file, or any document
file that already has the updated formats. The types of document objects to
be globally updated are selectable, and can even include changing the page
size of a book. FrameMaker also has the capability to automatically
identify/distinguish objects where format overrides have been incorrectly
applied, and to automatically remove those overrides so as to restore
consistent tagging and formatting.
2. Repurposing of documents, which may require changes in layout, page size,
or formatting of specific document objects (e.g., addition or removal of
autonumbers in headings).
3. Information reuse, in which reusable portions of legacy documents are
copied into new documents. Here, the fact that both the legacy documents and
the new documents are consistently tagged assures that the inserted legacy
information can be easily made to conform to the formatting requirements of
the new document.
4. Document conversions. No matter which DTP product is being used,
conversions to the format of some other DTP is a frequent requirement. Also,
as mentioned above, conversions to HTML, XML, and other on-line formats are
often required.
Trouble-free conversions require that the source document be consistently
formatted and tagged. Although FrameMaker has its own export and import
filters for this purpose, even better results can be achieved with
FrameMaker-compatible third-party filter products such as Blueberry's
Filtrix, Omni Systems' Mif2Go, and Qudralay's Webworks Publisher.
Without consistent tagging, the activities enumerated above become black
holes, and productivity drops precipitously.
The "usability issues that have never been addressed" which you mentioned
pale in comparison to the huge productivity boost that is possible when
FrameMaker is adopted by a tech pubs group as the DTP of choice for
originating and maintaining technical documents. Furthermore, most of the
Word features which you describe as "a snap to do in Word" that aren't
available or which "cannot be done easily" in FrameMaker are trivial
compared to the productivity gains that become possible by effectively using
the FrameMaker features described above.
====================
| Nullius in Verba |
====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory -at- primenet -dot- com
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646
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