Quick Comparison of Ventura & Framemaker

Subject: Quick Comparison of Ventura & Framemaker
From: priest -at- sfu -dot- ca
To: techwr-l
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 10:15:23

I'm appalled by the misinformation that's been published in this list. I
hope the following corrects it. It is sourced from
http://www.coreluser.com/html/vent_table.html (which also compares
Pagemaker and QExpress).

I'm only listing where the products differ. I think you'll be surprised at
how much more Ventura offers. I summarize what I think is most important,
after the list:
[recommend reading this using a monospace font!]

VENTURA 8 FRAMEMAKER 5.5
PAGE LAYOUT:
Two-page spreads yes no
Select ruler zero-point yes no
Max. page size 1800x1800" 216x216"
Gustomize non-printing guidelines yes no
Auto vertical rules 'tween cols yes no
Freeze pagination no yes

FRAMES
Frame style mgmt yes no
Straddle frames yes no
Convert shapes>frames yes no
Fills (solid, patterns and... gradients,PS, none
bitmap, vector,
fractal generated

TEXT EDITING/FORMATTING:
Justification (l/r/c/full plus.. decimal, final none
line control
Conditional text support extensive simple
Copy attrs between paras through tags through clipboard
Rotate paragraphs yes no
Grammar checker yes no

TYPOGRAPHIC CONTROL:
Hanging punctuation yes no
Custom pair kerning yes no
0.001em incr.
Interactive pair kerning yes, 0.001em no
Baseline shift control yes no
Custom underlines extensive no
Custom strikethrough/overline extensive no
Drop caps yes no
Font sizes 1-2000pts 2-400pts
0.01pt incr. 0.001pt incr.
Text fills fills as above solid only
Tabs stops per paragraph 66 unlimited
Text scaling not paragrphs; yes
artistic text is
completely tweakable

GRAPHIC HANDLING:
Fit text to path yes no
Bitmap brghtnss/cntrst control yes no
Bitmap special fx yes no
Adjust image resolution indiv. yes no
Adobe PShop plugins yes no
Object merging/combining yes no
Lock objects yes no
Attach graphics above/below text through anchored yes
frame?

TABLES:
Skew first row/column yes no
Linear algebraic functions (?) no yes
Fill as above limited
Change indiv. cell margins by tagging yes

IMPORT/EXPORT
Text import filters a few more a few less
(tend to be obscure formats:
AmiPro, WordStar, Xywrite)
Text export filters a few less a few more
(MSWord7 the only non-obscure one)
Spreadsheet import All Lotus, a few less
Excel, Quattro
Graphic imports/exports very extensive extensive
Other publishing formats FM, PM VP, Interleaf
Electronic distribution HTML+CSS, slightly better
Envoy, Barista Acrobat?

BOOK BUILDING:
Update XRef across pubs no yes
Customize text&ref of xref no yes

PRINT OPTIONS:
Page imposition extensive none
Colour trapping, spreading, etc yes no
Colour profiling yes no
Output bureau profiles yes no
Hexachrome seps yes no

UI:
Undo Levels up to 99 one
Document-wide layers yes no
Zoom 2-1250% 25-400%
Customize toolbar, keyboard,etc extensive very limited
Right-mouse context menus extensive limited
Library (exchange styles, gfx yes no
between docs)

INCLUDED APPS:
BitStrm Font Nav ATM4, AToC, Acrobat
WP8 w/SGML
Database Publisher
PhotoPaint8
OCR-Trace8
CorelScan
Capture, Versions

For pretty much *ANY* function you're familiar with, that isn't in this
list, you *CAN* do in either product. I've only listed where the products
differ.

You'll note that the Ventura column has very few "no" entries, while the
Framemaker one is full of them. This isn't because Framemaker is being
unfairly picked on: it really doesn't have as much functionality as
Ventura, and it really doesn't offer anything more than Ventura.

And you'll note that there are some *very* important things in Ventura:

* two page spreads
* frame style tagging
* better text justification control
* extensive conditional text control
* hanging punctuation!
* kerning!
* baseline shift, drop caps, custom underlines/strikethroughs/overlines
* text-to-path
* great bitmap controls
* page imposition!
* colour trapping, spreading, choking, profiling!
* multiple undo!
* customize the UI to *your* needs and habits!
* useful context menus!
* styles/graphics/files/etc library!
* database publication!

The exclamation marks indicate things that I feel are *ESSENTIAL* to
professional-level long-document publication. How can you go straight to
press if you don't have imposition, trapping and hanging punctuation?!

The bottom line is this:

IF YOU WANT TO DO PROFESSIONAL WORK, YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF TO CHECK OUT
VENTURA VERSION 8.

Corel dropped the ball a few versions ago and scared a *lot* of people
off.

But DON'T JUDGE THE CURRENT PRODUCT ON YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES. Go get the
30-day demo CD and give it a thorough work-out. You'll have to get over
the mental hurdle of using a different UI, but once you've made that
effort, I think you'll find that Ventura works better than Framemaker.
(http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/ventura8/trial.htm)

Hint: Visit the user's group. It is very friendly and extremely helpful.
(news://cnews.corel.ca/corelsupport.ventura8)
(http://www.corel.com/products/graphicsandpublishing/ventura8/index.htm)

Hint: Windows has very poor memory management, and Ventura is sensitive to
it. You may need to tweak your system to get it to be stable. The
newsgroup will help. You also need good video drivers and plenty of
memory. Recent patches (the demos seem to have them already applied) have
greatly reduced the problems mentioned in reviews.

Hint: Use InCtrl when you install the demo. You may be able to subvert the
one-shot demo limit. It's a pain, but possible. (Then go buy the
product!)
(http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/18/02/ut1802.001.html)

Hint: You *may* be able to pester the product manager for further
information. Or, this *may* be an obsolete web address -- I really don't
know: venturaprodman -at- corel -dot- ca

SURPRISE! You *may* be able to run Ventura8 in your web browser. At
least, that *seems* to be what this website is all about:
http://www.runaware.com/service=runaware/owner=sys/action=show_app?c_app_id=381
(but I really think it'd be excrutiatingly painful to run a large app
through a web connection. Ye godz!)

Features in Action: There are some cheezy QuickTime movies of Ventura at
http://www.corel.com/featuresinaction/suite_content/fia_ventura8.html
(get the demo disk; real life is so much better than video!)

Finally, go hit Google and look for reviews of Ventura8. You'll find they
all pretty much praise it to the limit. If there's a common theme, it's
that it's the most powerful long document publishing software available.
Ignore the crashprone commentary; the service packs fix many of the
problems, and patching windows helps a lot, too.





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