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Subject:RE: replacing Word - FrameMaker vs. Indesign? From:"tech.writer" <tech -dot- writer -at- insightbb -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 2 Feb 2005 08:47:47 -0600
I use both tools to create manuals for my clients. If I have a choice,
especially for long docs, I prefer FrameMaker (FM). InDesign (ID)is not
"there" yet for long docs. ID does not easily create running headers and
footers, cannot create cross references, and does not automatically
number figures and tables or chapters, just to name a few issues.
I am not worried about all the rumors going around about the demise of
FM. Even if Adobe stops producing FM, I am quite confident that they
will have a migration path to the new product, which I suspect will be
ID. Adobe ended PageMaker but provided a migration to ID. I say, get FM
and produce good docs.
Tim Lewis
Lewis Communications
Writer -at- lewiscomms -dot- com
www.lewiscomms.com
Tom wrote:
> The company I work for is considering a move to a tool
> other than MS Word for creation of documentaion (user
> guides, manuals, service bulletins, operator and setup
> guides etc.) primarily because Word becomes unstable
> when document size gets large - the inclusion of
> complex AutoCAD drawings increases our file size
> greatly.
>
<snip>
> Is Indesign working well at present, or has Adobe more
> work to do with it? Is there much of a learning curve
> to get up to speed on Indesign? Would Indesign be
> compatible with AutoCAD .dwg files?
>
> One of the concerns here is that if we go with
> Framemaker it may no longer be the documentation tool
> of the future. Would Indesign be that tool? We could
> produce our documentation for a long long time to come
> with Framemaker as it now stands. However, while we
> usually just provide customers with hard copies of
> documents, there are occasions when they also require
> electronic copies for in-house touching up. The last
> thing we want is to be providing customers with files
> from outdated software in a few years time if
> Framemaker was to become obsolete.
>
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