[rescue] Re: rescue Digest, Vol 16, Issue 57

[Ross Bernheim]

On Sunday, March 21, 2004, at 03:47 AM, rescue-request at sunhelp.org 
wrote:

> For me it was a worthwhile effort... Many large corp. engineering 
> depts.
> use it, as does (did?) O'Reilly & Assoc. for book layout.
>
> Once I learned FrameMaker, it was trivial to learn word processing
> software (MS Word, for example) - FrameMaker is really page layout
> software...
>
> What is neat is that each format can lead to another... Title leads to
> by-line, which leads to Header, which leads to body. Everytime you 
> press
> enter, you automatically move to the next format/style. It may sound
> odd, but the work just flows out, once you get used to it.

Framemaker is specifically designed to provide support for long 
formatted
documents such as books and technical manuals. It was/is the top of the
line in desktop publishing programs. Quark and Adobe In Design are
geared to shorter documents and artsy stuff.

When you do longer documents the needs shift to a program that aids
creation of indexes and complex organization where Framemaker provides
the tools and worflow to make it happen.

Just as some try to misuse MS Word to do desktop publishing and find it
wanting when they get beyond a certain basic point, Quark and In Design
have limits as you move to longer documents. Framemaker may not be
as sexy, but is still the workhorse for long documents.

Ross Bernheim