🚀 go-pugleaf

In reply to Sean, message 10 

My project is as described in message 2, and so far I have 1500 pages. The worst problems I�ve faced have to do with figure frames: extra space can appear near a frame, and drawn horizontal lines near the top and bottom borders of a frame can get disassociated from the frame. I have to use drawn lines instead of borders in some instances in order to work around another bug. 

You make a sweeping claim about Word bugs without specifying a version of Word or what the bugs do. Could you please be specific so that a reader, such as myself, can judge the relevance to a particular work situation? 

In reply to Arnis Gubins, message 11 

You make the following statement: 



 You have to realize that FM is a page-layout tool that can also be used as a writing tool. 

It seems to me that this assertion contradicts Adobe�s claims about FM. In the PDF document on this website entitled �How to Choose the Right Adobe Page Layout Software�, Adobe explains that Framemaker is for books, manuals, and technical documents. They even go on to state the following: 

�FrameMaker includes all of the authoring tools and features required for reliable, template-driven content authoring�.�  

Complementing this claim, Adobe states that FM is for documents having a long life of revisions. 

It sounds to me like you�re defending the lack of productivity tools in FM on the basis that FM was never intended to have those productivity tools and that they aren�t needed. I suspect that the real reason that FM is deficient in productivity tools is that its development has been sluggish, allowing FM tools to lag behind the times. The result is that FM is substantially inadequate for content creators, but is not as inadequate for content formatters, a topic that I address in the thread �Will the FM user go the way of the dodo?�. 

Regarding your personal experience of using Word, I appreciate hearing this. But could you please specify the version of Word, along with the worst bugs that gave you so much trouble? 

In reply to Fredrik Folkeryd, message 13 

In my view, an FM user arguing against the automatic features of Word is like a photographer arguing against automatic exposure adjustment and automatic focus. 

I agree that the automatic features of Word can be troubling, but the solution is not to do away with them, but to make it clear to the user what�s happening and how the user can selectively turn them off or adjust them. The undo list indicates the automatic commands executed, but the undo list is normally hidden. It would be helpful if there were an option to continuously display the last N commands of the undo list, allowing the user to readily see what they are. It would also be helpful if the user had the option of having the office assistant announce the execution of an automatic command and ask if the user would like it turned off or adjusted.