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In article <EaWYna200WBL82MkY0@andrew.cmu.edu> ls1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Leonard John Schultz) writes:
>Does anyone have a phone number I can call to get info and/or order Framemaker?
>
>I think the company is called Frame Technologies or some such thing
>
>thanks
>
>Len


Yes, they are Frame Technologies, their address is:

	1010 Rincon Circle
	San Jose, California 95131

	phone: (408) 922-2725
	fax:   (408) 433-1928

I have seen their FrameMaker 2.0 product on the Sun under Sunview.  They
also have it out or coming out (by August) on the HP, Apollo, DEC
ULTRIX, NeXT, X-Terminals, etc.
compatible.

Strengths:

My initial impression is that Frame is a pretty good product.  It
is effectively a wordprocessor with many desk-top publishing features.

o Excellent WYSIWYG interface.
o Desk-top publishing style "text flow around" graphics.
o On-screen multi-column support.  Any number of columns, set in any
shape and size.  Multiple text flows to other pages.
o Style sheets.
o Index creation.
o Automatic cross reference numbering for tables, formulas, graphics,
etc.  Nice for big documents particularly.
o Hot-links to other programs (such as Mathematica).
o Good multi-author support.  Keeps track of revisions with time stamps
and change bars.  
o Reasonable formulas (like Milo).  WYSIWYG formula editor. 
o Hypertext document support.  (ie: click on word to pop up text).
o MacDraw-like  object oriented drawing capabilities. 
o User interface quite consistent across platforms (Sun version is very
   Mac-like).
o Good spelling & hypenation dictionary.
o Framemaker is moving toward support of the U.S. Government CAL
standard.

Weaknesses are:

o No site licenses available.  Floating user licenses instead.
o Poor support of tables.  They provide a booklet with the Sun version on
how they hack around this flaw.
o Style sheets are not heirarchical, as with MSWORD.  In other words,
you cannot built styles based on previous styles.  You must create each
from scratch.
o Formatting and resizing of formulas is a pain.  In-line formulas will
not resize to fit in a line, for instance - instead, the lines above and
below get pushed away (not the prettiest solution).
o Built-in graphics are limited.  Cannot rotate text.  Only 90 degree
rotation of objects.
o Really needs SE/30 with 4MB or better to run.  You can get away with 
an SE, 4MB RAM, a 40MB HD and a FPD, according to Frame, but it will be slow.
You HAVE to have a HD.
Their Mac pamphlet recommends:
	"a Macintosh II with four MB of memory and a full page or two
	 page display for building long, structured documents and producing
	 graphics intensive project.  Basic word processing editing can be
	 done on a Macintosh SE or Mac portable with two MB of memory."

	- Read "little or no graphics and slow" where they say "Basic word
	processing editing".
o No Thesaurus (sp?).


**********

Overall, the weaknesses of this product are minimal.  If you need better
formula support, graphics or tables, you may well be able to hot link to
another program which does what you need  (check on whether there is an
appropriate tool which can be linked, however!).

This program's hardware requirements are not surprising.  It is a very
extensive package.

Overall, I have been impressed by FrameMaker.  The company has been
around a few years and seems to be making a real impact.  Pricing of the
product is not at all bad compared to their competition in the
workstation market (Frame goes for about $1500, as I remember,
on workstations in single quantities).  Customer service has been quite
responsive to our questions (mind you, we have the potential to be a
pretty big account, so I can't say how they are to individuals).

Note that the above remarks are NOT the result of a comprehensive review
of FrameMaker, but are rather intial impressions based on reading their
documentation and playing a bit with the program.  Some of the points
may even be WRONG.  I give no warranties.

Eric Mitchell

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Disclaimer:  The above remarks are mine.  Nobody else will agree to 
             share responsibility.