🚀 go-pugleaf

Numerous comments received in the last week prompted this 
update.  Again, thanks to all of you who contributed this 
new information.

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Here's an overview of FrameMaker as seen by its users:

     Strengths                         Weaknesses

auto-referencing                  table generation
integrated drawing tools          limited drawing tools
picture import by reference       picture positioning
auto-numbering (figs, etc.)       super/subscripts
textual cross-referencing         hanging indents
footnotes/endnotes                footnotes/endnotes
automatic TOC and indices         non-adjustable overbars
Book Building                     help system
wysiwyg equation processing       equation formatting
multiple dictionaries             user interface
multiple platforms                limited file export
excellent tech support            hardware hungry
page layout capabilities          customizability
                                  no outliner
                                  bibliography support

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As you can see, not everyone's in agreement when it comes to  
certain features.  These and other points are discussed 
below:

-  FrameMaker's user interface is nearly identical across 
platforms, and this accounts for the complaints about the 
non-Mac interface.  Also, some of the dialog boxes could be 
better designed.

-  The Mac version is supposedly a full implementation of, 
say, the Sun version (which has symbolic math capabilities, 
btw).  All versions claim to be 100% file-compatible with 
each other.

-  Choice of file type when exporting documents is limited 
(there is no TeX filter, for example), and one user reported 
problems when porting a Frame document to a NeXT 
workstation.

-  Those who used Frame on a Mac had a IIcx or better.  An
SE probably wouldn't cut it, although one person mentioned
that an SE/30 with a second monitor might be OK.  In fact, 
a 19" monitor appeared to be the display of choice (even a 
full-page monitor is unable to accomodate all of Frame's 
floating windows).

-  From a practical point of view, 4MB of memory is probably 
minimum, and one person reported a noticeable increase in 
speed (when editing large files) on a Mac IIcx with 8MB.

-  Whereas Word for example, is stable, FrameMaker on the 
Mac is not.  Several bugs were reported:  1) the drawing 
tools; 2) search/replace; 3) importation of Word files.

-  FrameMaker is generally more powerful than Word, but a 
good number of people commented on FrameMaker's inability to 
generate tables, a feature Word users typically boast about.  
One person remarked that PageMaker (on the Mac) was the 
closest thing there was to FrameMaker, but that PageMaker 
had nothing like FrameMath (the name given to FrameMaker's 
equation typesetting facility).

-  Some users find Frame's built-in drawing tools adequate; 
others find them lacking.

-  FrameMaker's footnote/endnote capability was praised in
a few instances, but at least one person had the need for 
additional formatting options (e.g., [19-21]).  Frame also 
has problems creating an accurate list of figures (or list 
of anything, for that matter). 

-  How does FrameMath (equations, etc.) measure up?  In 
terms of output, the following inequality holds:

         TeX > FrameMaker > Expressionist

Interestingly, reversing the sense of the inequality gives a 
fairly accurate description of the ease with which 
mathematical text is created in each program.  (Does anyone
know how MathType fits into these equations?)

-  Super/subscripts are not properly positioned.  While 
manual positioning on an individual basis is possible, 
global adjustments are not.  Horizontal spacing (kerning) 
between the characters of mathematical expressions must be 
manually applied in many instances.  Multiple levels of 
super/subscripts are not supported.

-  Editing of mathematical expressions is difficult since 
there are no visual cues (like the box outlines in 
Expressionist) that would aid the selection of 
subexpressions.

-  Frame Technologies can be reached by email at

               comments@frame.com

and demo versions of FrameMaker are available.  Although 
this offer does NOT include the Mac, a timed-out Mac version 
IS available (at least for those in the educational 
community) if you're willing to send the company seven 
(count em!) blank diskettes.

-  Supposedly, there is a review article in a recent issue 
(sometime in the last couple of months?) of _Desktop_
_Publishing_ (or something like that).

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--

Tom Scavo  <scavo@cs.uoregon.edu>
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