Frame vs. InDesign vs. alternatives??

[David Creamer]

>> ID's Indexing is slightly easier with use of it's topic list in the Index
>> panel, but I believe that ID only allows one index per book.
> 
> One suggested workaround is to create a unique dummy top-level entry
> for each separate index, and make the real top-level entries
> second-level entries. [snipped]
I've heard of that work-around, but did not mention it as I as making a
direct comparison between the programs.

>> ID cannot span columns with subheads if working with a multi-column layouts,
>> and does not have run-in heads.
> 
> in-tools.com has some very smart InDesign plug-ins for side heads,
> straddle heads, and run-in heads.
Thank you for remembering in-tools--I should have mentioned them.
> 
>> Frame's conditions are slightly more advanced in that they can be applied to
>> table rows; ID's conditions can only be applied to the entire table. Other
>> condition features are similar.
> 
> [snipped]
> 
> I haven't seen this suggested, but it's probably possible to use a
> script that searches for character, or paragraphl styles applied to
> the content of all cells in a row, or , cell styles applied to the
> cells in a row, and reduce their height to zero to hide them. The
> style names should match the condition names. Restoring hidden rows to
> their former size probably would need the script to create and refer
> to user variables that store the original row height.

Interesting idea--I wrote about a similar work-around for Layers Magazine a
while back for faking condition in-line text in CS3 (which could be done
without a script), but the script idea is interesting. I've been suggesting
to my clients that if possible, put all the unconditional content in a
separate table, then the conditional content is their own tables directly
following the unconditional. Then adjust the style settings to butt the
tables together.

David Creamer
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