ARE: Framemaker 9 vs Microsoft Word

[Tim J. Slager]

Frame is clunky; Word is quirky.

I have to agree numbered lists are Word's Achilles heal, although I can (usually) get them to work. 

I worked for 10 years at a company where we used Word to create professional documentation with page counts reaching into the thousands with very consistent template styles and rare file corruption. We had the advantage of a developer who could make Word do almost anything and had custom tool bars and automated documentation generation built into Word. The flexibility allowed by VBA programming is a great strength of Word.

That said, there is something comforting about the stolid reliability of FM--once you get it figured out. 

tims

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Steve Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 1:01 PM
To: Kelly McDaniel
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Framemaker 9 vs Microsoft Word

... and lest I forget, numbered lists are a NIGHTMARE in Word,
effortless in Frame.

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Steve Johnson <chinaski69 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Where do you want to start? If you want professional documentation do
> not use Word, do not even think about it.
>
> Word cannot handle cross-references, there are various anomalies when
> converting Word to PDF. Word has had a bug since 2.0 such that if you
> put a hard page break directly in front of a heading and then
> cross-reference to that heading, Word inserts a hard page break in
> front of the cross-reference.
>
> Word's attempts at paragraph formatting and templating are pathetic.
> In general, maintaining formatting consistency is a huge PITA with
> Word, whereas Frame gives you no trouble at all.
>
> On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Kelly McDaniel <kmcdaniel at pavtech.com> wrote:
>> Does anyone have a current comparison they can share?...thanks, Kelly.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kelly M. McDaniel
>>
>> Senior Technical Writer - R&D Rockwell Automation
>>
>> Austin, Texas - 512.438.1521
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> ============
> Steve Johnson, dr_gonzo at pobox.com
>



-- 
============
Steve Johnson, dr_gonzo at pobox.com
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