Which FMaker version?

[Stuart Rogers]

On 11/08/2011 10:04 PM, visualbistro at comcast.net wrote:
> My manager has finally gotten frustrated enough with Word to check into
> buying FrameMaker.

What took so long?  ;-)

She asked me what version would be best for us, and
> I'm not sure what to tell her. I have used FM 5 and FM 7 a lot, FM 8 a
> bit, and have no experience with FM 10. At this point we are building
> basic documents, but we would like to have better control over the
> formatting, and be able to use conditional text. I don't foresee us
> using the structured version, or any of the "fancy" additions to the
> later versions. But I don't want to saddle us with a dinosaur, either.
>
> What are the general thoughts from this "community?" What are the PROs
> and CONs? What should I recommend? We are a small startup business
> (check out www.agilyx.com <http://www.agilyx.com>), and have to keep an
> eye on the budget, but we want to create professional results in
> everything we do.
>
> We are using Windows 7 and Office 2010, on a variety of Dell laptops.
>

I'd recommend the latest version, as anything else is already 'a 
dinosaur' in relation to the latest operating systems, drivers, etc.

So definitely FM10, but you should also look into TCS 3.0.  In that 
single bundle you get FM, Robohelp, Captivate, Photoshop, Bridge, 
Acrobat, LiveCycle (maybe; I got it in TCS 2, but is not mentioned in 
TCS 3 blurbs) for much less than the cost of the individual programs. 
You will need not just FM but Acrobat and a graphics editor like 
Photoshop at a minimum anyway; if you will be doing online Help or 
animated demos, then RoboHelp and Captivate are proven tools for those 
purposes.

If Adobe offers a maintenance plan that includes product updates, it 
would be worth investigating that, too.

HTH,

Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Ltd.
Toronto