Frame vs Word - the decision

[David Creamer]

Hi Laura,

Sorry I didn't notice your original post. 

Word has some issues with (not an exhaustive list):
Long documents
Graphics
Lists
Multi-chapter files

Long Documents
Word files have been known to go corrupt when documents get too long. Now
"long" is a relative term--I'm talking about hundreds of pages per
documents.
One company I worked with was having text simply disappear from documents
and it was costing them $250,000 per year to recover them.

Graphics
Most people cut-and-paste graphics into Word. This can lead to overly large
and corrupt files.
Word can link to a graphic like Frame and this will prevent most corruption,
but the link option has to be chosen every time you insert a graphic.
Plus, as far as I know, there is no collection method for the linked
graphics. 

Lists
Cutting-and-pasting lists in Word is a pain since it tries to "think" for
you.
Frame does exactly what you tell it to do.
Word lists can be fixed and renumbered, but it takes additional time to fix
it up.

Multi-chapter files
Creating TOCs and other lists in Word for multiple files is a pain.
Not much you can do about it other than to reuse pre-setup Word "books" like
you would in Frame.

Word does have some benefits too, of course, including the fact that almost
everyone has it, saving money.

David Creamer
IDEAS Training
http://www.ideastraining.com
Adobe Authorized Instructor & Certified Expert since 1995
Authorized QuarkXPress Instructor and Certified Expert since 1988

	
.....Unless there 
 is a fantastically good reason I am missing(?) then the choice is 
 obvious. Please stick to Word henceforth and get no more production done 
 in Framemaker."