So Long and Thanks for the Fish

[Rick Quatro]

Hi Michael,

 

My comment was made as an observation, not necessarily an endorsement. I
really like FrameMaker's "hybrid" approach: you can have structure (XML) and
WSIWYG at the same time. Also, FrameMaker's EDD model for context-sensitive
formatting of structured is brilliant.

 

I also like the "print-engine" model: author and edit in any XML tool you
want and use FrameMaker (or InDesign) as a rendering engine for your
high-quality print and PDF output.

 

Rick

 

From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Michael Norton
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 7:26 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: So Long and Thanks for the Fish

 

Rick Quatro wrote:

 

"Mike's comment is interesting light of the fact that many people are moving
away from WSIWYG "in this century." The whole XML-authoring world, with
DITA, S1000D, DocBook, etc., is a move away from WSIWYG authoring tools.
Increasingly, authoring content is being separated from rendering it for
output (for example, with applications like Flare). In a sense, we are going
full circle back to the division of labor that existing in the typesetting
era. That is why there may be a revival in the LaTex world: it has always
separated authoring and rendering."

 

As someone who started out in the days of WordPerfect 1.0 (for DG) and
mark-up languages. The thought of going back to that environment seems
strange. I too have been disappointed with Frame's progress under Adobe's
tutelage, but I'd still rather use it than any other tool out there. Flare
is an interesting option though and I hope to hear the reasons why that move
was made. At a previous gig, we adopted Flare as our HAT and looked into
moving to it completely. The PDF publishing capabilities we wanted were not
there at that time and there were some issues with bugs. Perhaps that has
improved now. If I remember correctly, Flare wasn't exactly cheap either.

 

The ability to format the text I'm working with and merge pictures I can see
and annotate into it has never hindered my ability to write. Layout and
design are part of the message I am trying to deliver. 

 

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