Frame vs. Flare for My Needs

[Lin Sims]

As I recall, Mif2Go should output pretty darn spiffy Word documents,
although you may have to fiddle with it a bit to get what you want.

Acrobat 10 (I think) and later will save PDFs to Word format, although
everything will be in modified Normal (no style-name information is carried
through, but the document WILL look the same as it does in PDF). Depending
on what they want to do, that might be sufficient.

Are the customers going to sign something legally binding that says, "we
edited it, so any mistakes are our responsibility"?

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 3:21 PM, Kevin Ryan <
kevin.ryan at systemsandsoftware.net> wrote:

>  Hi,
>
>
>
> I could use the advice of some Frame veterans on whether a switch from
> Frame to Flare might be a delusion-inspired wrong turn for me, or possibly
> the right way to go.
>
>
>
> My company's primary documentation output is PDF user/training/reference
> guides authored on FrameMaker 7. Not the current Frame version, I know, but
> sufficient with our good templates to produce solid, professional-looking
> documents we're proud of. Other current deliverables include
> context-sensitive HTML topics produced via Mif2go and a limited number of
> "Process Assistance" MS Word topics.  These latter are a sort of MS-Word
> help equivalent that our customers can download from our application, edit
> if necessary, and even upload back into our application for others if they
> want to. I create Process Assistance MS-Word topics by cutting from Frame
> and pasting into Word, followed by manual reformatting (ouch).
>
>
>
> Our customers (utilities) have been requesting another MS Word output:
> Editable MS Word versions of our 20-300 page PDF manuals so that they can
> edit them for their own purposes (such as internal training).
> Unfortunately, we've been unable to find a workable Frame-to-Word
> conversion process to this end.  I can do manual reformatting to Word in
> our short Process Assistance topics, but to do it on entire manuals would
> give me a nervous breakdown.
>
>
>
> So, with better MS-Word output generation as my primary goal, I've been
> considering a switch to Flare. Its capability to output in PDF, Word, and
> HTML seems as though it might ultimately streamline our processes. As I
> test Flare by my 30-day trial, though, I'm reminded of the many things
> FrameMaker does really well — things I might be losing if I made the
> switch:  For example, precise page layouts, complex graphics, robust
> tables. To its credit, Flare seems to offer output versatility, excellent
> documentation and support, and a lot of Marketing momentum.
>
>
>
> Am I misguiding myself?  Barking up the wrong tree?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any opinions or comments.
>
>
>
> *Kevin Ryan*
>
> *Technical Writer*
>
> [image: cid:image001.jpg at 01C97FA7.A9E51B40]
>
> Systems & Software, Inc.
>
> 426 Industrial Avenue
>
> Suite 140
>
> Williston, VT 05495
>
> 802.865.1170 phone
>
> 802.865.1171 fax
>
>
>
>
>    ------------------------------
>
> *Save the Date! 2015 Harris Customer Training Conference:*
> <http://www1.harriscomputer.com/en/conference/>
> October 21–23, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia - Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
>
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-- 
Lin Sims
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