Frame vs. Flare for My Needs

[Robert Lauriston]

Have you tried MIF2Go's Word output? It worked great for me.

RoboHelp can also convert FrameMaker to Word, but I think MIF2Go is
better. You might also try FrameMaker 12 (you could just use one copy
as a conversion tool).

If your outputs are PDF and Word, I think switching to Flare would
cause more pain than it would alleviate. WYSIWYG preview of PDF is a
huge advantage.

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 12:21 PM, Kevin Ryan
<kevin.ryan at systemsandsoftware.net> wrote:
>
> 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.