[Framers] list members not using FrameMaker now

[Etzel, Gary]

I can't speak to FrameMaker/Robohelp today, as we made this decision a few years ago. But I can say that Flare provides numerous templates that are easy to modify for your corporate look and feel. So you can get up and running very quickly with a great selection of different pre-made output styles. Another key factor in our decision to use Flare was the support, training, and webinars that MadCap provides. There has been a lot of valid complaints here in the forum, that Adobe does not support the technical writing community or its technical writing products. It doesn't make Adobe a bad company, it's just the way it is. But MadCap does support us, and that has made them a much better company to work with in my opinion.

Another point I'd make is that if Online Help is your primary output, rather than print or PDF, then working in a topic-based authoring environment like Flare or RoboHelp is critical. Think of it this way, in FrameMaker you are essentially writing a print-based document that you later convert to Online Help. In Flare, you are writing the Online Help directly. It seems like a subtle difference at first but once you realize it and embrace it, it completely changes the way you write topics and organize your documentation.


-----Original Message-----
From: Shmuel Wolfson [mailto:shmuelw1 at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 12:35 PM
To: Etzel, Gary <gary.etzel at dnvgl.com>; Framers - frameusers.com <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Re: [Framers] list members not using FrameMaker now

But Frame supports HTML5, so where is the advantage in Flare as far as that?


On 26-Jun-18 7:20 PM, Etzel, Gary wrote:
> I'll come out of lurking for a minute to add my name to the list of recovering Frame addicts. And we were serious FrameMaker junkies, too. We're the people who wrote the Sourcerer plugin, if that name rings a bell. Sourcerer evolved directly into all of Russ Ward's great structured FrameMaker plugins at West Street Consulting, all of which we used for many years to develop and extremely intricate workflow. But times change. For us, we saw that HTML5 output was the future of our Online Help needs. When we compared Frame/RoboHelp to Flare, and Adobe to MadCap, it wasn't even close. That was several years ago. We're Flare junkies now and couldn't be happier.
>
> I lurk here to keep tabs on what's going on in the FrameMaker world, but I've never seen anything that will make me second guess our decision to switch to Flare. FrameMaker is a great tool and still has a role in the TechComm world. But I will say again, very respectfully, that times change and we need to change with them or risk becoming as obsolete as the software products we love.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Gary Etzel
>
>
>
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