[Framers] Questions re upgrading Frame from 7.1

Tue Mar 31 11:22:02 PDT 2020

10. Yes though we walk through the valley of asking price, we fear all
auto-corrections. 😀

Seriously, if you will ever think of converting to a future version of FM
but retain the earlier version and use the same files in both versions, be
religious about identifying the creator version, and testing how well
exchanging via MIF, RTF, or other vehicle works. I used to put the version
in the filename, as: filename_fm7_1.fm

If you're considering moving to InDesign at some time in the future,
dtptools.com has a mif converter tool, and also a service, but you'll need
FM to save the files as MIF.

HTH

On Tue, Mar 31, 2020, 11:35 AM Mike Wickham <info at mikewickham.com> wrote:

> I don't have FrameMaker 2019, but I'll answer a couple of these.
>
> 4. The scroll wheel issue was fixed long ago. Version 8?
>
> 8. Frame will open old Frame files, but once you save them, they will be
> in a new version that will no longer be openable by FrameMaker 7,
> without conversion. I believe FM 2019 will let you save as MIF 7--
> though if you have used features that were not available in FM 7 days,
> you may lose some data. I have no experience with this. Others will be
> able to help more. There are also some fine, inexpensive scripts out
> there that let you save back to various FM versions-- but again, some
> things created with new version can't save backward.
>
> There may also be some character conversion issues moving files in
> either direction. FrameMaker 8 moved to Unicode. So there are issues
> with the way some characters display (if at all) when you move files
> back and forth across that boundary.
>
> 10. I HATE the subscription model. FrameMaker 2019 still has the
> perpetual license available. and I implore you to go the perpetual
> license route so that the option doesn't disappear. It has disappeared
> for the other important Adobe products. Subscriptions are nice in that
> they can budget the high cost of software on a monthly basis, but they
> are a poor value in the long run. Subscriptions cost more in the long
> run. Adobe upgrades FrameMaker approximately every 18 months. It is $400
> to upgrade the perpetual license (if you own the most recent version),
> but it is $540 to rent the software on the subscription model for the
> same period. Not only that, but a perpetual license is an asset. If you
> sell your company, it increases the valley of your asking price. You can
> even sell the license standalone and get some or all your $1000 back.
> But with the subscription model, FrameMaker is not an asset. You get an
> expense and a contract liability. instead.
>
> MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you ever stop paying the monthly rental, your
> software quits. You are done working in FrameMaker, unless your files
> can be converted safely back to your old FM7 version-- and you better do
> the conversion before the subscription runs out and FrameMaker turns off!
>
> Mike
>
>
> On 3/31/2020 7:01 AM, Wendy McGovern wrote:
> > Hi, Framers,
> > Apologies for a somewhat long post, but I would really like some input.
> We are contemplating finally upgrading from our Frame 7.1 (yep, had it for
> 17 years) to the newest version (Frame 2019). Our version of Frame has been
> ridiculously stable and its amazing features have served our purposes
> without having to upgrade over the years. We upgraded our computers to
> Windows 10 last year, but the 32-bit Frame has worked in that system so
> far. We do get messages about fonts changing when we change print driver to
> Adobe for making PDFs, but it hasn't had any ill effects for us. Some
> background:
> > We do legal books in Frame that use the generated files feature for
> summary and tables of contents, tables of cases, tables of statutes, and
> subject matter indexes. Most of our books have extensive footnotes (lawyers
> love to include footnotes that go on for 7/8ths of a page). We make PDFs of
> the books as well as send MIF files to a conversion company for EPUBs. We
> use unstructured Frame and don't need structure for anything. We don't use
> conditional text for anything. Recently, I had an incidence of Frame files
> in a book I was working on get corrupted where paragraphs had been
> bizarrely messed up and lost the work I had done on the files in the last
> week or so. Another coworker had saved a Frame file to RTF and later
> couldn't open the Frame file again because it said it didn't recognize the
> file format. This is leading us to believe that maybe it is finally time
> for us to bite the bullet and upgrade to be compatible with all the other
> software out there now. So, some specific quest
>  io
> >   ns (keeping in mind the unstructured environment):
> > 1. I was going to ask if Frame 2019 allows the old Escape key sequences
> of Esc-jj and Esc-cc to work, because I saw on the list that they broke
> those functions in the later versions-but I see from the Frame 2019 manual
> online that they have restored those functions in 2019. So this
> functionality works well now?
> > 2. Is Frame ever going to fix the footnotes problem? I've replied to
> Adobe's feature requests over the years, and they still don't have a fix.
> > 3. Is Frame 2019 stable as far as people using it now can tell? (I've
> seen some posts here about problems creating PDFs and other things that
> shouldn't be happening with recent versions of Frame.)
> > 4. There was a small problem with Frame 7.1's ability to use the scroll
> wheel that needed a special mouse driver that we had to use and we had to
> reinstall it when we went to Windows 10, but once the driver was in place,
> it was fixed. I'm assuming Frame 2019 doesn't have any issues like this
> anymore, right?
> > 5. Another minor problem with our Frame is a glitch where if you hold
> down the mouse a little too long when selecting something, Frame will
> crash. Has anyone had this happen with the latest version?
> > 6. Is IXGEN available for the latest Frame?
> > 7. Is Frame to RTF conversion good? We save Frame files to RTF to send
> to authors for updating their chapters. (People would always need an
> explanation of why we used the RTF Japanese for the setting.)
> > 8. How do you open old Frame 7 files if you have Frame 2019? The online
> manual for 2019 says you have to open Frame 7 files as MIF. But in order to
> change them to MIF, don't you have to convert them from within Frame 7? Can
> you choose to open them as MIF from 2019 itself? And what about the .book
> file? Is that preserved if you open all its enclosed files in MIF, or is it
> an option to save a whole old book as MIF so that generated files are also
> converted? Would we have to convert all our Frame 7 books to MIF before
> installing Frame 2019 (or can you have both versions of Frame installed on
> your computer at the same time?)? And do you have to replace fonts for
> Unicode ones?
> > 9. Now that Frame has EPUB format as an output, is it good? Is the
> unstructured version capable of it? Does it involve cleanup to make the
> EPUB presentable? Are all the links in the Frame file preserved in the EPUB?
> > 10. Finally, what do people think of the subscription model versus
> buying an outright license (if Adobe even still lets people buy a "forever"
> license)? I think I remember seeing some panicked user on the list
> mentioning something about Adobe screwing up their subscription and them
> not having their Frame functionable anymore.
> > 11. And another finally, seeing some recent posts about problems someone
> had with the trial version, is there any advice about that?
> >
> > I am on the digest, so if anyone replies, could you please reply to me
> directly as well as the list? Thanks for any advice you can give.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Pennsylvania Bar Institute]<http://www.pbi.org>
> >
> >
> > Wendy McGovern
> > Publications Editor
> > Pennsylvania Bar Institute
> > 5080 Ritter Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
> > (E) wmcgovern at pbi.org<mailto:wmcgovern at pbi.org>  (P) 717-620-6257
> > (P) 800-932-4637, ext. 6257  (F) 717-796-2348
> > www.pbi.org<http://www.pbi.org>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > This message is from the Framers mailing list
> >
> > Send messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com
> > Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
> > Archives located at
> http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
> > Subscribe and unsubscribe at
> http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
> > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> This message is from the Framers mailing list
>
> Send messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com
> Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
> Archives located at
> http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
> Subscribe and unsubscribe at
> http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
> Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com
>
>