[Framers] Importing InDesign IDML into two tools. Was RE: FM 10 on a new computer.

[Syed Zaeem Hosain]

A last update.

Reading the IDML back into InDesign worked fine - looked like the original! 

So, both these other tools have some limitations importing IDML.

Although Affinity Publisher was a small amount better (not enough to justify my getting yet another editing tool - I will get the trial lapse).

So, they are clearly fine for *new* work, but importing IDML from InDesign would require repair to fix some errors - which errors, as mentioned earlier, surprisingly overlapped in the tools.

For my edits for this document, I will recreate it in Designer Pro X from scratch instead. It is short enough ...

Z

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers <framers-bounces+syed.hosain=aeris.net at lists.frameusers.com> On Behalf Of Syed Zaeem Hosain
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2021 6:02 PM
To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: [Framers] Importing InDesign IDML into two tools. Was RE: FM 10 on a new computer.

An update.

I attempted to import an InDesign IDML file into these two tools: Magix Designer Pro X and Affinity Publisher, to continue to edit this file like I need to do.

Summary: Affinity Publisher did better than Designer Pro X ... however, although very close, neither tool showed like the original for making my changes.

In comparing the results, what surprised me a lot, was that *both* of them had the same errors in most cases (text wrapped where it should not have, etc.)

Maybe they both use the same library (some external one perhaps?) or the same API (perhaps from Adobe?) to do the import?

I am going to ask my son (he has the InDesign license and expertise - and generated the IDML for me on his system) to read the IDML back into InDesign and see what it looks like.

If the *same* result as these two tools, it probably reflects some issue with the original export from InDesign ... that is a BIG perhaps, of course!

Z

-----Original Message-----
From: Syed Zaeem Hosain
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2021 1:46 PM
To: An email list for people using Adobe FrameMaker software. <framers at lists.frameusers.com>; Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com>
Subject: RE: [Framers] FM 10 on a new computer.

I have not tried Affinity [yet], but I recommend Design Pro X (the perpetual version is at www.magix.com) for page layout as an alternative to InDesign. 

I am not an InDesign user, so please take this recommendation with the appropriate grain of salt - try it for yourself please!

Design Pro X is a perpetual license (Windows only) and there is also a cloud-based subscription version now (Argh - hope this is not an indication of the future!) at www.xara.com.

One thing that seems interesting: Affinity has a native MacOS version. 

And, Designer Pro X has a beta capability to read InDesign IDML files ... Affinity has this support already supposedly. Not sure how important this is for people!

FWIW, I am goint to import an InDesign IDML into Design Pro X this coming week, since I need to add some text to a document, and will see how that goes. If it does not work, I will try Affinity!

Z

-----Original Message-----
From: Framers <framers-bounces+syed.hosain=aeris.net at lists.frameusers.com> On Behalf Of Shmuel Wolfson
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2021 12:46 AM
To: Robert Lauriston <robert at lauriston.com>; Framers List <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Re: [Framers] FM 10 on a new computer.

   You said: If you need only a page layout program, don't buy FrameMaker,
   either.
   What would you suggest if you only need a page layout program,
   Affinity?

   On 12-Aug-21 10:47 PM, Robert Lauriston wrote:

If you don't need a help authoring tool, don't buy Flare. Flare's expensive because it takes a lot of development to keep up with customers' evolving requirements.

If you need only a page layout program, don't buy FrameMaker, either.
Its relatively high cost reflects its additional features such as multichannel publishing, DITA, and the FDK.

The document I round-tripped from FrameMaker to Flare and back wasn't particularly simple, it was just consistently formatted.
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