<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Courier New, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div>FrameMaker 11 has reached a level to convince me to use it... Since the switch to the new GUI, I had stuck steadfastly to Maker 8, but Maker 11 includes new structure/XML support that is quite worthwhile, and the GUI seems to have improved. It's enough to convince me to go with 11, and abandon 8. I have even turned off my automatic-save-as-MIF plugin that I kept going as an escape route back to Maker 8. </div><div><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;">I have also dug into ExtendScript, and find it pretty handy. For major projects I still think the FDK is the way to go. But for quickies and one-off tools to solve a specific problem, it
fills the bill nicely. I would recommend that anybody who wants to claim above-average proficiency get a handle on this tool. Yes, the docs could be greatly improved. Product development always has tradeoffs.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>What I would like to see more of is to make the GUI more stable... It flashes around, and depending on what I do it opens or removes various pods when I don't want it to. I would also like the behavior to be more like an IDE or other project management front end, rather than semi ad-hoc work views that I have to rearrange every time I start a
session... Specific example -- the script catalog is kind of flaky. I also would welcome better FDK (and ExtendScript) control of windows per document. <br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>I believe the product is more stable, and the team is taking the docs more seriously. Actually, I look forward to continued improvements, as Adobe seems to stress automation, XML, and structured work flows.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style:
normal;"><br><span></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span>cud</span></div></div></body></html>