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<p>Dear Rick,</p>
<p>please allow one note about the "print engine".</p>
<p>FrameMaker is still using the old Distiller engine (at least version 10 does).<br />I recently had to switch a workflow from Indesign to FrameMaker and found it annoying that Indesign would produce a valid PDF right away whereas with FrameMaker I have to correct all PDFs in Acrobat to produce PDF/X3 with color profile and valid bleed box.<br />And as transparency is not fully supported via the Distiller engine, the actual PDF/X4 format cannot be produced (the favorite format for one of our<span class="st"> printing service companies)</span>.</p>
<p>So finally, I came to think that not FrameMaker, but Indesign may have one of the best "print engines" - at least more flexible and more up to date than FrameMaker's.</p>
<p>Best regards -</p>
<p>Tino H. Haida, Berlin</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rick Quatro:</p>
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<pre>Here is my suggestion on where to start. I would like a light-weight editor
where the user could apply styles, insert tables, images, etc. The styles
would be mapped to a schema so that the user could output XML. Then a full
copy of FrameMaker could be used as "print engine". You would set up a
structured application in full FrameMaker, and import the XML for print,
etc.
The reasons I favor this approach:
1) FrameMaker is currently the best "print engine" on the market for
producing high-quality print/PDF output.
2) With a light-weight editor, you would only need one copy of FrameMaker
for output. The rest of the writers/editors could use the light-weight
editor.
3) You could easily exchange content with users of other XML editors as long
as everyone is using the same schema.
4) This is a realistic "first step" to a FrameMaker replacement. Anything
more complex may be too ambitious and not get too far.
Rick Quatro
Carmen Publishing Inc.
585-283-5045
<a href="mailto:rick@frameexpert.com">rick@frameexpert.com</a>
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