atw: Re: Framemaker - A Few Random Observations

Janice Gelb:
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 08:46:15 +1100,  you wrote:
> Peter G Martin wrote:
>> James Hunt:
>> On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 20:58:57 +1000,  you wrote:
>>
>>> Arbortext even produces better-looking printed output than
>>> FM. The output from FM is outstandingly ugly.
>>>
>>
>> What could this possibly mean ?
>>
>> At the risk of setting off a silly advocacy war, I'd suggest
>> this is nonsense.   The source of ugliness is not
>> FrameMaker, but the user. This applies equally to Arbortext.
>>    Both offer a clean slate and it's your problem if  you
>> mess it up.
>>
>>
> Actually, from what I understand from our tools
> people, that's not entirely true. FrameMaker does
> not produce "pure" SGML - it has to go through a
> filter that imposes certain constraints, such as
> the use of tables for elements that aren't really
> tables (like blocks of code) and cross-references
> to titles rather than their containing elements.
> While this shouldn't seriously affect the printed
> output, getting to that point is certainly more of an effort
> than with the straightforward SGML text from Arbortext's
> editor.
>

No.  And we are talking about printed output here.
 
Normal printed output from FrameMaker doesn't go that way.
You don't need to go through SGML at all -- let alone exercise any
effort to do so.   Out-of-the-box installation of FrameMaker prints
to your printer without any need for SGML fiddling... assuming you
set up your print devices etc. correctly, as is the case with any software.   

Never had any complaints about ugliness that weren't related
to questions of taste:  font choice, layout etc...



--Peter M




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