atw: Re: Word to Frame
- From: Michael Edward Granat <megranat@xxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 11:17:29 +1100 (EST)
Fabulous, Mark (K)
Did you write this in FrameMaker*?
*The only program where everything equals 20?
Now I can see why so many people use it.
(Coughs)
Sorry Christine (B-K), but Word is a page (or even styled
paragraph) based word processor, whereas FrameMaker is an
object-oriented but chapter / book based desktop publishing
application.
They work in quite different ways under different operating
paradigms. Think of a mid to late 1980s desktop publishing
tool from the Mac or the Amiga, insist on having only have
a single level of undo from the keyboard (you have to
endure the pain of going back to earlier auto saves if you
want to undo more) and voila!
Now add a chapter based operating paradigm that allows for
creating massive books that can become other media (a
master template that controls the included chapter files
and can make them do precisely what the designer wants) then
impose STRUCTURE (heaps of structure!) which actively
prevents you from working in any way other than the original
document designer intended - far from the free-form ways of
Word - which can be a marvellous thing in a widespread
corporate world looking to impose consistency, but no fun
for individualists and control freaks lower down the
documentation food chain.
Then (unless you are on UNIX and a big fan of "vi" or have
purchased a third party macro recorder / editor) forget
about automating most tasks and there you have it.
Now why on Earth haven't you seen The Light and worked on
Frame before?
The learning curve, after working with Word, will have you
beating your head against your keyboard. It insists on a
whole different way of thinking.
If you start with FrameMaker, stick with it by all means
as, whatever I might have said above, it is an absolutely
marvellous tool for those entirely familiar with it and
using it every day. But if you started with Word, have
used it every day and suddenly need to use ONLY FrameMaker
every day, be prepared for large and unrelenting dollops,
even waves of mental anguish.
Smoke will come out of your ears, Christine!
Otherwise, do enjoy!
Cheers,
Michael
(With apologies to Mark K for sending up his obviously
thoughtful but almost unintelligible post.)
Michael E. Granat
Qualified Good Tech Writer Dude
Fellowship Of The Ring Of Tech Writers, Yeah Baby!
T/as Write Ideas
E-mail: mailto:writeideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: <http://home.pacific.net.au/~megranat/>
Without Prejudice.
E&OE.
Quoting "Kofler Mark, Melbourne" <Mark.Kofler@xxxxxxxxx>:
> Hi=20Christine,
> Trying=20translate=20what=20you=20can=20do=20in=20Word=20to=20what=20you=20=
> can=20do=20in=20Frame=20is
<snip>
> blishing
> metaphor.
> Cheers=20Mark
>
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