RE: Ventura vs. FrameMaker

Subject: RE: Ventura vs. FrameMaker
From: "Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 10:07:57 -0400

Isn't Corel's main European office in Ireland? Maybe that proximity will
help you with Ventura? Rumors of Ventura's demise have been ongoing since
the Xerox days, and are just as speculative as similar rumors of
FrameMaker's demise. Don't believe the rumors.

I switched from Ventura to FrameMaker full-time at Ventura 7. I have found
Ventura to offer a tonne of features, at an excellent price. The gotcha is
that I have personally found Ventura's features to not work as advertised
and the product to be generally unreliable. However, while I do have Ventura
8, I have no experience with it, so it is possible that the latest version
of Ventura is more reliable and it is certainly possible that more than 50%
of the advertised features now work. FrameMaker is pretty bullet-proof, but
offers fewer features than Ventura and an uglier interface. FrameMaker
suffers a lack of import/export filters in comparison to Ventura. However,
my workflow is and has been much, much, much more productive with FrameMaker
because of FrameMaker's stability. Adobe support for FrameMaker and
peer-to-peer support for FrameMaker is also, in my experience, much better
than that for the Corel product. Another reason I switched was
foreign-language support. That is, when Ventura 7 was released, I asked
about and needed Western European versions of the product, not immediately,
but in 12 months or so. Corel had no plans to translate the Ventura
interface and doc set into anything other than US English and Canadian.
Adobe did and does translate the FrameMaker interface into several Western
European languages--although you should note that FrameMaker does **not**
support Unicode, which can be a major hindrance for supporting some
non-Romance languages.

Also, for a software guy like me, FrameMaker publications migrate better to
HTML/XML, PDF, and online help (via WebWorks Publisher Professional and
ForeHelp) than do Ventura publications.

If print is a deliverable you need, then ForeHelp and Dreamweaver are not
contenders, IMHO. I'd pick Ventura and FrameMaker before either of these.

HTH,

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Moloney [SMTP:paul -dot- moloney -at- seprobilling -dot- com]
> I'm currently reviewing several
> applications, including FrameMaker, Forehelp
> Premiere and Dreamweaver, for
> our printed/online documentation needs.
> One other option is Ventura; however,
> I've heard that these days, it isn't
> very good, not used by many, and
> quite likely for the chop. Is this true?
> Should I devote some time to it?
> Thanks,
>

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com


---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Previous by Author: RE: future functionality
Next by Author: RE: Opinion of a site.
Previous by Thread: Re: Ventura vs. Framemaker
Next by Thread: Re: Ventura vs. Framemaker


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads