RE: structured FrameMaker

[Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

For version 7 Adobe decided to merge FrameMaker and FrameMaker+SGML into 
one product.  Actually, the Maker exe always had both capabilities (as 
far as I know) and the only difference was in the installation - 
Unstructured Maker was missing a few dlls (or plugins or FDK clients - 
whatever you want to call them), as well as a few directories containing 
windows, documentation, and other files that only make sense in 
Maker+SGML.  

Structured Maker is *strictly* a superset of unstructured Maker - 
especially now in version 7, since the structured document window 
finally includes the icons to open pgf and char catalogs.  (Now watch 
somebody correct me on the use of a "strict superset".)  The point is, 
you can use Maker in structured mode, and deliver to users of 
unstructured Maker with no ill side effects.  To actually get structure 
in your documents you have to do more than just turn on the structured 
mode.  Until you do that extra work, your documents are the same as they 
ever were for unstructured Maker.

Why structure?  As John says, it's there for XML/SGML.  There are people 
who say it adds value even if you never save in an ML...  I leave it to 
them to argue that point, although I'll say that from the standpoint of 
developing FDK stuff, a structured document is generally easier to 
process than an unstructured one.  Not that you care.  

You should run Maker in structured mode for a while and see how it 
feels.  You have absolutely nothing to lose or worry about...  It 
justgives you extra commands.  You can then look at some of the 
structured samples and see what it's all about.  If you want to get into 
SGML/XML, then learning how to set up an EDD (the Maker analog to a DTD) 
is as good an intro as any - the syntax and capabilities are very 
similar, yet EDD authoring is "guided" by the Maker element catalog.  If 
you are that interested in this stuff, you should probably leaf through 
the online manual,  the Structured Application Dev Guide.  

I always use Maker in structured mode (or Maker+SGML in earlier 
versions).  Sometimes I work in structured documents, sometimes not. 
The obvious benefit of structure is that I can get SGML out of it.  I 
haven't had any real-world experience using it for XML, but I expect it 
to be very much the same as with SGML.  Editing a structured document 
has advantages - it's like the mother of all outliners where you can 
expand and collapse, drag, promote/demote elements and the formatting 
updates autmagically.  It can also be a pain if the structure itself is 
cumbersome.  Tables, for example, are pretty nested before you actually 
get to the table cell content.  Doing real work in structured mode takes 
a little getting used to - and it needs some justification other than it 
being a cool idea.  That justification is generally import/export of 
SGML/XML.

--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML
http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es



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