Re: Andrew English's framemaker questions

[Anne Halseytechwriter <ach -at- TOMICHI -dot- STORTEK -dot- COM>]

$195 is about right for Frame at a university bookstore.  If
you don't happen to be a student, schmooze someone who is ... it
will be worth it to save that kind of money.

I used Frame in a UNIX environment for about three years.  It is
a great tool.  It was very easy to learn ... about six-eight hours
behind a closed door with the user's guide and a curious nature
ought to have you, oh, 85% functional and comfortable with the
technology.  The version I used only had a couple of really
strange quirks; setting tabs in the ruler and only having the
ability to select and open a single document at a time come
to mind.  (You could have multiple docs open concurrently; just
couldn't gang-select and open; instead, you pick from a scrollable
doc menu and can just pick one at a time.)  The only reason
I say you will be 85% functional is that there are some complex
things that you just won't do all the time ... or won't anticipate
that you might have the need to do, so won't explore that part
of the functionality right away.

As a publishing tool, I'd give Frame 90 points on a 100-point scale.
The only tool I've used that I like more is Interleaf.  Again,
keep in mind that I've used these in a UNIX workstation environment,
not a Mac environment.

Good luck ...

        Anne Halsey
        senior tech writer, storagetek
        anne_halsey -at- stortek -dot- com