Re: FrameMaker

["Alexandria G. Khalil" <akhalil -at- SUNGARD -dot- COM>]

     Mike,

     I know I am going to get alot of heat for this comment, but here it
     goes. I don't think it is necessary to convert to a new software
     package every time someone has a problem with their current software.
     Speaking as a manager, I find that practice totally wasteful. What are
     the inadequacies of Frame's import and export that your colleague is
     encountering? Perhaps they need to speak to Frame support to help with
     those problems.

     I am not saying that FrameMaker is the dtp for all companies. Like any
     other decision, you have to take a step back and look at the overall
     picture. Will your colleague need to transfer files across platforms?
     What will be the cost in terms of training time and converting
     documents? There are numerous questions that need to be asked.
     PageMaker is a great tool, in fact I like it better than FrameMaker
     and Word, but it my situation it does not satisfy my most pressing
     need, cross-platform compatibility.

     Alexandria Khalil
     Documentation Manager
     SunGard Capital Markets
     Phila., Pa
     akhalil -at- sungard -dot- com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: FrameMaker
Author:  Michael Andrew Uhl <uhl -at- vislab -dot- epa -dot- gov> at Internet
Date:    1/25/96 7:40 AM


Kent Newton has it right: FrameMaker is less intuitive than
Word or PageMaker, but it's better at handling large documents.

On the other hand, too many people ignorantly argue the
superiority of Framemaker without an adequate awareness of
the other products out there.

Yesterday, a colleague bought me lunch with the intent of
asking for software advice. His group produces case report
forms (CRF) fr clinical trials. They currently use FrameMaker but
find it cumbersome and inadequate in its import and export
capabilities. I recommended PageMaker for their work. CRFs
are typically medium-length documents (20-120 pages) and vary
greatly from page to page.

-Mike
--

Michael Andrew Uhl, Lead Technical Writer (uhl -at- vislab -dot- epa -dot- gov)
Lockheed Martin, Primary Support Contractor to US EPA
National Environmental Supercomputing Center (NESC)