Regarding Frame vs Word, let me explain how I use it: I'm a consultant
whose vice is book writing. I've been writing books with unstructured
Frame since version 4. I'm also obliged to use MS Word when writing
reports for clients.
Rather than list strong points of each, let me list weak points of each:
Weak points of Framemaker
* Hardly anyone uses Frame. There's rarely any point in emailing Frame
documents to people. Fortunately, both of my publishers have a
production organization that knows/understands/loves it.
* The vendor doesn't take the product seriously. This is shown through
lackluster advertising, upgrades, and support. It reminds me of
Multics under Honeywell, for the oldsters out there. I'm astonished
that the program is in as good a shape as it is. I'm always expecting
another "We're dropping Frame" announcement.
* Since it's not taken seriously, there are rough edges in the user
interface. Today, even the simplest text editor software understands
"click and drag." Not Framemaker. When the scroll wheel became a
common GUI feature a decade ago, Frame required an extra release or
two before the scroll wheel worked reliably.
* The analytical and statistical tools are weak or nonexistent.
There's a hokey interface that performs "word count," and that's about
it. There are no analytics of average sentence complexity or grade
level. While on one level I'm not confident that an algorithmic
analysis will provide authoritative answers, I'd like to see how my
different chapters compare.
* Important features use complicated interfaces that are hard to
master through pure trial and error. I was initiated into the arcane
secrets of section numbering by the Wizard Sheldon, who could make
Framemaker sing soprano. You really need -training- to do advanced
things like TOCs and indices, either in person or from a clear and
complete written explanation. I'm only tackling indices this time
because there's a readable chapter on it in O'Keefe et al's
"Unstructured Framemaker 8" (and because the publisher isn't doing the
index himself).
* There's no outlining feature with expand/collapse and a distinction
between headings and text, like you have in MS Word. While I don't
find Word's outline feature very effective, it's better than almost
all 3rd party outliners.
Weak points of MS Word - things that have failed me over the past decade
* If you want a consistent document, you need to put it all in one
file. Maybe they've fixed that by now, but I've mercifully not had to
deal with a giant Word document recently.
* If the document gets too big (100+ pages), random things start
failing. In a previous version, I remember seeing bullet symbols
randomly disappear from bullet lists when the document reached 100
pages.
* I can't make cross references work as cleanly and reliably as they
work in Frame.
* I can't control a figure's location as reliably as I can in Frame.
* I can't make chapter or section or figure or table numbering work as
cleanly and reliably as it works in Frame.
* I can't change an individual paragraph's format as cleanly as I do
in Frame. When I try to apply a Word style or a format or whatever to
a paragraph, I get a bunch of questions about whether I'm trying to
redefine the style or globally apply this paragraph's format to other
things, or something else irrelevant.
* I can't reliably make a global change to a paragraph format and
propagate it to all thusly-formatted paragraphs and do it as easily
and reliably as I do in Frame.
Over the years I've learned how to fix some of my gripes about Word,
but the fixes haven't always survived past the next product upgrade.
Rick Smith
Cryptosmith LLC
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