In the really old days, it was common to print FM files to PostScript files using a PostScript printer driver provided or specified by the print vendor.
PDF has changed how print vendors see the world, now. Instead of having to learn zillions of quirky and not-so-quirky applications, they just need to know PDF well. There's more speculation on what could possibly happen regarding a marriage of ID and FM, than the tabloids have on <insert name your favorite/least favorite celebrity couple>. At 1:55 PM -0500 1/10/06, John Sgammato wrote: >Long ago there was a product called FrameReader that enabled the user to >view but not edit .fm files. It was very inexpensive, in the $29.95 >area. >I remember a printer I worked with in Boston bought it so they could >more easily work with my files. > >These days I have no trouble with sending a PDF to the printer. I send >covers and an installation poster as Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator >files, but FrameMaker files still have to go as PDF. It is another step >to my process, but not an onerous one. > >In my experience, if there is an issue that would cause a printer to >want to tweak my files, there is probably an underlying problem that I >want to know about. For example, if the font is a tiny bit different, >but different enough to cause a problem in one place that the printer >wants to tweak, then it might also cause a problem somewhere else that >we won't see until too late. > >I wonder if a future version of FrameMaker will merge with InDesign? -- Regards, Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices peter at knowhowpro.com
