It will be a learning curve for experienced users. I've been working with this for a while now and I can tell you that it takes a while to get used to it. However, much like working with other tools, it's now a lot easier to configure the system for what I'm doing, rather than for what the application feels like presenting to me. It's been a long time coming, but it feels more like an Adobe tool. If you use things like Photoshop, or Acrobat, or any other major Adobe tool, you have a way to configure the interface to do what you want, rather than what the dev team decided.
While the application ends up being pretty easy to work with, you will need to put time into learning. Think of a new car... If you had a car that was set up with all kinds of preset radio stations (and only AM) and with a cassette player in it, you think that what you have does all you need. However, when you get a new car and it has satellite radio and a built in MP3 player, you need to learn how to work the new settings. If the dash is digital and has several screens, you also need to learn not only the new tools, but the new interface. Add to that new features in the car and it can seem daunting. However, once you get the new car on the open road and you start to deal with either the daily commute, or you deal with long trips to the cottage, to the inlawa, or to the beach, you start to realize just how nice the new comforts are. To that end, it's worth the upgrade, and it's worth the extra work to learn the new approaches to working. Imagine then a FrameMaker world where you can optimize what you do for template design, for daily authoring, for a review process, for structured work, for book publishing, for editing, and for just about any 'normal' task you normally perform as part of your job. Imagine setting up the designers and toolbars where you want them for one environment, and then being able to toggle them to another. Forget about the day-to-day, hour-by-hour manual tasks that you perform and focus on the job. I can't imagine the amount of time I spend moving dialogs from one part of my screen to another simply to get different real estate to be the 'focus' of what I'm doing. Two monitors help, but I'm still trapped in a world of drag-and-drop modifications to do one task or another. So, the answer to the question of 'Does anyone know if this is a "good thing"' is a "yes" but a qualified one. It's a good thing IF you are willing to take the time to work through the learning curve. Once that's done though, then it's a much smoother ride and, like the new car, can make the small bumps seem smoother, the long trips a bit less tiring, and ultimately make the destination the focus point, not the individual issues that come up along the way. I hope that helps out. Bernard Bernard Aschwanden President Publishing Smarter www.publishingsmarter.com -----Original Message----- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Carrie Baker Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:38 AM To: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: Adobe announces FrameMaker 9 and Technical Communication I looked at their announcement. What do you think they mean by "New intunitve User Interface"? and then "Work more efficiently through a completely redesigned user experience." Does anyone know if this is a "good thing". This sounds like a learning curve for experienced users. _____________________________________________________________________ Message: 38 Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:26:27 +0100 From: "Yves Barbion" <yves.barb...@gmail.com> Subject: To: framers at lists.frameusers.com Message-ID: <2d78e7070901192326u174c65e8ie4d31f5b18d44a54 at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Hi FrameUsers It's here: http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/ http://www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite/ Cheers -- Yves Barbion ? Managing Director ? Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor www.scripto.nu ? skype: yves.barbion ? T: +32 494 12 01 89 _____________________________________________________________________ -- Carrie Baker carriebak at gmail.com _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as bernard at publishingsmarter.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/bernard%40publishingsmar ter.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.9/1902 - Release Date: 1/19/2009 8:52 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.10/1904 - Release Date: 1/20/2009 7:49 AM
