Hi, Tina: In addition to Roger's inclusion of David Creamer's FrameMaker & InDesign comparison notes, I've posted comments in the past, that you can see in the several posts on the thread at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/framers at lists.frameusers.com/msg16576.html It would be helpful if you could list which FrameMaker features you absolutely must find in FrameMaker 9.x, and/or any new InDesign version, that you will base your choice upon. Keep in mind that InDesign CS4 has been out for some time, and Adobe's 18-month (more or less) upgrade cycle will be in the picture sometime soon. Each recent InDesign release has included more long-document features that FrameMaker users value highly, so if you don't need to commit to a decision in the short term, it may be worth waiting for the next InDesign release to see if any of your must-have wish-list features that aren't available in InDesign CS4 have been included. On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:29 PM, Shuttleworth, Roger < Roger_Shuttleworth at tvworks.com> wrote: > Hi Tina > > Here is a summary that someone posted on the Framers list a few months back > (with acknowledgments to the author): > > Comparison of FrameMaker and InDesign > Generally, unless you are using heavy XML (InDesign does XML but not as > advanced) or DITA (which ID does not support), it is a heated race. If you > are > doing advanced XML or DITA, then FrameMaker is the way to go. > > Frame's conditions are slightly more advanced in that they can be applied > to table rows; ID's conditions can only be applied to the entire table. > Other condition features are similar. > PG: ID saves sets of conditions that you can turn on or off with one click, has smarter condition indicators for multiple conditions. > > ID's Indexing is slightly easier with use of it's topic list in the Index > panel, but I believe that ID only allows one index per book. > PG: There's a not-too-complicated workaround for multiple indexes. > > ID supports advanced OpenType formatting (and OT fonts are cross-platform, > so you could use ID on Windows). > > As mentioned, ID is more sophisticated in the typography and layout > departments. > > ID has GREP find/change, GREP supported formatting, nested styles. > > ID cannot span columns with subheads if working with a multi-column > layouts, and does not have run-in heads. > > InDesign's table styles are more complicated, but more advanced above > Frame's. ID is more advanced when importing Excel files, plus ID can link to > Excel files for auto-updates. ID's table styles do not contain any geometry > (size) information, but there is a plug-in available for that, and to not > generate automatic table titles as part of the table style. > > Frame's variables are slightly more advanced, especially when concerning > using character styles. (ID does not have the table continuation variable). > > InDesign has a separate product called InCopy for allowing others to edit > text while the InDesign file is being worked on. (InDesign can handle all > the text edits too.) InCopy can be used to generate new text, as can Word. > > InDesign's PDF export functions are more advanced. (Current versions of CS3 > and CS4 do not have a size issue with PDFs.) > > This is not a complete comparison by any means, but should be enough (with > the other posts) to form an opinion. > > Some FrameMaker features have no exact ID counterparts; for example, run-in > paragraphs and side headings. These are converted with whatever fudging is > necessary to visually match the FrameMaker layouts. If editing the > converted documents causes text to reflow, you may need to give individual > attention to these simulated FrameMaker features. > > Template design is non-trivial. If you have an existing FrameMaker > template, it could save a lot of time to just continue using it. > PG: I think the above point is that template design in both applications is non-trivial, so sticking with FrameMaker might be less work than creating new templates in InDesign. > > There is a converter for MIF files to ID at: > http://www.dtptools.com/product.asp?id=mfid.There is a comparison chart > (not including FrameMaker 9.0) > at: http://www.ideastraining.com/PDFs/SelectingDTPprogram.pdf. > PG: The DTP tools converter can be very helpful in converting your FM templates to ID, but as mentioned above, the FM features that have no exact ID counterparts will be fudged to make the converted layouts as alike as possible. I reviewed this product in InDesign Magazine, December 2007 issue. HTH Regards, Peter _______________________ Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices > Hope this helps. > > Roger Shuttleworth > London, Canada > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto: > framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Tina Ricks > Sent: October 21, 2009 2:22 PM > To: framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: FM 9 vs. InDesign > > Can anyone point me to a thorough comparison list of features between FM9 > and InDesign? I'm using Frame primarily for print books at a small > publisher, and using it because I know it and I'm familiar with it. > > > > I currently use Frame 8, and I'm considering an upgrade to either Frame 9 > or > InDesign. > > > > I've read that InDesign CS4 recently added cross references. Does anyone > know how they compare to Frame's feature? Also, what about creating an > index > in InDesign. What features does it have for dynamic indexing? > > > > Thanks. > > > > Tina Ricks | Managing Editor | Trial Guides > > www.trialguides.com > > > > _______________________________________________ >
