Many Framers are either considering migration to DITA, or have already migrated (often using Mif2Go to do so). At that point, there are two ways to proceed:
1. Continue using Frame as your editor, and as a way of producing good PDFs. Most people in this group use DITA-FMx, far superior to native Frame DITA support, and also inexpensive: http://www.leximation.com/dita-fmx/ 2. Use an XML editor like oXygen (my favorite): http://www.oxygenxml.com/ Or Syntext Serna (which has a free edition), XMetaL, Arbortext Epic, or XML Mind (free). In either case, the tool with which most DITA users produce outputs like HTML and Help is the free DITA-OT. However, the OT, while good for a POC, is not quite up to commercial needs. So we've developed a new tool for this, based on our popular Mif2Go product, called DITA2Go. DITA2Go is a Windows application that converts DITA source (ditamaps and bookmaps) to all the following output types (which Mif2Go supports): * HTML and XHTML * Word RTF * WinHelp * HTML Help * JavaHelp and Oracle Help for Java * Eclipse Help * Cross-platform FOSS OmniHelp * DocBook * Generic XML * DITA (to produce specialized topic types) PDF output is still in development. The DITA2Go Project Manager GUI creates and runs conversion projects. You can edit simple configuration files to customize every aspect of output. A Configuration Manager GUI is in development. DITA2Go produces the equivalent of 200 to 500 print pages per minute, enabling a quick workflow of run, check, edit, rerun. A DITA2Go license costs $US 295 per seat, with quantity discounts starting at 5 copies. This includes support and all upgrades for the first year, renewable at $US 75/year. DITA2Go is available free to the unemployed, underemployed consultants, academics (students, faculty, and staff), and all FOSS developers. Current Mif2Go licensees can purchase DITA2Go and renewals for it at 50% off. Alternatively, if they migrated to DITA and no longer need Mif2Go at all, they can migrate to DITA2Go at no charge. For more information, you can register at: http://www.dita2go.com where you will find downloads (including a free demo version), support forums, and a 700+ page User's Guide in many formats. Note: We wish we didn't have to require you to register, but the spammers found the site within days of its creation, and several of them try to sign up daily. When one slips through, bad things appear in the forums. They now use real humans, not robots, to get in, so we ask for a short statement about why you are interested; so far, that has sorted them out nicely. ;-) -- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc. <jeremy at omsys.com> http://www.omsys.com/
