RE: InDesign, was RE: Ventura 10

[Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>]

InDesign is a new PageMaker.  It was developed by the same people to be 
the next product.  It represents the culmination of  PageMaker's 
evolution, plus all the knowledge aquired along the way.  It's 
architecture as a product is downright revolutionary, with a sort of 
central scrutinizer that manages a collection of plugins.  A truly 
modular product.  The developers were free to implement the latest in 
rendering/typographic technology, and are free to update that as the 
technology improves.  They have moved the code-obsolesence bar from the 
technology used to present and process the data, to the technology used 
to communicate between processes on the OS.  From that standpoint, 
InDesign is a remarkable product.

I personally have little or no use for the major features that have been 
built into InDesign...  I write the stuff that FrameMaker is good at. 
But by all accounts InDesign is superior to anything else out there for 
its particular arena.  What it lacks is market penetration, and perhaps 
tools.  I suspect that's a matter of time.  And yes, to date it is not a 
FrameMaker-like tool.  It is aimed more at Magazine/Newspaper work. 
However, it does include an XML/Structure View plugin that bears 
investigation.  There is nothing to keep people from turning InDesign 
into a FrameMaker competitor except the business case.  You could go so 
far as to turn off significant portions of the product just to focus on 
the long-doc issues.  But for this year and the next at least, 
FrameMaker will still command everybody's attention in its particular arena.