RE: Comparison of XML tools for writing documents

["Broberg, Mats" <mabr -at- flir -dot- se>]

> Andrea Leszek wrote:
 
> Hi,
>  
> Our team is considering moving to XML-based documentation and 
> we're trying to pick a tool for content creation. Has anyone 
> done research on this already or know of a site that compares 
> popular tools? I'd be very happy to leverage any work that 
> anyone else has already done :-) I've been looking at Epic, 
> Structured FrameMaker, XMLSpy, Xmetal.

Andrea,

If you intend to translate your documentation into many different
languages, make sure you avoid Framemaker. Framemaker does not, repeat
does NOT, offer full Unicode support - which is of paramount importance
for streamlining translation flows.

Here's an excerpt from a Framemaker 7.1 product overview:

"Q. Does FrameMaker 7.1 support Unicode characters in XML files?
A. FrameMaker 7.1 software supports Unicode encoding for reading and
writing XML in Western European
and Asian languages including Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Unicode
characters that do not map to the
FrameMaker internal character set are imported as FrameMaker markers and
exported intact when you
save your XML files. For more information on the international languages
in which you can author
FrameMaker documents, see the FrameMaker 7.1 FAQ at
www.adobe.com/products/framemaker."

If translation into many different languages is an important factor for
you, make sure you select a different XML authoring environment with
full Unicode support.

Best regards,
Mats Broberg
Technical Documentation Manager
www.flirthermography.com


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