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Re: Wanted: Any available doc comparing Word XP and FrameMaker 7.2
Subject:Re: Wanted: Any available doc comparing Word XP and FrameMaker 7.2 From:"Bryan Sherman" <bsherm -at- gmail -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:17:58 -0500
Though I am taking this thread slightly more off-tangent, I have to
respond to that.
It certainly can be an issue for printing. I found the easiest
work-around is to PDF the word document and send that to the printer.
Yes, it is one more step, but every single client I have worked with
wanted an editable document at the end, and for the non-tech wrting
world that means Word not Framemaker.
YMMV
On 3/16/06, Nuckols, Kenneth M <Kenneth -dot- Nuckols -at- mybrighthouse -dot- com> wrote:
> NEVER, under ANY circumstances, EVER use MS Word if there is even the
> SLIGHTEST chance that any document you create will be printed outside
> your shop. In other words, if you create your documents and send them
> off to a printer for printing, binding, publishing, etc., then don't use
> Word. Word has some flaky and inexcusable problems related to the
> "normal.dot" template that can screw up the formatting of a document
> just by taking it from one computer to another (let alone from one
> network to another).
>
> And having worked for a commercial printer for about two years, it also
> does very odd things with colors. Most commercial printers use a Pantone
> color matching system, and no matter how many times we asked and how
> sophisticated and saavy a customer was, we could never get anyone with
> Word to provide us files that were set in true Pantone color matching. I
> think that's just because Word is incapable of supporting it (or maybe
> because Microsoft's version of Pantone is different from everyone
> else's, just like their version of JAVA).
>
> Word certainly can make your life easy with all the automatic aids, and
> if you set it up correctly you can make automating a document a piece of
> cake. But that only seems to last (in my experience) as long as you keep
> producing the document on the same computer with the same settings and
> sending it to the same printer (device, not company). You start messing
> with any of those variables, and suddenly everything you worked so hard
> to get "perfect" can go loopy on you in a heartbeat.
>
> I'll leave it to others who know more about FrameMaker to give you that
> side of the story. But I would be hesitant to use Word unless you're
> going to be doing everything yourself within your organization.
>
> That's just my $.02...
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