RE: Windows Vista and FrameMaker?

[Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Geoff Hart wrote:

> Second, Frame 7.2 is old news. Whether or not it runs on Vista, you 
> might want to consider upgrading to Frame 8.x (if you can get it) or 
> 9. These offer a variety of fixes and improvements, including built-in 
> revision tracking, that may make the upgrade worthwhile. I don't use 
> Frame, so I can't say anything about how steep the learning curve is 
> likely to be, but presumably all the old good features still work well.


It's true that Frame 7.2 is rather old at this point, and it's true that Frame 8.0 did add an official implementation of change tracking (although not as comprehensive as Word's) and support for Unicode fonts. But it's also true that most of the new features are related to structured mode and may not be important to many users. And it's also true that several bugs and illogical behaviors were introduced, at least some of which are documented in the release notes as "correcting" long-established and logical behavior. But other than learning a few UI changes and how to work around the bugs, there is little or no learning curve for a 7.x to 8.0 transition. 

Frame 9.0, on the other hand has an extensively redesigned user interface that is more similar to other Adobe apps with floating toolbars and control bars rather than the traditional FrameMaker menu and dialog interface. Unless you're using a large high-res monitor or a multi-monitor setup, you may have issues with the small working area that is left after you've scattered toolbars all over the place.

-Fred Ridder


 
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