Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!fluke!moriarty
From: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Framemaker vs Pagemaker (Re: A Few Good Rumors...)
Message-ID: <2951@fluke.COM>
Date: 23 Feb 88 19:42:09 GMT
References: <1406@csib.csi.UUCP> <1575@uhccux.UUCP> <330@esquire.UUCP> <16937@think.UUCP> <1690@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Sender: news@tc.fluke.COM
Reply-To: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer)
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 43

I'm an idiot for getting into this argument, but since I use FrameMaker
everyday and have been a MacGuy for about three years, I thought I should
comment:

No question that, for page layout, FrameMaker is the easiest to use, and
gives you quite a bit of power.  It's always struck me as an improved
Ready-Set-Go! program than PageMaker, and it supports Word Processing far
more than PageMaker.  I just wish you could move the cursor inside prompt
boxes with the mouse (talk about culture shock).

However, I have a lot of friends who are graphic artists in Seattle who have
a love-hate relationship with PageMaker.  They hate the interface, but it
gives them the extra 30% to do certain things that no other product allows
them to do (including FrameMaker -- I had two of them examine it and point
out it's deficiencies in detail).  They'd prefer using a better interface,
but PageMaker 3.0 is the only program out there with the power to do the
really fancy stuff they want, for advertising displays, flyers, etc.  These
are the people who send their stuff off to a Linotronics for printing (1200
dpi).

PS  Having used FullWrite Professional for some time, there are some very
    nice things there that I haven't seen in ANY other word processing/page
    layout program, anywhere (Suns, Apollos, etc.) and which really show
    up FrameMaker and InterLeaf.

PPS One question: why hasn't Apple's legal pit bulls gone after FrameMaker
    for "user interface infringement" or whatever?  Not that I approve of
    the policy, but FrameMaker uses a LOT of Apple conventions, right down
    to the little dialog boxes with the word ballons with "!" and "*" in
    them?  And I thought Sun and Apple weren't getting along...

                       "On the other hand, it takes real moral fiber to
                        remain a Republican when there's no money in it.
                        And things *are* looking grim on the financial
                        front.  Even worse for the President, they're
                        getting confusing."
                                        -- A. Whitney Brown

                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET:     moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
Manual UUCP:  {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, hplsla, lbl-csam}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO:        You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
<*> DISCLAIMER: Do what you want with me, but leave my employers alone! <*>