RE: More on InDesign VS Frame

[m.oritz_b.erger@xxxxxxxxxxx (Moritz Berger)]

I switched from Frame (after using it for about 10 years, since v 2.0 on
the Mac) to a workflow including InDesign.

Reason: Frame has some weak spots which can't be easily fixed:

1. Broken import (.DOC, .RTF) filters in Frame 6.0; would crash for
every other document. Not acceptable.
2. Still no Unicode support (!!!). Unbelievable!
3. No OpenType support.
4. Poor typographic quality (in comparison with InDesign).
5. Broken HTML Output with WWPubSE (Frame 6) - there are several
crashbugs. Frame's "native" HTML export is very limited (e.g. you can't
set picture output resolution, diagram labels might become unreadable,
if you have diagrams as EPS the thumbnail quality makes things even
worse).
6. Have to use (and buy) Enhance for outline/plain text authoring view.
7. Output (print) Issues with EPS graphics from Illustrator.
8. Poor change/revision process (compared with Word 2002/Office XP).
9. Hard to customize (again, compared with MS Word 2002).
10. Stability is worse than MS Word 2002 (Frame 6.405 (Windows 2000/XP)
still has some crashbugs when working with longer documents consisting
of some imported/referenced objects).
11. no realtime spell checker (-> a la Word 95 and up).
12. Quality of Adobe tech support in EMEA: "oh, we can't help you with
WWPub crashbugs, we just licensed that program from another company.".
13. Poor user interface (hasn't changed much during the last 10 years,
Warnock once stated that it never ever will be redone).
14. Compatibility - working with external contractors is a major PITA
compared to our (Word<->Word) -> InDesign process.
15. ... a couple more annoyances ...

Our current workflow (for print and PDF creation): Word 2002 -> InDesign
-> post-processing scripts (which pick up \escape commands and
character/paragraph styles to perform some small magic like importing
images. E.g. If I put the image name (relative or fully qualified) in a
paragraph and use the "Image" style, InDesign (or rather the small
script) knows what to do ...).

Things like outline numbering etc. are imported from Word, InDesign is
rarely used in "user mode" (except for setting up layout and styles) but
rather as a sophisticated output processing engine. Also, add-ons like
Endnote/Reference Manager or MathType which are fully integrated with
Word of course can be used regardless of the final destination of a
.document. Using Frame (as a stand alone authoring tool) would be a step
back into the dark ages in this respect!

When we target Windows help or HTML, we use some other tools which are
fully integrated with MS Word (and work much better than the §$§&%!
buggy WebWorks publisher !!!).

About everything I ever dreamed of when I was still using Frame has now
become possible. The price is to completely give up working in a single
application but instead work with both an "authoring" and an additional
"typesetting" application (which fortunately closely reflects
organizational roles and routines).

The Word2InDesign solution works so well that I wasn't tempted for a
second to consider updating to Frame 7, especially considering that most
of the shortcomings I listed above have not been resolved.

BUT -- we've never really used the SGML parts in Frame. I guess if you
depended on SGML that there might be a reason for Frame after all. But
then again: Microsoft will introduce a XML based file format with Office
11 next year, so that could well be the final nail in Frames coffin for
some users.

IMHO Adobe really does have an excellent solution to the needs of many
users who find themselves stuck with an increasingly inconvenient old
warhorse (F7).
Seems like nobody told them about it, though. Shhhh ... it's a closely
kept secret!

Thanks,

Moritz

> I'm interested in pragmatic feedback from anyone on this list 
> that has used both Frame and InDesign. I have my own opinions 
> about the strengths and weaknesses of each product, would 
> like to hear yours.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> ...Lee



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