Re: FrameMaker for large and small

[Bill Briggs <web@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rhea,

I agree with you completely.  Why would I use Weird for anything when I
have Frame.  Like you, I use it for even the smallest of things, because
I've got templates for letterhead, memos, Faxes, you name it.  Even a
personal book of information and "things to do" that uses popup menus for
navigation.  Why would I even launch something else?

I'll be the first to admit that the average cubicle farm dweller will not
fare much better with Frame than with Weird (in 5 years of dealing with
government clients I have not yet met one who used, or even knew of the
existence of, style sheets in Weird or WP - sad but true).  But once you
have learned Frame, you really don't need Word for anything.  It becomes
irrelevant.  For reasons that apply to me (probably have to do with the way
my head is wired), I have always found Word to have a ghastly unintuitive
user interface, and I get annoyed when I read the reviews of Frame that
accuse it of a "quirky" interface.  Frame is tough for the beginner, but
the rewards are great.  If Frame was frozen at the current version, I would
eventually have to change tools for clients, but I could happily carry on
using version 4 for all of my personal needs.  They can add bells and
whistles to Word till the cows come home, but that 1/4 ton wanna be with
the chrome and air horn will never be the rock of gibralter that Frame 4
was.

my 3 cents (the exchange rate against the US dollar is really bad now)

- web



At 1:57 PM -0800 12/03/99, Rhea Tolman wrote:
>Hi Framers--
>
>I mostly lurk on this list, but I feel like responding to the several
>people who
>have said recently "Yeah, FrameMaker's great for big jobs, but you've got to
>admit Word is better for the small ones. Not so, say I.
>
>I've been a FrameMaker fan/user for years. At home, I've made myself two or
>three templates that have favorite fonts and formats in them. I've modified
>maker.ini to point at my personal template directory. (Under
>[Directories], set
>TemplateDir= to your directory.) I use FrameMaker for every little thing.
>Couldn't be easier. Of course, I have the advantage of knowing how to make
>templates. I have to admit that making FrameMaker templates is not a lead-pipe
>cinch for those who don't like puzzles. Every time I have to create a
>template,
>I dream of the accessible, intuitive graphical interface that *could/should*
>exist for this.
>
>But the whole point of FrameMaker in the first place was that once someone
>makes
>a good template, it's a piece of cake to use. I want to stand up for
>FrameMaker
>all the way. Yay FM! Boo MSWeird!
>
>Okay. I'm done. <G>
>
>Rhea Tolman




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