Re: FrameMaker Jr (was: converting Word documents...)

["Snavely, Deborah" <dsnavely@xxxxxxxx>]

Kevin said, in part
<snip>
Adobe could play close to the vest by adding the capability to FM, to
compile/generate "FrameMaker Junior" with the current document embedded (a
Save as... option).   The result would be a runtime doc-and-editor
executable, complete.  If it couldn't even import/open other docs, but could
only save the current doc with changes (change bars?) in perfect FM format,
ready for taking back into MY copy of FM, that would be sufficient for me.
Then we wouldn't even need to justify extra "seats" for a standalone app.
Hmm.  Not sure how imported graphics would work, but the rest *sounds*
straightforward.    ....  he said....
<end snip>

A big obstacle to the acceptance of FrameViewer was the font problem; even
when people could open your document, they got error messages about missing
fonts. Because many technical reviewers appoint themselves graphic designers
or copy-editors when they should be concentrating on reviewing the
information and its technical accuracy, such "fonts missing" messages got in
the way of acceptance of electronic editing processes. When one saves a file
as a FrameMaker Junior document, Frame should:

*	automatically create FrameImages of medium quality (say 144 dpi) for
every graphic image in the file or book (FrameImage technology's already in
the product, just improve the low-res quality)
*	automatically embed all the fonts displayed in the document so that
reviewers see an accurate representation of the document's layout and
appearance (Adobe owns this technology in PDF, just borrow)
*	enable automatic whole-book assembly and deconstruction (that's
tougher but should be simple from FM+SGML; perhaps a spot of PDF technology)

If it did these two things and imported as seamlessly back to FrameMaker Sr
as MIF does, Adobe might be able to fight back more successfully. IMHO, the
corporate word-processing market needs something to kick the Word monolith
in the teeth. But that's just my perception.

Deborah Snavely
Senior Documentation Specialist
consulting at Visa
standard disclaimers apply


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