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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.apps
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!sdd.hp.com!think.com!ames!ncar!chinook!mike
- From: mike@chinook.atd.ucar.edu (Mike Daniels)
- Subject: SUMMARY: FrameMaker vs. IslandWrite
- Message-ID: <1992Dec16.205142.29915@ncar.ucar.edu>
- Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu (USENET Maintenance)
- Reply-To: mike@chinook.atd.ucar.edu
- Organization: Research Aviation Facility, NCAR, Boulder, CO
- Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:51:42 GMT
- Lines: 80
-
-
- Here is a summary of the responses I received regarding advantages/disadvantages
- of FrameMaker and IslandWrite. In general, people felt that Frame was a
- better choice for more complex document preparation, while Island* was better
- for painting/drawing and simple documents:
-
- Stephen Pace (pace@shell.com) writes (of Frame):
-
- >Once you get past a few quirky little things like "paragraph tags," you'll
- >see that Frame is very powerful. It's more than a simple word processor...
- >
- >Nice cross reference features.
- >
- >Nice equation editor.
- >
- >Binary compatible between platforms (we move files from PC to Sun all the
- >time). Adding an HP or IBM RS-6000 to your Suns? No problem... Frame
- >runs almost anywhere.
- >
- >VERY NICE floating license manager. You can see who is using the licences
- >and it manages licenses across hardware platforms.
- >
- >Full hypertext capability.
- >
- >Lots more stuff.
- >
- >Anyway, I like Frame... but it really depends on what you want to do. If
- >you never have a need to do any fancy layouts, hypertext, or file transfers
- >between Sun <-> PC <-> RS/6000 <-> anything else, you may be able to get by
- >with Island Write.
-
- David B. Chorlian (davidc@panix.com) writes:
-
- >I've used IslandWrite occasionally and I've found it very easy to
- >crank up and produce a nicely formatted document. Menus are
- >well done but take up too much space.
- >
- >I spent a little time looking at FrameMaker--more complicated and
- >more powerful than IslandWrite.
-
- Leonard Mills (len@contec.com) writes:
-
- >Island's much better for sketching and painting. Maker's much better for
- >large (and much, much better for complex) documents. If your primary
- >application is painting, forget Maker for that purpose. However, Maker
- >can _import_ many types of graphics. Also, equation handling is far
- >better in Maker.
-
- Leonard Hermens (lhermens@eecs.wsu.edu) writes:
-
- >As a new user of FrameMaker, I am impressed by the quality of the product
- >and the documentation (although novices to desktop publishing my be confused
- >at times by the manual).
- >
- >The only thing I haven't yet found in FrameMaker is an easy way to do
- >citations in theses and reports. I am still looking through the manuals,
- >but this seems to be the *only* shortcoming.
-
- Ronald Guest (ron.guest@rss.dl.nec.com) writes:
-
- >So based on our experience, I would pick Island* for casual/small
- >usage and Frame for formal documentation. The biggest advantage
- >of Island* is price.
-
- Jonathan B. Horen (horen@netcom.com) writes:
-
- >If [you want to create memos, letters, proposals, newsletters and
- >documentation] then I suggest FrameMaker (as a 3-year FrameMaker user, and
- >3-year FrameMaker Administrator, and 17-year TechWriter). If [you want to
- >create small business bulletins, handouts, quizzes, diagrams, flowcharts,
- >orgcharts, etc.] then I suggest IslandWrite/Draw/Paint.
-
- ---
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Mike Daniels (Email:mike@raf.atd.ucar.edu, Phone:(303) 497-1037)
- RAF/ATD/National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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