NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/comp/text/sgml/1256

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-05 | 1.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!ralvm13.VNET.IBM.COM
From: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 09:26:12 EST
Newsgroups: comp.text.sgml
Subject: Re: FrameBuilder
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not those of IBM
News-Software: UReply 3.1
References: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 30

In <[e-mail]> Tom Gordon, I3.KI 2665 writes:
>Has anyone had a chance to try FrameBuilder, the SGML version of FrameMaker,
>who would be willing to share their first impressions?
>

FrameBuilder was demonstrated at SGML '92 and I spent some time
looking at it and talking to the folks from Frame.  It was
difficult to judge how its SGML support really works, so I can't
comment on what features of SGML it actually supports, or how,
but I must say that the interface looked very good.  The mechanism
they have for working with structures seemed very well thought
out and intuitive.  It seems to hold some promise for being a
truly WYSIWYG SGML authoring system.  The Framemaker product
is already a very strong competitor in the WYSIWYG (non-SGML)
arena, so one could reasonably expect that function to carry
over.  The test will be how much of SGML is actually supported,
a question to which I don't know the answer.  Will it, for
example, manage marked sections and entity declarations for
you?  Will it automatically manage ID and IDREF attributes?
Does it support CONREF?  What parser does it use?   How
difficult is it to adapt to a particular DTD or set of
application-specific processing semantics?  How does it support
tables?  How is presentation style specified, in some non-SGML,
proprietary way or using an SGML style document like FOSI?

Eliot Kimber                      Internet:  [e-mail]
Dept E14/B500                     IBMMAIL:   USIB2DK9@IBMMAIL
Network Programs Information Development     Phone: [phone]
IBM Corporation
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709