On Thu, 15 Apr 2021 at 18:57, Guy Sotomayor via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> I've used FrameMaker a lot...it's great for handling large documents and > collections of documents. Used it quite a bit at IBM and handled 1000+ > page documents (of course that wasn't all one "source" file). ISTM that for DTP, there were 2 competing layout metaphors. One was ideal for single-handed, ad-hoc layouts, and was friendly for unskilled or untrained operators. The other was better for longer documents, for structured docs where everything should look uniform -- long runs of documentation, or long series of magazine issues. The former, the "pasteboard" model, includes PageMaker, MS Publisher, Serif Page+ et al. The other, based on "frames" and "pouring" content into them, includes Ventura Publisher, FrameMaker, Quark Xpress, and I believe Adobe InDesign although I've never seen or tried it, although I've supported all the otghers. > I could never get my head around Word for anything more than 10 pages or > so. Just too hard to deal with everything in massive documents. Outline mode is the key. I did a 220-page illustrated manual in one big document in my last solo tech-writing contract, entirely as a Word outline. From blank page to finished manual in 8 weeks, and 2nd edition in 6 more weeks. Without Outline mode, it would have been next to impossible and would have required elaborate professional tooling that they didn't have. > Using a mark-up language also means I generally have more control > on how things appear in the document (something that continually > frustrated me with Word especially when dealing with cross references > and figures). Fair. Never used LaTeX but in the dayjob I use DocBook XML and AsciiDoctor to the same ends. I don't like them much but they do the job and do it well. It makes all the layout and formatting Somebody Else's Problem -- and even that SEP is 99.9% automated. -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
