Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 [Old Version]

by Adobe

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00006661W
• Item model number: 27910385
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 10, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,812 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #18 in Software > Web Development > Internet Utilities > Electronic Publishing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Whether you're looking to upgrade your current software or your existing skill set, the latest edition of Adobe FrameMaker is chock-full of useful functionality that packs a punch. Those new to FrameMaker will find the interface a bit underwhelming: unlike many other packages (from Adobe and otherwise), this software does not present dozens of buttons in the initial workspace. Rather, a very modest few sit beneath the menu bar, and they aren't terribly inviting. This means that users might overlook some features or grow annoyed by having to hunt for a certain treatment that ensues.

Aside from the introductory shock, FrameMaker is unsurprisingly solid: version 7.0 has integrated an improved FrameMaker with its FrameMaker+SGML cousin, creating a full-functioned document design and distribution tool. This version is enterprise-ready, with tools that allow for distribution options that we hadn't even considered. FrameMaker is capable of compiling your documents into a book, mapping these out in the proper format (from table of contents to your index), and handling powerful graphic design and printing options, such as whether to knock out or overprint color in graphics. The package handles both conditional (content that changes from version to version) and variable text (text used in various places throughout the document) with sharp and easy accuracy.

New to this version is the Quadralay WebWorks Publisher Standard Edition 7.0 (WWPSE7), which provides robust features for creating HTML, Dynamic HTML, and XML output. WWPSE7 exports text, graphics, and tables to these formats, as well as automatically generating cascading style sheets for the page. Among many other functions, it can specify how navigation bars appear at the top and bottom of a page and map FrameMaker content to screen-reader output. Again, this tool works with great refinement and is an impressive addition to the FrameMaker package.

If you work on a team, you'll appreciate Adobe's very friendly (and quite powerful) features that make team-tagging a book project much easier. Definable options include choosing which documents to share, server access and setup, and folder structures. Other revision management tools include the use of change bars (available both automatically and for selected revisions), word and character count tools, and version comparison for both a summary of changes or a completely merged document.

We also appreciated the supporting documentation: the 600-plus page user manual encompasses Windows, Macintosh, and Unix users, calling attention to differences. The online version of the manual offers more information, although in a less handsome format. Also included is the XML Cookbook, a good first-step manual for learning to work in structured work environments.

Overall, if you can get over any initial disappointment concerning the interface, Adobe FrameMaker delivers a powerful authoring and publishing solution. --Emilie Herbst

Amazon.com Product Description

Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 delivers an enterprise-class authoring and publishing solution that combines the simplicity of word processing with the power of XML. Enjoy WYSIWYG authoring in either a word-processing, style-tagging mode or a fully structured environment optimized for the editing and production of valid XML. Take advantage of long document support that includes book management features, sophisticated templates, and rich formatting options.

FrameMaker 7.0 offers built-in support for high-quality printing, the latest Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) standards, and integration of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Use the included WebWorks Publisher Standard Edition 7.0 software from Quadralay to automatically create HTML versions of your documents and books. In addition, this version combines the features and functionality of FrameMaker and FrameMaker+SGML into a single product.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, July 8, 2003

By 

Warren C. Norwood - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

If all word processing/desktop publishing software worked this well, the world of writing would be a better place. It's not perfect, but it is as close as any piece of software I've worked with in the past 23 years of doing word processing and desktop publishing.

With tremendous power and rock solid performance, FrameMaker 7.0 does everything it claims to do. The user delineates what it needs to do and FrameMaker does it. This is such a remarkable improvement from MS Word that our tech writing department has a whole new upbeat, can-do attitude that everyone who works with us has noticed. Need for your document to have complex numbering? FrameMaker does it with ease, grace, and accuracy. We got four days of in-house training and have sailed forward with grins on our faces.

This is excellent software, worth every penny we paid for it and the training. If you're tired of fighting Word templates and numbering problems, if you just want your documents to behave, if you're tired of Word "helping" you behind the scenes, FrameMaker can change your desktop publishing world from hell to heaven.

If you just need to do simple documents and brochures, get WordPerfect. If you need the power to produce documents more complicated and complex than that, get FrameMaker.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for long documents, May 12, 2004

By 

Philo Calhoun (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

FM is a life saver for long documents. I've seen more corrupted Word documents than I care to remember. FM is fast, stable, and versatile. Its weaknesses are typography and colour management.

What it offers over Word:
Stability, table styles, inline graphic placement options, sideheads, runin paragraph styles, independent and outline numbering systems that always work, graphics library (reference pages), conditional text, variables, complex headers and footers, straddle heads, ability to pull in photoshop and illustrator files directly.

What it offers over InDesign or Quark:
Numbering, table styles, inline graphic placement options, sideheads, paragraph styles that can straddle columns automatically, variables, equation editor, footnotes, various automated lists.

Yes, the keystrokes are left over from its Unix heritage, and there is only one level of undos. There is a learning curve, but for long documents, it has no peer. Ventura is not as stable, and LaTex is too complicated. I wouldn't recommend it for making a newsletter, but for long and technical documents with numbering, tables, cross-refs, etc. it is a wonderful program.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bottom Line--It Just Works!!!, November 6, 2003

By 

Robin Currier - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I've been using FrameMaker for about 6 years, and each release just gets better and more reliable. I've been using version 7 for about a year now, and it has never crashed once, nor has any document become corrupted or unusable. That may sound like faint praise, but after years of using Microsoft Word and having large documents suddenly forget where chapters begin or having numbered lists re-number themselves nonsensically, I SO appreciate FrameMaker's stability. I've made manuals of over 400 pages with FrameMaker with never a problem that wasn't of my own making. This software is just really SOLID and RELIABLE and great for doing large documents. I'd never go back!