Adobe FrameMaker 7.0 (Mac)

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