Adobe FrameMaker or MS Word?
This is the one “eternal” question I keep asking myself since I started learning and working on FrameMaker.
Here is a small snapshot of what I understood.
When it comes to creating long technical documents with multiple indentation levels and a 3, 4 even 5-tier paragraph numbering system, there’s no contest FrameMaker wins hands down.
The reason is simple; Framemaker was designed for long, complex technical documents, and is very cumbersome for short documents. If you have a good template, things almost never go wrong with FrameMaker.
On the other hand, MS Word was designed to be a simple word processor to create short documents. But Microsoft has gradually evolved MS Word to have much more sophisticated features. Now, MS Word can support for longer and more complex documents. But sometimes lists or headers and footers, or something else do go wrong unannounced.
Still, MS Word is on almost every office computer across the world. It’s everywhere. And it’s much easier to learn than FrameMaker, though not easier to master. Moreover, MS Word is more affordable, which often influences buying decisions of the organizations.
If a department’s documentation needs are preparing for 4-page software/hardware installation guide, then MS Word will do just fine.
But in case the organization has to generate a 1,000 page User and Configuration Guide for particular instrument or industrial plant, then FrameMaker is the right choice.
I will continue to update this blog regularly and bring up more distinguishing features between Adobe FrameMaker and MS Word.
It is quite informative,I got to know the difference of working with MS Word and Adobe FrameMaker.Waiting for more information,thank you Kirti.
Good write-up, Kirti. But there is more to FrameMaker.
FrameMaker is not used because you can document 1,000 page or more. Just to give you a heads-up, I will list a few of the benefits that FrameMaker has.
–> Version control – if you make a change in v.4 and opened v.5 of the file instead, FrameMaker will detect it and ask you whether you want to update the same in v.5
–> Conditional text – this is a feature where the writer can tag text that has to be published as HTML or XML and tag text that has to be printed. This is done within one document itself; you need not maintain two documents like in Microsoft Word.
–> Document layouts – in FrameMaker a company can create customized Master pages (headers, footers, watermark, XML codes, DTD, DITA codes) and apply this to all documents opened in FrameMaker. In Microsoft Word you can only create a Template, which can be modified by anyone.
–> Auto numbering – FrameMake identifies numbering using a Series label and Counter label. For example, N:\t\t. Numbering cannot be controlled in Microsoft Word, when the document has to be generated as HTML, XML, or secured PDF output.
–> DTP properties – is among the most advanced software applications that has Desktop Publishing (DTP) properties. You can learn about DTP on the internet.
There are many more features such as these that show you why companies prefer FrameMaker and not Microsoft Word for documentation.
Kenneth
Technical Writer Analyst
Dell International Services