So what is new with Adobe FrameMaker 9?
• A New interface has brought FrameMaker 9 in line with the majority of Adobe products. They have added "pods" which are panes that can float anywhere in the FrameMaker workspace and these handle many of the most frequently used features. There are also predefined and customizable workspaces that can be saved and reused for a more efficient workflow. The new user interface not only enables tabbed document windows, but for the first time also makes it possible to “drag” a document window outside of the FrameMaker window.
• Book and structured book capabilities have been enhanced to allow hierarchical books. Previously a book was a flat list of documents, usually the chapters inside a book. Now you can further split the content into topics and manage content at the topic level. FrameMaker also supports numbering constructs for sections and sub-sections. Books can now include multiple books and files organized in folders or groups. Folders in books are logical containers that can be regarded as a chapter, section or sub-section within a book file.
• Full support for DITA standards including DITA 1.1 support of Bookmap indexing and Glossary specifications, and 1.2 support of Learning and Training Content Specialization (beta) specification for developing training content. DITA is the industry standard for re-use and re-purposing of modular units. This will allow you to author fully compliant DITA content including eLearning content that conforms to the draft version of specification.
• Special object management for books and DITA maps gives support to a new hierarchical book model that can include FrameMaker-native chapters and individual topic files as well as XML and DITA objects, including DITA maps. This gives you the ability to control topic organization and hierarchy within the book file. With the new book paradigm you get greater capabilities for combining object types and supporting topic-oriented authoring and publishing.
• CMS integration support lets you work directly with files on a content management system (CMS). By supporting HTTP paths to interact with CMS and WebDAV-compliant repositories you can browse objects, check-in/check-out, view history, and perform any other functions that the repository supports. You can create user-friendly aliases for frequently-used HTTP paths as well as setting user preferences to automatically checkout files on open or save on closing.
Article comments
1 - regis schilken
Your article makes me want to try FrameMaker. Sounds like it will save me a lot of time from my primitive way of organizing and preparing for talks and presentations.