Adobe FrameMaker is a document processor designed to write and edit large or complex documents, including structured documents. It was originally developed by Frame Technology Corporation, which was purchased by Adobe.
Video Adobe FrameMaker
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FrameMaker became Adobe's product in 1995 when Adobe bought Frame Technology Corp. Adobe added SGML support, which eventually turned into current XML support. In April 2004, Adobe stopped supporting FrameMaker for the Macintosh.
This resurgent rumor emerged in 2001 that product development and support for FrameMaker was being shut down. Adobe denied this rumor in 2001, then released FrameMaker 8 in late July 2007, FrameMaker 9 in 2009, FrameMaker 10 in 2011, FrameMaker 11 in 2012, FrameMaker 12 in 2014, FrameMaker (release 2015) on the month June 2015 and FrameMaker 2017 in January 2017.
FrameMaker has two ways to approach the document: structured and unstructured.
- Structured Frame Makers are used to achieve consistency in documentation in industries such as aerospace, where several models of the same complex product exist, or pharmaceuticals, where translation and standardization are important requirements in communication about the product. Structured FrameMaker uses the SGML and XML concepts. The author works with EDD (Document Definition Elements), which is a FrameMaker-specific DTD (Document Type Definition). EDD defines the structure of documents in which meaningful units are defined as elements nested with each other depending on their relationship, and where the formatting of these elements is based on the context. Attributes or Metadata can be added to these elements and used for single source publishing or for filter elements during the output process (such as publishing for print or for Web-based viewing). Authors can view conditions and contexts in structures such as trees derived from grammar (as determined by DTD) or that are formatted in a typical final output form.
- Unstructured FrameMaker uses tagged paragraphs without any logical structure imposed, except those expressed by the author's concept, topic organization, and formatting provided by paragraph tags.
When a user opens a structured file in an unstructured FrameMaker, the structure is lost.
Maps Adobe FrameMaker
MIF
MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a markup language that acts as a FrameMaker companion. The purpose of MIF is to represent FrameMaker documents in a relatively simple, ASCII-based format, which can be produced or understood by other software systems as well as by humans. Any document that can be created interactively in FrameMaker can also be represented, precisely and completely, in MIF. (Instead, incorrect: some FrameMaker features are only available via MIF.) All FrameMaker versions can export documents in MIF, and can also read MIF documents, including documents created by previous versions or by other programs.
History
While working on his master's degree in astrophysics at Columbia University, Charles "Nick" Corfield, a mathematics graduate from the University of Cambridge, decided to write a WYSIWYG document editor at a Sun-2 workstation. He got the idea from his roommate at Columbia, Ben Meiry, who works at Sun Microsystems as a technical consultant and author, and sees that there is a strong and flexible market for desktop publishing (DTP) products for the professional market.
The only substantial DTP product at the time of FrameMaker's concept was Interleaf, which also runs on Sun's workstation in 1981. Meiry sees opportunities for products to compete with Interleaf, asks Corfield to program it, and helps him obtain hardware, software and connections technically to take him to Columbia University's dorm room (where Corfield is still finishing the title).
Corfield programmed the algorithm quickly. After just a few months, Corfield has completed the FrameMaker functional prototype. The prototype captures the eyes of salesmen at Sun Microsystems, which lacks commercial applications to display the graphics capabilities of their workstations. They got permission from Corfield to use prototypes as demoware for their computers, and hence, primitive FrameMaker received a lot of exposure in the Unix workstation arena.
Steve Kirsch saw the demo and realized the potential of the product. Kirsch used the money he earned from Mouse Systems to fund startup company Frame Technology Corp. to commercialize the software.
Corfield chose to prosecute Meiry to release the rights to the software so they could more easily obtain additional capital investment with Kirsch. Meiry has little means to fight a long and expensive lawsuit with Corfield and his new business partner, and he chooses to waive his rights to FrameMaker and continue.
Originally written for SunOS (UNIX variant) on Sun machines, FrameMaker is a popular technical writing tool, and the company was profitable right from the start. Due to the growing desktop publishing market in Apple Macintosh, the software was ported to the Mac as a second platform.
In the early 1990s, a wave of UNIX - Apollo workstation vendors, Data General, MIPS, Motorola and Sony - provided funding for Frame Technology to OEM versions for their platforms.
At the peak of its success, FrameMaker runs on more than thirteen UNIX platforms, including NeXT Computer NeXTSTEP and IBM's AIX operating system.
Sun Microsystems and AT & T are promoting the OPEN LOOK GUI standard to win Motifs, so Sun contracted Frame Technology to implement FrameMaker versions on their PostScript based NeWS windowing system. The NeWS version of FrameMaker was successfully released to customers who adopted the OPEN LOOK standard.
At this point FrameMaker is considered an amazing product for its time, allowing authors to produce highly structured documents with relative ease, but also gives users a lot of typographic control in an intuitive and truly extensive WYSIWYG way. The output document can be a very high quality typography.
Frame technology then ported FrameMaker to Microsoft Windows, but the company lost its direction immediately after its release. To date, FrameMaker has targeted the professional market for highly technical publications, such as maintenance guides for the Boeing 777 project, and licenses each copy for $ 2,500. But the Windows version brings the product to a $ 500 price range, which ignites its own non-Windows customer base.
The company's efforts to sell advanced technical publishing software to the home DTP market is a disaster. Tools designed to guide 1000 pages are too complex and difficult for home users to type a single page letter. And although some users were initially enthusiastic, FrameMaker never really took off in the academic market, because of the company's reluctance to incorporate various functions (such as endnote support or footnotes separated across the page), or to improve the equation editor.
Sales plummeted and took the company to the brink of bankruptcy. After several rounds of layoffs, the company was stripped to the bare bones.
Adobe Systems acquired the product and restored its focus to the professional market. Today, Adobe FrameMaker is still a widely used publication tool for technical writers, although no version was released for the Mac OS X operating system, which limits product usage. The decision to cancel FrameMaker caused considerable disagreement between Adobe and Mac users, including Apple itself, which relied on it to create documentation. By the end of 2008, Apple's manual for OS X Leopard and iPhone is still being developed in FrameMaker 7 in Classic mode; Apple has switched to using InDesign.
FrameMaker versions 5.x to 7.2 (from mid 1995 to 2005) do not contain updates for major parts of the program (including the general user interface, table editing, and illustration editing), concentrate more on bug fixes and integration of XML oriented features (previously part of SGML FrameMaker premium product). FrameMaker does not have undo feature until version 7.2 (release 2005).
FrameMaker 8 (2007) introduces Unicode, Flash, 3D, and built-in DITA support. Support platforms are Windows (2000, XP, and Vista) and Sun Solaris (8, 9, and 10).
FrameMaker 9 (2009) introduces a redesigned user interface and several improvements, including: full support for DITA, support for more media types, better PDF output, and improved WebDAV-based CMS integration. Platform support for Sun Solaris and Windows 2000 was dropped, leaving Windows XP and Windows Vista as the only remaining platform.
FrameMaker 10 (2011) again refines the user interface and introduces several changes, including: integration with content management systems through EMC Documentum 6.5 with Service Pack 1 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 with Service Pack 2.
Alternative and competition
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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