Product Reviews

So how does structured publishing work in practice? To begin work on a structured document, you can open an existing XML file with its appropriate DTD or you can convert an unstructured document based on a set of conversion rules and cues. To produce a structured document from scratch, you need to create a new document and then import an EDD from another structured document or template.

Once you've associated a document with an EDD, you can work on it using commands under the File and new Element menus and three new floating palettes available from the Command icons above the document scroll bar. The Elements Catalog is the most important, as it lists the elements that can be applied at any given time. The Attributes Editor is used when the element you're applying needs to be fine-tuned. And the Document Structure window shows a collapsible tree-list hierarchy of elements and attributes that you're building up, as well as flagging any areas that need to be addressed to produce the all-important valid code.

As you work on your structured publication, you save it to FrameMaker's own proprietary and binary FM format, so to get at the open and text-based XML (or SGML) code for browsing or further processing you have to export it. This is done with the Save As command, which now provides XML as an option, and you can also save the document's formatting information as a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) file. Plus, because the output is standards compliant, well formed and valid, you can convert the XML/DTD and styling information back into an FM/EDD file ready for further work. The resulting workflow is what Adobe calls 'round-trip XML'.

It might sound relatively straightforward, but the practicalities are anything but. This is

The end result is that the majority of users, having tried to get to grips with structured publishing, will be driven back to FrameMaker's long-standing unstructured approach. So what's new for these users? Little in terms of the interface. Adobe is touting some Windows 2000-based accessibility improvements such as a high-contrast display option, screen reader compatibility and some new shortcuts. Essentially, however, without crucial 'modern' features such as a multiple undo, this remains the same old- fashioned, ugly, inefficient Unix-style interface that Adobe inherited.

new power

In terms of new power, FrameMaker 7 includes updated import filters for the latest Microsoft Office applications and lets you automatically resize graphics in relation to their original dimensions. Native Illustrator AI files (version 9 and later) are now supported, although the lack of native Photoshop PSD support is disappointing. Surprisingly advanced is the new support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), which Adobe is promoting as the Web vector format of the future. When printed, these are automatically rasterised, but when output to the Web there's the option to either convert to bitmap or to pass through the SVG code as is. As SVG is XML-based, this is a pointer to the all-XML publishing workflows of the future.

The most important of Adobe's file standards for design and publishing is its Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format), and FrameMaker 7 now supports both the import and export of the latest 1.4 format. Export isn't built in as it is with InDesign, but instead depends on the bundling of the latest version of Distiller. Particularly relevant is the support this offers for tagged PDF files, which enables reflowable display on handheld devices. Another step forward, building on the PDF's existing metadata scheme, is the support for XML-based XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform), which offers greater control over assets - ideal for management of content and automatable workflows.

Acrobat PDF files act as an excellent middleman between the printed page and on-screen delivery, but the most efficient way of publishing electronically is directly to the Web, which currently means directly to HTML. FrameMaker offers its own limited built-in HTML export, but greater control is provided through the bundling of a new version of WebWorks Publisher Standard Edition from Quadralay. By converting tags and embedded graphics based on rules and pre-supplied templates, WebWorks can take a FrameMaker document and turn it into a fully-working - if not fantastically exciting - browsable Web site complete with hypertext footnotes, cross references and built-in navigation.

The latest version of WebWorks also extends the formats that FrameMaker files can generate to include two PDA-based options in Microsoft's .LIT eBook (1.5 and later) and the Palm Reader formats. Significantly, the program can also be used to produce well-formed XML complete with styling information in either CSS format or the XML-based XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language). For the majority of FrameMaker users, this is an easier and more successful way to begin exploring and taking advantage of XML, which begs the question: why hasn't Adobe been developing its own system rather than buying in a cut-down third-party solution?

That's it in terms of FrameMaker's import and export capabilities, so what about its core design power? Master-page handling has been given a minor revamp with the ability to rearrange master pages in any order and to associate a master page with a specific paragraph tag or element. Otherwise, the big news that Adobe is pushing is that there's now a checkbox in the Import | Formats dialog that allows you to select/deselect all parameters.

The FrameMaker interface is prehistoric and its design capabilities haven't seen any significant new power since Adobe took over. It's almost as if the core cross-platform FrameMaker code is a blackbox that Adobe's developers are afraid to touch. Bundling Distiller, WebWorks Publisher and now the existing +SGML add-on has opened up important new output options to PDF, HTML and XML, but the program's antiquated working practices and design power have been left completely untouched - a reminder of the way things used to be in the days before Windows. Adobe needs to learn that you can't paper over the cracks forever - at some point, you need to restore, rebuild and renew.

FrameMaker's underlying principles and layout engine remain as powerful as ever, and for institutional users looking for long technical document handling and multichannel output it remains the most flexible choice. The fact is, though, that with the paradigm shift to XML-based publishing and repurposing, FrameMaker should be stronger than ever and winning new markets rather than trading on its past. Unless Adobe stops bundling and gets coding, that simply isn't going to happen and FrameMaker will remain a niche option.