Adobe FrameMaker 7

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 partly intrinsic, as there's a huge gulf between producing well-formed XML and valid XML. But sadly, the inherent difficulty is made worse by the implementation. Limitations and problems abound from the restricted number of document types available, how these are set up, the confusion between XML's DTD and FrameMaker's EDD, the way elements mysteriously disappear from the Catalog and the lack of an XML preview. Worse, if you open a structured document in unstructured mode, you could lose the hierarchy you've laboriously built up. Maybe I was expecting a lot, but I thought native XML handling would be at the very heart of FrameMaker. Sadly, bundling a five-year-old, niche-market, SGML-based add-on doesn't mean you're catering for today's ever-increasing demand for XML-centred workflows.

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.