#WriteRight 3) FrameMaker & Word: Page Layout and Master Pages

Our third “video blog” on FrameMaker 11 for Word users focuses on the dynamics of page layout. This is possibly one of the areas in “basic” FrameMaker where feature advantages over Word are most pronounced. Since Word was originally developed as a personal, productivity word processor on a platform (PC with DOS) that did not have multi-tasking, early versions of the product had virtually no page layout, since there was only enough memory to handle text editing and formatting.

In contrast, early versions of FrameMaker were developed on UNIX, which had vastly larger memory and disc storage resources, as well as true multi-tasking that made word processing, formatting, page layout and even graphic editing all possible with one program. That was rare stuff 25 years ago.

Fortunately for today’s FrameMaker 11 users, potent page layout tools have been embedded and refined in the product through successive releases.

Mastering master pages

FrameMaker uses a concept of master pages, which swiftly reshape a page (and pagination) for a single page or series of pages with a single click. Since there is no equivalent to “section breaks” from Word, FrameMaker users do not experience corrupted numbering in page numbers when page layout is changed.

The concepts used for creating master pages are really quite simple. The best way to grasp the true power of page layout in FrameMaker is to watch the brief video below.

Expecting a datasource

Have your own hands-on with FrameMaker 11 and decide how you can use it

Adobe Technical Communication Suite 4 includes FrameMaker 11, which is an excellent authoring solution and also a versatile structured editor for DITA/XML. The possibilities with these new tools are as limitless as the profiles of our existing and potential customers. To discover how you can use FrameMaker, download a trial copy of FrameMaker 11 today. After having your own hands-on, you may decide in favor of the best bargain of all, obtaining a cloud subscription to the entire Tech Comm Suite 4, which includes RoboHelp 10, Captivate 6 and other products in addition to FrameMaker 11.