Introducing FrameMaker XML Author

Hello Framers,

Today, I wanted to tell you about a brand, new product called FrameMaker XML Author, which we launched as part of the recent new release of FrameMaker line of products. FrameMaker XML Author (FMXA) is a fully standards-compliant XML editor, which lets you work with standards like DITA, S1000D or any custom XML structure, with the easy-to-use and familiar FrameMaker interface. Watch this fun video about the product:

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FMXA is a subset of FM “full” in terms of functionality, and it excludes features that are not required by an XML author e.g. the ability to work with unstructured FrameMaker documents OR to create paragraph styles. However, it does include all the functionality that is needed by XML authors for creating valid XML content as per the DTD, for collaborating with their peers and for getting content reviewed by Subject Matter Experts (SME).

In that sense, FMXA is a full-fledged tool for professional XML authors, SMEs, casual authors and more. See the graphic to understand how FM XML author fits into the FrameMaker portfolio.

FM and FMXA

For a more detailed feature comparison between the products, please see the Feature difference between FM and FM XML Author (look for the FAQ What is the difference between Adobe FrameMaker 12 and Adobe FrameMaker XML Author 12?).

How can this product benefit you?

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Right product, with the right feature set at a right price

With the new FrameMaker XML Author product, XML authors will get the right product, which is tailored to meet their specific needs. All of this comes at a much more affordable price at 40% of the price of FM “full”. Continue reading for more details on pricing.

Simplified, but powerful

The product has been really simplified by picking only the relevant features from FM “full”. In addition, new features have been added to provide for a more user-friendly authoring experience including Quick Element Toolbar, the new Smart Catalog and Quick Preview of DITAMap.

These features simplify the XML authoring experience for all users. But, this simplification hasn’t been done at the cost functional capability. FMXA is a powerful XML Editor and has been made even more powerful, with new capabilities such as MathML support and enhanced whitespace handling.

Work seamlessly between FrameMaker and FrameMaker XML Author

FrameMaker XML Author will work seamlessly with FrameMaker, since the content created with FrameMaker XML Author will be fully standards-compliant XML and can be consumed by FrameMaker for various tasks such as multi-device publishing. Moreover, you can continue to use the structured application and templates etc. that you may have developed with FM to also work with FMXA.

What are the capabilities of FM XML Author?

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Author content

FMXA lets you author content and validate against a DTD. It has all the support you need for authoring content such as working with elements, attributes, XML structure view etc. You can take advantage of the 3 XML views including the native XML code view and the simplified Author view (which takes away page constructs such as layout, pagination etc.)

Collaborate with peers

FMXA comes with 3 native connectors to leading CMS in EMC Documentum, Microsoft SharePoint and Adobe Experience Manager (previously known as Adobe CQ). This lets you easily store your files on a central repository and work collaboratively with features like check-out, locking, checking in and dependency management. Also, other 3rd party connectors, developed by CMS vendors or other organizations that worked with FM will also work with FMXA.

Review by Subject Matter Experts

FMXA comes with the PDF review capability (that has been enhanced in v12), so that you can send PDF to SMEs and import their comments in the XML source. FMXA also has other useful review features like track text changes, XML compare etc.

Publishing

FMXA comes bundled in with DITA-OT, so that you can publish your DITA content to PDF, HTML and more. Moreover, since FMXA produces standards compliant XML content, you can use any stylesheet based solution for publishing your content created in FMXA. Lastly, you can also use FM “full” for publishing your XML/DITA content to multiple formats and for multiple devices. (FM12 now comes with native multi-device publishing support!)

For a full list of capabilities of FMXA, please see the help pages of the product.

So, how do you use the product?

There are two ways of using FM XML Author. You can purchase it as a separate product, install and use it, just like any other product.

Alternatively, since FMXA 12 is a subset of FM 12, you can run it as a mode within the FrameMaker product (go to Edit > Preferences). So, in other words, if you have FM12 purchased, you have already have FM XML Author as a mode within the product.

Pricing and purchase options

FM XML Author is available for purchase both as a perpetual and as a subscription license. The product is priced at USD 399 for the US market and the subscription price is $19.99/month. For pricing in other regions, please visit the website here.

Learn more

Please follow the links below to learn more about the product:

We hope that you will find this new addition to the FrameMaker line of products exciting and we hope that you will give it a try. Do let us know your reactions by typing into the comment box below.