[Scribus] Scribus as a replacement for FrameMaker?

[Carol Kankelborg]

At 15:27 -0400 9/23/04, Adam Stein wrote:
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>I've been looking for an open source FrameMaker replacement (as my group is
>switching from Solaris to Linux, FrameMaker isn't available for Linux, and
>FrameMaker is the only commercial program I still use, now seemed like a good
>time to finally replace it with open source).
>
>The three choices I see are OpenOffice, Kword, and Scribus.

As a disclaimer, I have not used Framemaker for 6 years and I am relatively new to DTP
and Scribus.  

Before I stopped using Framemaker, however, I used it extensively at work for technical
documentation.  I have not found anything that quite compares to its power and ease of
use for writing. Once a document template is set up with styles, it is very easy to
create a document quickly.  Figures can be placed just where you want them easily as well and
chapters can easily be packaged in a book. 

 Framemaker, in my view, is a hybrid between word processing and desktop publishing.  It did
not have all the bells and whistles of a word processing program (or at least I didn't use many
of them) but it was easy to compose your text on the fly. It allowed you greater control over
placement of figures and diagrams than a word processor, but did not require the precise
control of every detail a DTP program requires.   

  After leaving the workforce, I very much missed Framemaker. Had its price not been prohibitive,
I would have chosen it over any of the standard word processors available to me. 

  Alas, I cannot suggest an exact replacement for Framemaker.  I wish you luck in your quest.

Carol

-- 
===============================================================
Carol Kankelborg                           | A relativist age debunks authority and puts
cckborg1 at kankelborg.net              |nothing in its place as an organizing principle
                                                      | of society.    -- Henry Kissinger