Today I downloaded the trial version of FrameMaker 10 and looked at a few features. Here is my opinion:
1. I like the attribute editor. No need to click a Set Value button.
2. I like the ability to apply background coloring to text; however, I believe many will be disappointed by the fact that it color ONLY the text, not any interline spacing nor end-of-line blank space. For example, suppose a paragraph is set with 10 point font on a 24 point baseline, left justified. Selecting the entire paragraph and applying a background color does NOT result in a square box behind the text. Background color is more like applying a marker to each line of text with empty spaces in between the lines.
3. I like the ability to open and close elements in document view (element boundaries as tags), like one can do in structure view; however, the online help touts the feature of being able to close all elements at the same level, but does NOT explain how to do it. Playing around, I discovered that one needs to hold down the Shift key while clicking an element to close its sibling elements.
4. I like the feature of highlighting misspelled words as one types...very much.
5. The filter by attribute remains somewhat of an enigma to me and seems to be a work in progress. Maybe it is because I have been using the AXCM plugin for several months.
- The filter expression builder includes a Contains Only option, which inserts an operator(?), namely the pound symbol #, but does NOT explain it in the online help.
- Although one can create several filter expressions in the builder, which are saved with the document, it appears that the only way to remove a filter from a document is to DELETE the filter expression from the list, which deletes the filter expression from the document. Hence, to apply the filter again, one must recreate it. It would be nice to be able to store filter expressions within the document, or better yet within some kind of filter designer. Maybe I missed something.
- I DO like the ability of applying color to the content that a filter hides. This allows you to preview the effect of the filter before you actually apply it. Very helpful for lowering the learning curve.
- My previous explorations into filtering by attribute using FrameMaker 9 typically resulted in a FrameMaker crash. My version 10 explorations resulted in NO crashes.
6. During two hours of use, FrameMaker 10 DID NOT CRASH ONCE. This has to be a good sign.
7. I did not look into using conditional text, because I have moved away from using it. FrameMaker 9 had a lot of problems in this area.
I hope that others will chime in with their experiences with FrameMaker 10.