FM vs AuthorIT

[astarxy]

one general question: what are main differences between Frame Maker and AuthorIT?

i mean, why would a custmer decide for one or the other, considering pretty big price difference.

thnx

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Astarxy,

Since the philosophy of both products is very different there is no simple answer to this question. A consultant would not start at tool features but client requirements. The sum of requirements plus existing restrictions is turned into a recommendation.

You can easily search for your post’s subject to turn up past discussions, like

http://www.mail-archive.com/framers@lists.frameusers.com/msg08947.html

- Michael

[astarxy]

Michael, While the philosophy may indeed be different they still serve the same purpose up to some point. Being a user, i need to know the differences, especially when there's such a cost difference as in this case. What do I get from AuthorIT that makes it worthwile 10,000 USD? Can i just upgrade my database and system with Frame Maker that cost 1,000 USD? I know what i need to sort out (documentation), now i need to know the applications' benefits in relation to cost. Frame Maker seems to serves more authoring-printing purposes whilst the AuthorIT offers also a database system. Thanks for the link. brg

[SharonBurton]

I work for AIT.

It's really a different authoring and publishing philosophy for the 2 products.

Frame is a good tool for creating long, complex books that need all the long complex books stuff, like xrefs, indexing, complex page layout, and so on. You create content in "chapters" or perhaps files that you embed in chapters. You assemble the chapters into "books". You typically publish to PDF and send that to either your customers or to the printer or both. With additional other tools, you can also publish out to other formats, such as webhelp.

Author-it is a database of content that you assemble and publish to different formats. You create content in "components" that you can easily reuse in other deliverables. You assemble those components in "books" and then publish to PDF, webhelp, and so on. You can also set access rights to content, run reports about where the content is used, assign workflow status to the content and other good things. Additionally, because all the content is in one "library", you can easily have multiple users working in the same content.

In the end, which tool depends on your needs, now and in the future. You can contact me or our sales team for a demo (sharon.burton[at]author-it.com)

sharon

[astarxy]

Sharon, thank you a lot for your answer. Very helpful.

My next question would be is it logical and workable to start with Frame Maker and later on upgrade it to Author IT? .. regarding format compatibility, easy export to AIT, without needing to restructure the documents already created within FM.

thnx.

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand · Accepted solution]

Astarxy,

as Sharon said:

It's really a different authoring and publishing philosophy for the 2 products.

There is no standardized upgrade path from FrameMaker into AuthorIT. I am pretty sure someone has done this, but it is most likely a migration and not an upgrade. AuthorIT can import FrameMaker files, but because of the different philosophies you will have to re-organize your stuff more or less, it depends on how you work with FrameMaker.

Having said that, most stories I hear from FrameMaker users looking for Content Management System features are going towards real XML based systems in the price range of 50,000+ ($ or €).

- Michael

[astarxy]

thanks to both.

brg